UPDATE: After press time for the April 4, 2025 print edition of The Newtown Bee, the Legislative Council on April 2 decided to approve the Board of Finance proposed 2025-26 budget with no further cuts. For the full story, see next week's paper. This is an update from the published version of the story.

The Legislative Council has begun its 2025-25 proposed town and education budget review with a presentation from the Board of Finance on March 19, followed with a review of the Board of Education budget on March 26 and a review of additional departments on March 31.

The review was expected to continue with meetings on April 2 and April 3 including a possible decision on cuts, if any, but those meetings occurred after press time.

The review started with the budget approved by the Board of Finance earlier this month, which was $49,866,665 for the town and $91,744,644 for the schools, for an overall bottom line of $141,611,309. The spending increases stand at roughly 5% each for the town and school budgets. The BOF had cut $1,071,806 from the proposed town budget and $900,000 from the proposed school budget at its final budget meeting for the year on March 5.

Cuts made by the finance board include reducing road improvements by $150,000; reducing the Parks & Recreation turf tractor line item by $17,500; reducing the Parks & Recreation seasonal staff by $2,250; reducing curbside recycling by $411,650; reducing recycling prepay bags by $60,000; reducing the library line item by $43,238; reducing the Newtown Youth & Family Services line item by $93,237; reducing Edmond Town Hall line item by $40,000; reducing a conference room large monitor upgrade by $3,800; reducing the tracked software line item by $13,000; reducing the activity support line item under Economic Development by $8,300; reducing the Social Services-Human Services salary reserve by $5,000; reducing the Public Works maintenance budget municipal building window refurbishment line item by $40,000; reducing health insurance retiree premiums with OPED trust funds by $74,531; and reducing Newtown Ambulance additional requested paramedic line item by $100,000.

The Board of Finance made one addition: $150,000 for fire department personal protection equipment (PPE).

The Board of Finance also removed $1,050,000 from revenues for the sale of 3 Main Street after a debate with First Selectman Jeff Capeci.

On March 26, Superintendent Anne Uberti began her budget presentation, saying her budget had taken a “long road” since she presented it to the Board of Education in January.

She noted that during the BOF presentation of the budget on March 19, the BOE budget was noted as “80 times the town budget,” yet Uberti felt there was little discussion around the BOE budget.

“Given the scale of that, and I’m not sure it is correct, there was surprisingly little said about the Board of Education budget,” said Uberti.

She noted her budget had a “$2 million hole” that came from the school budget needing to cover items previously paid for by town funds and that there was an “unprecedented increase” in the medical self-insurance fund, representing a 2.77 percent increase in the overall spending without considering increases in other line items.

A same services budget sat at a 7.87% spending increase.

Uberti said she eliminated 28.1 full time equivalent positions from her initial presented budget in hopes of bringing the budget down to a level more likely to be found acceptable to voters, a fact that was not mentioned in the BOF’s March 19 presentation.

“We made 28 cuts critical for the BOE budget, but there was more discussion on recycling,” said Uberti.

She noted her initial budget had cut the Kindergarten through 6th grade Spanish program before the BOE added it back in on pushback from parents, but that addition was made by making cuts elsewhere as offsets to keep a 6% spending increase. However, the $900,000 cut made by the Board of Finance made it likely it would be again removed from the budget.

Uberti mentioned an “extra $100,000” the town had received from the state, but noted it was “not free money.”

“It’s a reimbursement for special education expenses already incurred,” said Uberti.

The school’s non-lapsing account sits at a $650,000 balance, but Uberti said that $380,000 of that was “already earmarked for special education and can’t be used elsewhere.” Additionally, an additional expected $550,000 in costs for student outplacement will “wipe out the $100,000 this year and drain the entire contingency for next year.”

“This is why we save for a rainy day,” Uberti said.

Republican Councilman Ben Ruben made a motion to cut the education budget an additional $900,000; Democratic Councilman Chris Gardner made a motion to amend the motion to ask for no cuts to the education budget. The council discussed whether it should be noticed prior to a vote on cuts so the public could potentially weigh in. Democratic Councilman Eric Paradis made a motion to table any cuts, which was approved 8-4, with Ruben, John Zachos, Jennifer Nicoletti, and Derek Pisani voting against.

According to Capeci at a Board of Selectmen meeting in January, the Town faces a number of “major headwinds” in the budget including motor vehicle valuation changes and total exemption for permanently disabled residents, meaning a $785,000 loss in revenue, the general fund balance reported at 9.4% in the fiscal year 2024 financials means a $1.2 million loss of fund balance revenue, other revenue reductions totaling $455,000, a $1.5 million for Town and $2.4 million for school employee health benefits increase, the Capital Non-Recurring Fund fully expended by the five-year CIP meaning no available capital funds, a significant Town need for public safety enhancements, and contractually obligated expenses not budgeted for in prior cycles.

The motor vehicle changes come from a 2024 State of Connecticut bill that changed how motor vehicles are valuated, changing it to being set by the original Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price and going down by a set percentage after each year. Capeci said this cost Newtown $30 million in motor vehicle valuation, which translated into nearly a $900,000 decrease in tax revenue.

Increases in medical costs for fiscal year 2024 exceeded normal medical costs in previous years and “had eaten away from the fund,” according to Capeci. This has required the town to use $2.5 million of the fund balance to pay for insurance costs.

Capeci said a “same services budget is impossible” this year, due to the aforementioned challenges.

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Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.