Finance Director Offers More ‘User-Friendly’ Budget Information

By John Voket

Responding to what he said was a “cry for more detail,” Newtown Finance Director Robert Tait has designed a 2009 budget worksheet that offers an unprecedented level of information, especially on the school district side of the annual spending plan. The compartmentalized spreadsheet, which serves as the town’s legal notice for the upcoming budget referendum, appears in this edition of The Newtown Bee on pages A9–10.

Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia announced that there will be a referendum on the following question: “Shall the sum of $103,716,694 be appropriated as the annual town budget for the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year?” The referendum will be held Tuesday, April 28, from 6 am to 8 pm, at the Newtown Middle School gymnasium.

Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 7-6, any person who is a registered voter in the Town of Newtown or who is a US citizen who is assessed at least $1,000 for the real estate or motor vehicles on the 2008 Grand List for the Town of Newtown is qualified to vote at the referendum.

The proposal, which was ratified by the Legislative Council March 26, reflects a net reduction of 1.66 percent in spending over the current year. Due to anticipated shortfalls in revenue, however, the amount required to be raised by taxation has increased, necessitating a 0.99 percent increase (less than one percent) in the tax rate.

If approved at the April 28 referendum, Mr Tait has calculated the average property tax increase based on a home assessed at $356,957 will be about $82.10.

The breakdown between the two sides of the council’s adopted budget proposal for the next fiscal year reflects $37,401,767 in spending on the town side. This represents a 5.15 percent reduction over the current year’s spending.

The school district’s portion of the overall budget stands at $66,314,928 — a 0.43 percent increase over the current year’s spending. According to Mr Tait, a tax rate of 23.43 mills on the grand list of October 1, 2008, of the Town of Newtown is needed to meet the above appropriations.

To help taxpayers achieve a greater understanding of where their money is going, Mr Tait committed himself to reformatting the legal ad template that served the town for many years under former finance director Benjamin Spragg.

“We took the school district budget and broke out the details differently — by school and programs, instead of by object code,” he said. “Now taxpayers can track things like salaries and supplies, to get a better idea of the costs of the line items and purchases.”

‘Snapshot’ Illustrations

The town finance director said he wanted to provide taxpayers a “snapshot” illustration of each school and department, so comparisons and contrasts can be examined. “If taxpayers went to the Board of Ed budget book, this detail would be spread out across separate pages,” Mr Tait said. “I just decided to put it all together on one sheet.”

Mr Tait said the inclusion of newly formatted school district spending and revenue details mirrors the town side of the proposal. There is also a newly added pie chart that shows expenditures by function.

“The bottom line is, after whatever revenues we get, the difference has to be made up through taxation,” he said.

Mr Tait also referenced debt service costs, which represent just under ten percent of the overall budget proposal. While this year’s school district debt service spending proposal is slightly below the town side expenditures — at 46.6 percent vs 48.6 percent — he said next year, when the first phase of high school expansion bonding is made, the school district side will escalate to more than 53 percent.

Besides offering the new budget information sheet, the town is also making it easier for those who cannot vote on the proposal April 28 to cast ballots by offering absentee voting hours next Saturday.

Absentee ballots are available for the referendum during office hours, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm, and the town clerk’s office will have special hours on Saturday, April 25, from 9 am to noon, for the sole purpose of absentee ballot voting on the above question. 

Any qualified person who meets any of the following criteria may vote by absentee ballot:

1) active service in the Armed Forces,

2) absence from the Town during all the hours of voting,

3) illness,

4) physical disability,

5) religious tenets which forbid secular activity on the day of the Referendum or

6) duties as a Referendum official at a polling place other than your own during all the hours of voting.

As per Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 9-140 and 9-369c, for a referendum held with less than three weeks notice, absentee ballots may be obtained by applying at the town clerk’s office in person or designating one of the following to be your designee:

1) a person caring for you because of your illness, including but not limited to a licensed physician or a registered practical nurse,

2) a member of your family,

3) a police officer in the municipality in which you reside or

4) a registrar of voters or deputy registrar of voters in the municipality in which you reside. Absentee ballots can be returned in person to the Town Clerk by 4:30 pm Monday, April 27, or by mail or designee before the closing of the polls on referendum day, i. e. 8 pm, April 28, 2009.