Final Budget Action Preserves Officers, FFH Management

By John Voket

At its final meeting on the budget April 1, the Legislative Council acted to make several adjustments and restored funding to several line items accommodating a hybrid combination of finance board and selectmen recommendations.

By a vote of 10 – 1, with Councilwoman Po Murray in the minority, the council endorsed the following restorations:

* $104,410 for contractual services for management of the new municipal center at Bridgeport Hall;

* $56,220 for management services to cover the rest of the Fairfield Hills campus with an expectation that that funding will be fully or partially reimbursed through common charges being paid by tenants;

* $66,667 in contingency to give the First Selectman some flexibility – to suggest transfers to cover medical premium increases, road salt, or an increased burden to the unemployment account

* $209,709 to cover salary for two contracted police department officers who are currently completing academy training, projected overtime expenses and replacement patrol cars.

Both selectman Paul Mangiafico and Police Chief Michael Kehoe had opportunities to speak to the police restorations. The selectman spoke at length about the police issues telling the council that the system by which cruisers are replaced dictates and absolute need for the funding in 2009.

His primary concern is taxpayers would be faced with an expense of replacing as many as “seven or eight cars by 2010” if several were not sanctioned for replacement this year.

Chief Kehoe also clarified that if Newtown was to cut the two officer position of the academy recruits, they would be immediately released to other departments for hire with Newtown taxpayers picking up the cost of their academy training.

Ms Murray told fellow council members she could not support reinstating funds to some departments while other departments clearly made sacrifices to reduce their budget burden. She also believed further “efficiencies” could be found in the Fairfield Hills budget.

The reduction motion which passed on a voice vote, included:

$30,573 from the oil/gas utility line

$57,070 from the utility electricity line

A combined $612 from water and sewer budgets

$250,000 from a pension fund recommendation, with the agreement to add money from other sources, if required, based on the outcome of an actuary evaluation

$32,165 from the Highway Department which was earmarked to purchase a new road grader

Later that evening, the council also ruled against placing local advisory questions on the ballot.

Following the meeting, Council Chairman Will Rodgers told The Newtown Bee much of the discussion regarding the apparent value of information from an advisory question was rooted in an earlier opinion from the town attorney about scripting specific questions to reference voting trends on the town-side, and / or school-side of the budget.

“Since the budget can’t be bifurcated (split) between the school and town-side, a written legal opinion indicated we cannot bifurcate the advisory questions,” Mr Rodgers said. “The feeling was, that without that level of detail, the information is not going to be that helpful.”

Mr Rodgers further stated that in his opinion, and based on conversations he has had with other council representatives, if local ballot questions were allowed to define voting outcomes based on the school and town side separately, the vote against it “would have had a totally different outcome.”

Mr Rodgers further clarified that the most recent Charter change specifically permitted local questions on the ballot, and that according to research performed by the Town Attorney, there is no authority in the state statute for advisory questions although they have been used in Newtown and other surrounding communities in the past.