In a podcast by the Y’s Men of Westport-Weston, Westport First Selectwoman Jen Tooker discusses her Town operating budget, which won preliminary approval from the Board of Finance to increase, as she requested, 1.96 percent.

Ms. Tooker explains factors behind the increase, including staff work on capital projects, the hiring of three additional school safety officers, growing usage of the senior center, and higher costs for maintenance of parks and fields.

She says the budget was helped by a 1.38 percent rise in the Grand List, 14 percent higher non-tax revenues, and the ability to reduce the Town’s contribution to a pension fund. Ms. Tooker describes the round of approvals still to go before Westport’s mill rate is set in mid May.