Curbside recycling pickup, recommended to be kept by the Recycling Ad Hoc Committee in early January but removed from the First Selectman’s proposed budget, was added back by the Board of Selectmen during their final budget talks on February 3 before passing it off to the Board of Finance.

The move, adding approximately $823,000 to the town’s bottom line, was in addition to an $86,475 addition to the library budget, a $40,000 addition to the Edmond Town Hall budget, and a number of other small restorations. The proposed bottom line became $50,779,171, a $1,944,665 or 3.98% spending increase. The budget prior to the increases only had a $948,123 or 1.94% spending increase.

When asked why he did not vote on any of the additions, First Selectman Jeff Capeci explained it was due to parliamentary procedure, which stipulates he should only be casting votes if needed to break a tie. He said that it was “clear how he would have voted” after speaking against several additions, particularly the re-addition of curbside recycling pick-up

Selectman Dan Cruson said while he was fine with the elimination of curbside, he did not want to simply cut the program with no plan for those “40 to 70 percent of people who use it, depending on whose numbers you use.” Cruson also felt that since the Recycling Ad Hoc Committee had recommended against its removal, that it would be more fair to members on the Board of Finance and the Legislative Council to have it in the budget so they could decide. He noted that neither the BoF nor the council could add to the bottom line, only the selectmen could do that, so once recycling was cut, it was likely cut without those two groups being able to be involved in the decision.

Selectman Michelle Embree Ku agreed, saying she “100% supported phasing out curbside,” but she wanted to respect the decision of the Recycling Ad Hoc Committee, and give additional time for an alternate plan to be developed and a final decision to be reached.

Capeci said the Ad Hoc Committee “had three years” to make a decision on curbside recycling, and noted that this year’s budget was very, very tight.

The tax levy from the town was expected to increase from the previous proposal’s 5.37% increase to a 6.72% increase with the library and curbside recycling additions, according to Finance Director Glenys Salas.

“I can’t imagine that is going to pass with the voters; $823,000 is a lot of money,” said Capeci. “I think it’s irresponsible for this board to send a budget that is not going to pass at referendum.”

Capeci suggested the selectmen possibly suggest cuts as offsets to the additions.

Embree Ku brought up the possibility of using some money from the Capital And Non-Recurring Fund (CNR) to help pay for some maintenance items as has been done in previous years, noting that $400,000 to $700,000 has been used.

However, Salas said that she has found a discrepancy in numbers reported from the BOE in their own system versus the numbers used by the Finance Department in this system, and once resolving that found that the five year Capital Improvement Plan was overusing the CNR fund by roughly $1.5 million. She recommended against using any funding from the CNR.

Cruson said that was “unfortunate but not unforeseen,” noting that the BOE had been using CNR funds for needed tech items, and on a year like this had led to a “fiscal cliff” where it was unaffordable.

The Board of Finance will begin its review of the budget on Monday, February 10, before passing the budget on to the Legislative Council in March. The budget is expected to go to referendum on Tuesday, April 22.

During budget reviews at the January 29 meeting, Capeci said he has heard a lot of interest in 3 Main Street as well as properties at the Fairfield Hills complex, including Kent and Shelton houses, which may produce revenue that will help offset the budget costs.

According to Capeci at that previous meeting, 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 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, since doing so would have expanded the spending increase to 4.71% from 1.94%, and drastically raised the tax increase from the town to 10.55%.

Capeci said there would be fewer part-time staff, moving responsibilities to existing full-time staff, keeping quasi-governmental and nonprofit agencies’ budgets flat, keeping emergency services at or below seven percent, financing capital requests with debt, leveraging alternate funding sources without increasing deficits, and putting a three percent ceiling on the net tax levy increase.

Capeci is looking to add two positions, a facilities director to hopefully save money on large capital projects, as well as a new police officer, a longstanding request from the police department.

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