Over the course of its last two meetings on February 25 and March 2, the Board of Finance continued its review of the municipal and school district budget proposals, and continued its attempts to define possible additional areas of taxpayer savings.

During the February 25 review of the municipal budget request of $40,203,958 — which includes $10,110,702 in capital debt service for town and school projects — the finance board heard an regarding adding a staffer to his department.extended presentation from Technology Director Al Miles

That meeting also included a discussion with Public Works Director Fred Hurley who qualified his request for additional funds exclusively in the roads budget as a means to get the town back on a sustainable plan for maintaining and replacing road surfaces and drainage.

Mr Hurley said to adequately maintain Newtown’s extensive road system, the Highway Department would need to repair or replace about ten miles of surfacing and/or drainage annually. Currently budgetary constraints have kept the road program down to about six to seven miles per year.

For a period of time, Mr Hurley was also holding off on resurfacing, because he said a number of road projects that should have a ten- to 15-year user life had been degrading in as few as five years.

He said after some study on test surfacing involving a different quality level of materials, his department has tracked the problem and will be adjusting future specifications to require upgraded or “super-pave” material using virgin versus recycled stone chips in its formula.

The public works chief also indicated the town would likely see additional savings when bidding for diesel fuel supplies was completed. That savings, which Mr Hurley received on March 3 and will report prior to the finance board’s final deliberations, equals a $41,000 savings against the amount preliminarily budgeted.

Mr Hurley said the school district’s separate diesel purchase would generate an added $50,000 in savings — reducing that corresponding budget request. He also told the finance board previously that added energy savings would be realized from historically low natural gas pricing, and that a number of school facilities with dual fuel heating systems are relying almost exclusively on gas versus oil.

Returning to the issue of municipal staffing costs, First Selectman Pat Llodra told finance officials that Newtown has “bottomed out in realizing any gains” from further staff reductions.

She said Newtown’s population has increased about ten percent in the past six years, creating greater taxpayer demands on town departments, versus the school district which is reducing staff corresponding to student population declines.

Finance Director Robert Tait displayed a graphic that showed Newtown has decreased its municipal staff by 15 positions between 2009 and 2014, affecting almost $800,000 in overall savings in the current year’s budget.

The finance director then explained that — due to extremely positive claims experience — he was budgeting no increase in funding for the town’s self-insured employee health plan.

Mr Tait has since learned that the board overseeing the town’s self-insured plan voted to reduce the overall contribution to the plans fund by $300,000 in the 2015-16 budget, resulting in about $225,000 in added savings to the school district’s corresponding budget line.

The balance of that savings will accrue to the municipal budget request.

The finance board is expected to complete its review of the two budget requests, and make its recommendations to the Legislative Council on either March 9 or 12.

(See a separate report on the finance board’s .)school district budget review