"It's very difficult to craft a budget without knowing revenues, while knowing the needs of the departments and the wants of the community," said Town Manager Chuck Frigon.

At this point, the grand list totals are still under calculation from the recently conducted property re-evaluations. Town officials are also still waiting to see what the state will be offering. The town is also going to the bonding market in the next four to five weeks, as there is still $26 million left to borrow to complete the school renovations.

When asked about the possibility of dipping into the fund balance to keep department funding levels afloat, Mr. Frigon noted, "Using the general fund to operate would be easy, but it's very important to keep our bond rating intact."

Credit agencies have given Watertown a high bonding rating due to the amount of money it carries in its fund balance.

While budget development has been postponed, the town is still exercising caution on any expenditures. Departmental capital expenditures have to be approved prior to being allowed into the budget. The various departments are also being advised to "be judicious."

This also applies for overtime, Mr. Frigon stated.

"Overtime should be for emergencies only and if something can be completed on the following day, it should," Mr. Frigon said. "We are looking for efficiency while still achieving the same results."

For the upcoming budget, Watertown's financial authorities are looking for a zero percent increase in expenses; however, as described by Mr. Frigon, "It's not that easy."

Influencing the budget are new municipal employee contracts approved last October, which granted a 3.5 percent wage increase, in addition to other increases from wage equalizations.

"We're asking that they somehow compensate," said Mr. Frigon. "Not purchasing one police car could skew the budget, and if we don't buy a dump truck, it would bring Public Works' budget down considerably," said Mr. Frigon.

With regards to the possibility of reducing the number of town employees, Mr. Frigon noted that municipal unemployment laws in Connecticut don't provide a justifying financial incentive, "especially when there is so much we need to do."

Nancy Steffens of the Connecticut Department of Labor Unemployment Office stated, "If a municipal employee gets laid off, they call the Labor Department and they would collect unemployment from the state. In the end the town gets billed for a maximum of $519 for 26 weeks."

"We don't want to sacrifice quality or quantity; we're looking for efficiency and we don't want to jeopardize public safety or education," said Mr. Frigon. "With all that in mind, all our departments are working to craft a budget in line with the economy."

Public Works Director Roy Cavanaugh noted several initiatives that have been implemented by the Public Works Department to either reduce expenses or prevent larger expenses in the long term.

"We've put in several measures over the years. It's a continual process," said Mr. Cavanaugh. "We've realigned snow plow routes, matching equipment with terrain and load. We put a freeze on capital projects and equipment; we evaluate them and see what can be afforded. We've reduced the number of cell phones. We also installed a trash compactor and reduced trash runs to the CRRA facility by 50 percent.

"The highway garage also downgraded three positions to save money."

Another initiative cited by Mr. Cavanaugh was the forgoing of the replacement of the Vac-All truck, reconstructing it instead using parts from an old fire truck.

Mr. Cavanaugh also noted other strategies to increase the longevity of equipment while making operations more effective: "We're paying ten dollars a ton more for Ice-B-Gone instead of salt."

Ice-b-Gone, which is a mixture of sucrose and magnesium chloride salt, is reportedly effective at much lower temperatures than sodium chloride (table salt), which, according to Mr. Cavanaugh is only effective at 18 to 20 degrees.

"It [Ice-B-Gone] coats the truck and sander, preventing rust, making it more equipment friendly," said Mr. Cavanaugh. "Straight salt was brutal to the undercarriage and brakes."

Mr. Cavanaugh also noted, "We spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year coordinating with the Police Department to make sure that when our guys are being called on overtime, it's necessary."

Mr. Cavanaugh also described the practice of plowing "curb-to-curb," which opens catch basins to prevent standing water on town streets. Leaving the standing water could possibly lead to further expense.

Police Chief John Gavallas reported that, "What we are doing is submitting a very conservative budget. We recognize what a challenging fiscal year this is going to be. So far we've limited our requests to things we need."

Chief Gavallas listed the needed items as three patrol cars to replace those with over 100,000 miles; training "which must continue on an ongoing basis" to retain certification of officers; and attending refresher courses, in and out of the state.

"Our biggest request is ammunition for firearms training and re-certification for use of the taser," said Chief Gavallas, "We really aren't asking for a lot of equipment."

The Police Chief also reported the proposed Police budget is three percent above the last year, reflecting contractual issues and increases to essential expenses.

"We have to pay software licenses for the mobile data terminals in cars and records management as well as the computer aided dispatch and the software support," said Chief Gavallas.

In regards to decreases, Chief Gavallas reported, "We reduced overtime to just filling shifts and we review requests for overtime on a case-by-case basis."

In addition, the three vacant positions left by the retirements of Detective Razza, Detective Rickevicious this year and Detective Kolatsky in 2007 have not been filled.

"We're going to keep the positions vacant until this coming fiscal budget becomes clear," said Chief Gavallas.