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At its Jan. 11 regular meeting, the Select Board finalized the FY22 budget to be placed before the voters. The Board will meet on Jan. 25 to adopt the budget and sign the Annual Town Meeting Warning. The General Fund which includes all administrative offices, the Police Department, Recreation and all agencies receiving funds from the town by being placed in the budget (the two libraries, Rescue Squad, North Bennington Recreation, and Lake Paran) is increased only 2.19 percent. The Highway Fund is increased only 0.33 percent and the Fire Fund (the Bennington Fire Department) is decreased 0.17 percent. Combined, the total increase is 1.58 percent. The estimated tax rate for the combined budgets ranges from $1.2675 to $1.2710 depending on Grand List growth and other revenues. This is an increase of just over 2 percent.