During its regular meeting April 4, the Legislative Council passed the 2018-19 town and school budget requests to referendum after restoring a number of reductions recommended by the Board of Finance.

The spending requests are now in the hands of qualified voters who can either separately approve or reject the municipal and school budgets during polling at Newtown Middle School, Tuesday, April 24, or via absentee ballots that Town Clerk Debbie Aruelia Halstead said would be available starting Friday, April 6.

In its final 9-3 vote with Republicans Ryan Knapp, Phil Carroll, and Dan Wiedemann opposing, the council sent taxpayers a total spending package of $117,121,198 - a 2.35 percent increase over the current year.

In separate motions, council members endorsed a school district budget proposal of $76,054,231, representing a 2.31 percent increase, and a municipal budget proposal of $41,066,967, representing a 2.4 percent bump.

The municipal budget contains all annual debt service costs for capital projects including school district projects.

Over the course of the preceding deliberations, council committee leaders made a number of proposed adjustments, restoring a number of items the finance board had either reduced or shifted to other budget lines.

Councilman Knapp reminded his colleagues a number of times that while both the finance board and council have line item authority over the Board of Selectmen's municipal budget request, they can only reduce or increase the bottom line of the school district proposal by statute.

That did not deter council representatives from making strong suggestions to school officials present about where they would like to see approved increases applied.

After hearing from school board Chair Michelle Ku, Superintendent Laurie Rodrigue, and Business Manager Ron Bienkowski, council Education Committee Chairman Dan Honan moved to accept the finance boards final recommendation and to move that number to voters.

That proposal met with an immediate call for an amendment by council representative Judit DeStafano to add $50,000 and applying that increase to a special education contingency account that was originally proposed at $100,000 but was reduced by the finance board.

In defense of her motion, Ms DeStefano said having contingency was a smart move and that even the $100,000 originally requested by the school board was "very conservative." She also noted that if the funds were not used, they would revert to the following year's budget putting the district in a better position to minimize increases next year.

Council member Kelley Johnson told her colleagues that the school board "did what asked to do - create a contingency." Ms Johnson said creating a financial buffer in the event of unanticipated special education expenses was a "good way to plan for what may happen in the future."

Councilman Chris Eide pointed out that if the district had that $100,000 last year, "they still would have been scrambling" in the face of substantial unplanned additions to the special education program.

'Bait And Switch'

The motion met with opposition from Mr Carroll who said forcing taxpayers to pay into what amounts to a district savings account was nothing more than a "bait and switch" tactic. But when the vote was called, the amendment passed 9-3 with Mr Carroll, Mr Knapp, and Mr Wiedemann dissenting.

Ms Destefano then proposed to add $25,000 back to bolster the districts IT budget line, arguing that in a $76 million budget it was an inconsequential amount. She said every time the technical budget line is reduced, it becomes more challenging to restore in the future.

Ms Johnson agreed, adding that the district should be moving to support more technology to enhance student learning, adding that the council should not "nitpick tech to death."

Mr Knapp countered, saying the finance board "made some compelling reasons for the reductions," including to the district's IT budget line. He thanked school officials for their efforts in crafting next year's spending plan saying it was "a good budget for business-as-usual kind of year." But he said with anticipated state shortfalls "coming down the pike," he did not understand "how we can go on increasing expenditures.

"If we don't start reducing spending, this will fall directly on taxpayers or result in layoffs," he said, adding it appeared the proposed "budget is being made in a vacuum and we're not in a vacuum. We need to be mindful of Newtown taxpayers."

Councilman Jay Mattegat concurred saying it is becoming more difficult for seniors to meet tax obligations. Ms Johnson defended the increase, saying, "Every person feels the benefits of a well-educated society," and telling her colleagues that a good education system is "inextricably linked to Democracy."

Mr Carroll countered, saying, "We need to watch out for the people who can't afford these increases; we all want good education, but we don't want to drive people out of town, either."

The vote to move the district budget request adding a total of $75,000 then passed by a 8-4 vote with Mr Mattegat joining Mr Ryan, Mr Wiedemann, and Mr Carroll in voting No.

Municipal Adjustments

In earlier deliberations, Ms DeStafano also recommended the council restore funding that was cut by the finance board from a proposed road repairs allocation. That entailed reducing $65,000 to the Parks & Rec capital line that was earmarked for a new pickup truck and plow; $100,000 from the municipal IT department, and $25,000 to the Economic and Community Development budget for a part-time administrative hire.

Separate motions to increase the roads budget by $150,000, the Highway Department line for road salt by $20,000, and the winter overtime line by $5,000, and a move to reduce the Fairfield Hills Authority's repair and maintenance line by $6,000 all passed with no opposition.

Mr Eide than moved to reduce the anticipated tax collection rate from 99.2 percent to 99.1 percent, with Town Finance Director Robert Tait concurring that such an action was appropriate and manageable. The motion passed unanimously.

Following the meeting, Mr Tait confirmed that the council's actions amounted to a net reduction of the selectmen's budget request of $21,000, and a net increase to the school district proposal of $54,000. Mr Tait said factoring the change in the tax collection rate and the net budget adjustments increased the proposed 2018-19 mill rate from the finance board's recommendation of 34.19 to 34.23 mills.

One mill represents $1,000 in taxable property.

Besides making absentee ballots available for budget voters Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 4:30 pm, the town clerk's office will have special absentee voting hours Saturday, April 21, from 9 am to noon.

Any person who is a registered voter in the Town of Newtown or who is a US citizen assessed for at least $1,000 for real estate or motor vehicles on the 2017 grand list for the Town of Newtown is qualified to vote at the referendum.

Any qualified person who meets any of the following criteria may vote by absentee ballot: active service in the Armed Forces; absence from the town during all the hours of voting; illness; physical disability; religious tenets which forbid secular activity on the day of the referendum or; duties as a referendum official at a polling place other than your own during all hours of voting.

Absentee ballots can be returned in person to the office of the town clerk by 4:30 p.m., Monday, April 23, or by mail or designee before the closing of the polls on referendum day - 8 pm on April 24.

The referendum will be held on Tuesday, April 24, from 6 am to 8 pm, in the Newtown Middle School Gymnasium. Absentee ballots will be counted at the Newtown Middle School at 4 pm.

Residents may direct any questions to the town clerk's office at 203-270-4210.