Finance Board Plans Another Special Meeting Before Council Session

By John Voket

Finance Board Chairman John Kortze said he is planning a final meeting to try to gain a consensus among fellow board members about recommendations on capital spending to be made to the Legislative Council. That meeting will be held one hour prior to the council’s joint session with the Board of Finance at 7:30 pm next Wednesday, December 13.

Mr Kortze said his board was unable to reach a consensus this week, after holding a special meeting, which ran past 11 pm, December 5. Prior to that special meeting, the finance board appeared for the second time in recent weeks before the Board of Education to hear details of the latest school population projections supplied by district consultant Dr Bruce Bothwell.

A chart detailing middle and high-range populations extending out to the 2016-17 school year indicate high school projections ranging from 1,809 to 1,963. Midrange projections, however, max out in the 2014-15 school year at 1,903, and the high estimates hit the maximum of 2,022 students in that same year.

While the finance board has been deliberating and prioritizing town and school capital projects, its members have individually acknowledged that the budget for a proposed high school expansion is dominating discussions because it is generally regarded as the highest single municipal spending projection in Newtown’s history. The current cost projections to build to the highest allowable student population, while still qualifying for the full potential state reimbursement, is $47 million.

At its December 5 meeting, the finance board concluded that one of the proposals it would likely recommend as an option to the full council was adjusting the project to accommodate a student population closer to the previous Bothwell midrange projections. By building to that population, the town could potentially save about $8 million, which would then be appropriated to as many other priority capital projects as possible.

After seeing the new Bothwell presentation, and hearing that Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff was in favor of using the latest state population projections as a more appropriate guideline for the expansion project instead, Mr Kortze thought the time might be appropriate for an unaffiliated consultation.

“I would probably suggest we accommodate the nominal cost to get another outside opinion on the [population] numbers,” Mr Kortze told The Bee after this week’s meeting.

Mr Kortze suggested the outside opinion because of what he calls “completely contradictory” data between the last Bothwell report and the one presented this week.

“Last year’s top recommendation was the middle projection…this report recommends the high. That’s completely contradictory to the old report,” Mr Kortze said. “How can you have 2005 numbers going through the roof, then recommend the middle numbers? While this year the numbers are decreasing, and he’s recommending building for the high [estimate] — it’s tremendously confusing.”

Mr Kortze said the superintendent’s change of heart on recommending the state population numbers instead of Dr Bothwell’s created further confusion, and that after discussing the matter further this week, the finance board decided to have one final meeting before its joint session with the council.