Finance Board Recommends $111.7 Million Budget With Lower Taxes, Mill Rate
After hearing from one member of the public who spoke in support of the school district budget, the Board of Finance on March 12 unanimously recommended a 2015-16 budget proposal of $111,730,513 to the Legislative Council, representing a 0.6 percent increase over the current year.
Finance Board Chairman John Kortze subsequently presented those recommendations to the council on March 18.
If approved as presented to the council, and subsequently by voters in an April 28 referendum, the new spending plan would represent a net reduction in taxation of 0.71 percent, with a new mill rate of 33.07, down from the current rate of 33.31. A mill represents one dollar for every $1,000 in taxable property.
The final finance board budget session opened with parent Rebecca Carnes advocating on behalf of the school district’s spending plan. “The school budget [request] is financially sound and feasible,” Ms Carnes said. “It puts kids first.”
Before beginning their deliberations, the finance board considered two requests from their prior meeting: to add back some or all of the additional funding requested by both the C.L. Booth Library Board and the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers. First Selectman Pat Llodra said both boards presented cases for additional funding that had merit, but in the case of the Board of Managers, selectmen were challenged to understand their financial data.
The first selectman reminded the finance board that both groups had significant capital spending approved in the town’s 2015 Capital Improvement Plan, and that the town is continuing to underwrite significant portions of the health care costs for library and Edmond Town Hall staff members. She described both as beloved and iconic local institutions, but admitted, “I’d like us to be able to support them, but I don’t know at what level.”
Asked for suggestions by Mr Kortze, Mrs Llodra said selectmen reduced a $50,000 request from the board of managers to zero, and suggested possibly returning $35,000 with the caveat that officials would keep a close eye on the facility’s revenues in the coming fiscal year.
She said the library officials asked for $70,000 before selectmen pared that amount to $35,000 aimed at funding several new and specific initiatives above and beyond normal operations. At that point, finance board member John Godin moved to add $35,000 to the board of managers request, and $20,000 more to the library proposal: both passing unanimously.
CCM Value Questioned
Finance board Vice Chairman Joe Kearney then motioned to remove the $15,000 Newtown pays for membership in the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM). Mr Kearney argued that most of the research information town officials obtained from the municipal support organization was accessible through other public channels.
He also argued that while the organization was supposed to represent all its members, the CCM more often lobbied for state spending in Connecticut’s larger cities.
The first selectman, who serves the agency in an advisory capacity, countered that CCM is the most powerful watchdog for state towns and cities in Hartford, and that almost every board and commission in Newtown has requested and received data from the agency. The motion then failed with only Mr Kearney supporting it.
Moving to final questions on the school district budget request, finance board Michael Portnoy asked Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, if he could validate anticipated early retirement savings. Dr Erardi said while 11 master teachers had elected to take an early retirement incentive, he expected 20 retirements before the end of the current school year, generating a budgeted savings of $700,000.
A few minutes later, Dr Erardi further clarified that the savings generated when replacing long-tenured educators with new hires additionally saves about $35,000 per position. The superintendent also confirmed there would be no further early retirement programs offered by the district for at least five years.
Turning to commodities, Mr Kortze questioned why the district was paying $2.99 per gallon for heating oil when the town was paying $2.27 per gallon. And he asked whether taxpayers were “getting bit twice” because the district had not joined with the town in its fuel purchasing consortium, possibly securing supplies at even less than the $2.27.
Dr Erardi said he understood the district had great success obtaining fuel supplies independent of the town in previous years. The district did qualify for savings in a diesel fuel bulk purchase for 2016, however, totaling $50,589.
Mr Kortze said he subsequently spoke to the public works director and learned there would have been little or no added purchase benefit had the town and district consolidated their purchases — beyond the advantageous per gallon rate the town already secured.
The finance board then moved to approve the town and school budget amounts as amended, and both proposals passed unanimously.
Council Questions
Mr Kortze and Council Chair Mary An Jacob both said there was a fair amount of discussion at the council presentation around busing levels, with both expressing frustration that the town’s provider, All-Star Transportation, had not provided contractually required reports to help both Board of Education and other town officials better understand costs in relation to the drop in overall district student population.
The school district proposal budgets for the elimination of two school buses in the current contract, saving $124,440.
Mr Kortze pointed out that while the data available supports the reduction of the two buses, the district and school board should have been better prepared with transportation reports that are required as part of the All-Star contract, but were apparently never requested or produced until a few weeks ago.
“The Board of Education should have been in a better position to render a recommendation on busing [reductions] — it’s a big budget item,” Mr Kortze said.
Ms Jacob echoed that point, saying, “It’s time for [the town] to be in the driver’s seat. There’s a lot of money tied up there that could go toward educational services.”
Ms Jacob said while there was a lot of discussion about benefit and commodities savings and transportation, she expects there to be a lot more examination at the council level on programming and personnel — specifically a Spanish language pilot program and a new nonadministrative leadership position being added at the high school.
Mr Kortze said he was pleased with the collaboration among Dr Erardi, Mrs Llodra, and members of the finance board to better understand budget intricacies, and that Dr Erardi had issued an e-mail to the school board supporting the budget request as recommended by the finance board.
“You can’t make the argument that this budget [proposal] was not blessed by the superintendent,” Mr Kortze said.
The finance chairman also noted the slow shift in revenues toward commercial and grand list growth that is permitting a modest increase in spending, while accounting for a slight drop in taxation and the mill rate.
Following the meeting, Mr Tait explained that overall taxation and the mill rate would be reduced even though the budget is calling for slightly more spending because of new grand list revenue, additional charges for services, and intergovernmental revenue totaling $664,309. Along with a debt service cost reduction, significant savings were developed as a result of a positive claims trend in the town’s self-insured employee health plan.