Brattleboro finance director to depart in January | Local News

BRATTLEBORO — Kim Frost is stepping down from her role as town finance director. 

On Tuesday, the town announced her resignation. She has been in the role since April 2022 and her last day is Jan. 3. 

“Starting this next chapter was a difficult decision, but I’m grateful to have served my community,” she said in a statement. 

In an interview, Frost said she’s taken a job at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. She described the decision to leave the town as “very difficult.”

“I love what I do and I love everybody I work with, and it is a tough time and that is not the time people should be leaving,” she said. 

Her departure comes as the town is experiencing budget challenges. Residents are facing a potential 22 percent increase in municipal property taxes and town staff are tasked with looking at ways to make cuts. 

Frost said she feels bad leaving her colleagues but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity at BMH and gets to stay in the community she loves and is now a part of.

Originally from New York, Frost and her wife had a place in Wardsboro for about 15 years. She said Brattleboro had been “our hub forever.” 

“We were always like, We’re totally going to retire to Brattleboro,” she said. 

Preparing for that day, the couple sold their place in Wardsboro and got one in Brattleboro. In the meantime, a friend suggested she apply for the financial director position when it opened up. Securing the job, the couple moved here full time. Her wife works from home. 

Frost said she’s “thankful for the time I’ve been here and … for all the relationships and people that I’ve met. And being able to serve the community has been a privilege, that’s for sure.”

Frost “has served our town well,” Select Board Vice Chairwoman Elizabeth McLoughlin said, describing her as being “part of a strong management team who are collectively responsible for helping the Select Board put together a budget.”

“I’m sure that the work she is doing now with the town manager and all town departments will serve to provide a budget that the Select Board and the people of Brattleboro can understand and support,” McLoughlin said. “I wish Kim the best in her future endeavors.”

During her tenure with the town, Frost is credited with being “instrumental in reuniting the Finance Department with the Treasurer’s Office and thereby finding efficiencies to reduce town staff by one position,” according to the announcement.

Frost also supported town departments in the transition to a new financial system using the platform OpenGov with the goal of modernizing and enhancing “the efficiency and transparency of the town’s finances including an online publication that provides detailed expenditure information in an interactive format,” according to the announcement. 

“Kim has made lasting contributions to Brattleboro, particularly through her work with modernizing the town’s financial system,” Town Manager John Potter said in a statement. “But what I am most grateful for is Kim’s support of and active participation on the town’s management team, helping everyone do better.”

With budget season underway, Potter said the town intends to stick with a schedule requested by the Select Board and deliver a budget on time in January. That spending plan will ultimately need the support of annual Representative Town Meeting in March. 

Potter called the budget process “collaborative.” 

“Town staff are working hard to find savings that can be made without causing harsh reductions in the level of town services that people rely on,” he said. 

The town said it will be accepting applications for the finance director role until the position is filled. An initial round of screening interviews is planned for the week of Jan. 6.

For more information, visit brattleboro.gov/Jobs.