Legislative Council Budget Hearing Set For March 16
With Board of Finance (BOF) recommendations of the 2022-23 Board of Selectmen and Board of Education (BOE) budgets done, the budget now faces review by the Legislative Council. That final review, deliberations, and any adjustments will commence following a 7 pm public hearing Wednesday, March 16 in the Municipal Center Council Chamber.
While the recently recommended municipal budget request equates to an 8% spending increase, that spending largely represents money being transferred into the town’s Capital and Non-Recurring Fund. The proposed tax increase residents may be facing if the Legislative Council approves the finance board’s recommendation without adjustments, is just under half (four-tenths) of one percent.
The school district’s current request is $82,434,639. This is a $2,736,941 or 3.43% increase over the BOE’s 2021-22 budget of $79,697,698. The BOF at its last meeting reduced the BOE budget by $616,540, by moving $472,000 for building maintenance projects and $144,540 for Chromebooks to the Capital and Non-Recurring Fund.
The proposed spending package for the municipal budget is currently $47,027,087, representing a $3,505,231 or 8.05% increase over the 2021-22 BOS (Board of Selectmen) budget of $43,521,856.
The combined 2022-23 budget proposal — $129,461,726 — represents a $6,242,172 or 5.07% increase over the voter-approved 2021-22 budget of $123,219,554.
Money Moves
Board of Finance members recently approved moving $1.3 million from the town’s fund balance to the Capital and Non-Recurring Fund to keep the fund balance below its policy-driven cap of 12% of the total budget. (Note: all debt service on bonding, including school district projects, is part of the municipal budget request).
Officials say that keeping below that cap helps the town maintain its “perfect” bond rating, which was just reaffirmed at AAA/Stable last month by S&P Global (formerly known as Standard and Poor’s). It also positions the town to use the funds to offset capital expenses or borrowing.
This move followed an early decision to move $1 million into Capital and Non-Recurring to help offset a large increase in motor vehicle values, which increases the Grand List. Motor vehicle valuations increased 26%, which is translating to a larger budget bottom line because First Selectman Dan Rosenthal is proposing to put the majority of the extra revenue from motor vehicles into the Capital Non-Recurring fund, expecting the increase in motor vehicle values to be an anomaly that will “revert” in the future.
According to Finance Director Robert Tait, the change in the motor vehicle grand list is $70,002,199 — a 26% increase or generating $2.4 million more in taxes this fiscal cycle. Due to current pandemic-related anomalies in the automotive market, which is seeing greatly reduced inventories of new vehicles due to parts shortages and global shipping woes, motor vehicle evaluations, according to the sources the town uses for values, had a large increase last year.
This makes the 8.05% spending increase the “top-line” increase, and not an actual spending increase. The move of the money must be accounted for in the budget, hence the spending increase, but it is the equivalent of “moving money from your checking account into your savings account,” said Rosenthal at a March 7 Board of Selectmen meeting.
The first selectman noted that without those two moves, real spending would increase by 2.7%. Of that, $456,000 is increased costs of recycling and moving the cost of road paving from bonding to the regular budget. That means the general government request is only up 1.8% — and most of that is contractual increases to salaries and benefits.
“If we took that out, everything else is within inflation,” said Rosenthal.
While the spending increase looks larger than it is, the effective tax increase to the mill rate is only .44, or less than half of one percent. The mill rate is proposed to increase from 34.65 mills in 2021-22 to 34.80 mills in 2022-23. A mill represents one dollar in taxation for every $1,000 in taxable property.
Rosenthal said there was a 1.5% tax increase in 2019, taxes were flat in 2020, taxes went down three-tenths of one percent in 2021, and now they are increasing by .44%.
The municipal budget was approved by both the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance following review of each town department with the department heads. (See specific department details in pull-out box)
Board of Education
Before Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue created her spending proposal, district principals first drafted budget requests with input from different school departments. The administrators’ initial budget requests were $84,107,395, or a 5.53% increase over the current budget. Rodrigue said she reduced that proposal by $946,319, or by 1.18%.
According to a presentation to the BOE in January, the 2022-23 budget proposal, as outlined by Rodrigue, promotes adequate staffing for kindergarten to twelfth grade to support the goals and commitments of the district and school board; is mindful of realities of enrollment and class size; considers current academic and social/emotional needs; uses data to employ resources for identifying gaps and improving math and literacy for all students; and expands staff training and professional development.
As outlined by Rodrigue, sources of budget funding are 94.48% from tax revenue, 5.4% from Education Cost Sharing, and just over 1% from other grants, local tuition, parking permits, and miscellaneous fees.
The top budget areas, according to the presentation, are salaries at $53,986,471; employee benefits at $11,955,016; other purchased services at $10,118,326; supplies at $3,372,664; and purchased property services at $2,331,663.
The 2022-23 superintendent’s proposed budget includes 7.5 full-time equivalent staffing requests for $487,195, and 6.18 full-time equivalent staffing positions that were previously funded by grants, for $380,482. Between certified and non-certified staff, proposed reductions in positions are 4.3, for a $184,583 reduction.
While highlighting the other purchased services portion of the budget, Rodrigue shared that the district’s current contract with All-Star Transportation is set to end in 2022 and bids are due to come in at the end of January.
The presentation also shared that building and site maintenance projects are expected to increase by $472,000, and Rodrigue explained the town has funded these projects for the past two years.
There are 4,000 students in Newtown Public Schools, and enrollment is projected to be 4,025 for the 2022-23 school year. Rodrigue said special education enrollment is increasing. Newtown’s current per pupil expenditure is $19,919.
Following the March 16 public hearing with the Legislative Council, the council will deliberate over the budget at meetings on March 23, March 28, and March 30. It is expected to make final changes and give approval to the budget at its April 6 meeting.
The separate municipal and school district budget request goes to voters at referendum Tuesday, April 26.
Reporter Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.