Budgets are well under way, and as boring as some people find them, they do determine how our taxes are spent, and how much is spent. The final numbers will change between now and Town Meeting—March 31—and we hope that residents will be able to have some input into those changes. As we saw at Saturday’s School Committee budget presentation, there wasn’t much time left for the audience to ask questions. That makes some sense, because the committees have days of work to do, to roll up all the individual budgets into the omnibus budget we vote on at Town Meeting.

However, it is frustrating to care about the process and the outcome, to want to contribute information, but not to be able to be heard. Residents can always write letters or call or send emails to the boards or, for a wider audience, send a letter to the editor of the Press. But a budget forum before the numbers are final would be nice. First, the Finance Committee could put a copy of the proposed budget—compared to last year’s budget and the prior year’s actual spending—on the town website and invite questions and comments. Then the boards could hold a public forum to answer those questions and listen to people’s concerns and complaints. (Set a five-minute limit to avoid speech making.) The budget may end up the same, but at least the process will have been more public.