The annual town budget meeting and meeting of the town electors is slated for 7 p.m., Nov. 4 in the town hall at 101 Cedar Street, within the village of West Baraboo.

A 2010 budget summary sheet provided by Town Clerk Kay Bainbridge shows the town-use tax levy rising to $438,211, up about 2.8 percent from $426,254 in 2009. Wisconsin’s tax levy limits would have allowed board members to approve a $439,700 tax increase, Bainbridge noted on the summary sheet.

"We try and hold the levies down, the taxes and so forth, the mill rate," said Supervisor Steve Cohoon.

The budget summary did not include an estimate of the property tax rate for 2010. Cohoon said that detail will be made available at the budget meeting Wednesday.

The town’s budget is also supported by a variety of aid from the state and federal governments, fees charged by the town and grants.

The category of intergovernmental revenues that includes money the state of Wisconsin shares with local governments is down about 4 percent, falling from about $187,200 in 2009 to $179,300 for next year’s budget.

Like many other local governments, the town of Baraboo was socked when the state legislators had to cut Wisconsin’s budget and lowered shared revenue, said Supervisor Steve Hess.

"The state usually kicks in a  chunk of how we fix our roads and stuff," he said. "They cut that out to balance their budget."

Most categories of the town spending are down by small amounts compared to last year.

Total spending falls from $641,600 in 2009 to $638,600 in 2010, about half a percent.

Public works spending will decline from $311,300 last year to 308,700 in 2010, almost one percent.

Hess noted that most of the town’s major public services are in this spending category.

"Those things will be repair of the roads, maintenance of the roads, snow plowing roads," he said. "Those tend to be the biggest line items under those public works.

"That’s the biggest thing in our budget usually, too."

The public safety budget, including payments for fire protection and ambulance services is down seven percent. It falls from $164,300 in 2009 to $152,900.

Hess said one factor in the lower spending expected in 2010 is town officials had to deal with the aftermath of the 2008 summer floods in this year’s budget.

"It’s possible some of that could be due to the flood costs," Hess said. "So there’s a variety of different things that could cause that difference.

"Generally our budgets stay fairly stable from time to time."

The general government spending category, covering things like pay for town officials and operation of the town government, is up by $4,700 or about 4 percent. This year the town budgeted about $132,600 on general government, which rises to $137,300 for 2010.