Council Prepares For

March 28 Hearing

By John Voket

Newtown’s Legislative Council is already working ahead of the scheduled March 28 public hearing, with committees reviewing assigned aspects of the $107.8 million spending plan. The council’s Education Committee led the pack with its first budget review session Wednesday, March 21.

Committee Chair Kathryn Fetchick said the education panel will meet at least once more to consider data that was requested from the district but not available by the March 21 meeting.

The council’s Municipal Operations Committee is set to meet Monday, March 26, and the Finance and Administration Committee had not filed its planned meeting date at press time. Finance Committee Chair George Ferguson said he is aiming for either March 27 or 28 for his committee meeting.

Council Chairman Jeff Capeci told The Bee that while the full budget request could be approved in a special meeting following the public hearing, it is unlikely the full council will receive all the committee recommendations by that time.

It is more likely the council will receive committee recommendations at its regular meeting April 4, and Mr Capeci has also reserved the possibility of taking until as late as April 11 to file a budget recommendation for referendum. April 11 is the deadline for the council to take action on the budget under provisions of the charter.

“There will likely be two, or possibly three full, council meetings after the public hearing,” Mr Capeci said.

The Board of Finance moved a nearly $108 million budget proposal to the council March 14. If the finance board’s spending plan is passed on to voters unchanged, it will reflect a 2.34 percent tax increase.

This year’s request also marks the first time in recent memory that a budget proposal is showing more revenue than spending. This move would bring Newtown into immediate compliance with its own recently drafted policy of maintaining no less than an eight percent unassigned general fund balance.

As a result, the council will be considering a budget proposal with $107,406,525 in expenditures, but requiring $107,806,525 in revenue. That $400,000 difference would be applied to the fund balance, bringing it up to 8.0 percent on July 1, 2012 — one full year ahead of plan.

The Education Committee is reviewing the school district’s adjusted request for $69,355,794 — a 2.04 percent increase over the current year. The council’s finance and municipal operations committees will split the review of a town-side request of $27,980,942, which represents a 0.43 percent increase over the current year.

Since the council and finance board only have line item authority over the town side budget proposal, the education committee can make recommendations for possible further reductions, but will ultimately approve a bottom line.

Mr Capeci assigned the Finance Committee with reviewing and recommending the requests for a raft of town departments including the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers, the selectmen, tax collector, probate court, town clerk, and finance and technology departments.

The finance panel will also consider costs budgeted for unemployment, social security, the pension fund, employee benefits, the economic development and sustainable energy commissions, and the Fairfield Hills Authority. Budgeted debt service and the town’s fund balance and reserve funds are also on the finance committee’s plate for review.

The Municipal Operations Committee is charged with reviewing all public safety, public works, health and welfare, land use, parks and recreation, the library, cultural arts and parade committee requests.

Ms Fetchick said that the Education Committee adjourned its opening budget review meeting waiting for data on activity fund balances, as well as class size and section data, which she uses to analyze enrollment and teacher resource requests.

“Reviewing this data gives me a good feel for class sizes,” she said. “It’s important to look at those numbers because the data should support the reasoning behind adding teachers — whether those additions happened in the past, or are requested in the next budget.”

Prior to its first budget meeting, the Education Committee submitted a list of questions to the school district, many of which were addressed during the March 21 meeting. Among the details requested were contract costs for HVAC services broken down by school; annual costs paid by the district for its space in the municipal center; and maintenance supply costs. Although the education panel is still waiting for the breakdown of activity funds, its members spent a significant amount of time March 21 questioning district Business Manager Ron Bienkowski and Superintendent Janet Robinson about particulars.

Additional questions were posed about full-day kindergarten space needs, district budgeting tied to maintaining or improving common core standards, and budget requests for technology including Apple iPads which are already being utilized by teachers and administrators.

Other details of the budget request going to public hearing March 28 are available in this week’s edition of The Bee on Page B13.