Facing 16 Percent Increase—

Selectmen Make Modest Cuts To $43 Million Budget Requests

By John Voket

About seven hours into what promised to be at least 12 hours of municipal budget deliberations by the Board of Selectmen this week, Republican Selectman Paul Mangiafico made an observation about the many department and service organization representatives coming forward, each making strong cases for funding priorities.

“Our citizens are looking for a lot of things [from the budget],” Mr Mangiafico said. “But then on the day of the referendum, they speak.”

He was referring to several instances in recent years where the enthusiasm shown for supporting department budgets, programs, and purchases seemed to fall short with those departments’ constituencies at the voting booth. Particularly last year, when voters sent an initial $100 million-plus budget back for cuts three times before an eventual approval was gained in early June.

The selectman’s remark was made in passing, but it spoke volumes in terms of sending a message to each department coming forward with increase after increase: those seeking priority funding must play a role in motivating taxpayers to get out and pass the final budget proposal on its first outing if they truly believed the increases are justified.

Selectmen were scheduled to complete a posted cycle of budget deliberations Thursday evening, after The Newtown Bee went to press.

The elected officials, who get a first swipe at reducing department proposals, were faced with a daunting 16 percent increase. But by the end of day two in their deliberations, only about $90,000 had been pared from the $42.9 million in department and agency requests.

That small adjustment was also not lost on the Republican selectman, who at one point later in the deliberations held up the two-inch-thick budget binder on which he was working.

“What is in this book is unacceptable?” Mr Mangiafico said with an air of frustration in his voice. “It’s not a question of wanting to [fund all requests] — we just can’t afford it.”

Day two of the selectmen’s deliberations Wednesday was reserved primarily for the life saving and supportive social service agencies in town and throughout the region. Those coming forward included the volunteer fire departments and ambulance service, Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR), The Newtown Parent Connection, Newtown Youth & Family Services, the Health District, Kevin’s Community Center clinic, and a host of other nonprofit organizations serving residents in town.

Budgets for the fire departments and ambulance service were moved forward as proposed with  3.9 and 5 percent increases, respectively, while the selectmen opted to cut $5,000 from the combined NUSAR and Emergency Management budget. Requests for an upgraded depth finder with horizontal search capabilities and two full-face diving masks to replace those loaned to the unit by its Chief Michael McCarthy were eventually cut.

The selectmen were also poised to cut a heart-starting automatic emergency defibrillator (AED) but NUSAR Lt Paula Wickman spoke up, explaining the unit was necessary if a member of their crew was stricken on a call or exercise where ambulance or fire crews with similar equipment were not on scene.

“If one of us is injured during a drill, and we need to use it, we don’t want to wait for an ambulance to show up,” Ms Wickman said, prompting the selectmen to forgo that cut.

Selectmen also endorsed the purchase of a satellite phone and corresponding service, which was prioritized as the Emergency Management Department’s top need. Selectman Herb Rosenthal explained in times of disaster or other widespread emergency situation, the satellite phone might be the only means of communication between emergency management operations in neighboring towns and throughout the state.

The Lake Zoar Authority came forward Wednesday with a 113 percent increase, primarily attributed to a plan to initiate widespread invasive weed eradication on the lake, and to conduct maintenance and improvements to a weed harvesting boat owned by the authority. That proposal, a bump from $23,682 to $50,913, passed.

A $5,000 proposed increase for the Children’s Adventure Center, which serves and is funded as the town’s official child care facility, was denied. While Director Mae Schmidle was on hand offering possible contingencies for the increase, Mr Mangiafico indicated her presentation lacked the necessary documentation to convince him of its ultimate need.

First Selectman Joseph Borst recused himself from deliberation on the matter because his wife, Barbara, is on the organization’s board of directors.

Chris Gardner, chairman of the recently merged Newtown Youth & Family Service organization, and the co-founders of the Newtown Parent Connection all made impassioned pleas for significant increases, citing statistical evidence of increased need for substance abuse intervention, counseling, and rehabilitation.

“This community has a serious problem on its hands, substance abuse,” said Mr Gardner. “And it’s time Newtown declares war on this problem.”

Mr Gardner and several representatives from the staff and NYFS board justified a proposed $61,000 increase to fund a substance abuse prevention and treatment professional, whose services were recently authorized through a state certification process completed by the agency. The balance of the funding request was cited to hire a drop-in center supervisor for the NYFS headquarters, which recently relocated to the intersection of Church Hill Road and Queen Street from Glen Road in Sandy Hook.

During deliberations, Mr Gardner said he was committed to working with the Newtown Parent Connection, which has been successful in rapidly placing young people into rehabilitation situations.

That organization, represented Wednesday by Donna DeLuca and Dorrie Carolan, requested a large increase from $7,500 to $25,000. The pair said their initial desire was to fund a part-time administrator and certified facilitators for two of the organization’s support groups.

The NPC was also recently approached to conduct a youth Alcoholics Anonymous program and a transition group for clients coming home from rehabilitation stays.

Selectmen were sympathetic to the cause, choosing to double the organizations proposed allocation to $15,000, opting to invite the NPC founders back during the year if they had a need for additional emergency funding.

Budget deliberations on Tuesday evening extended to just past midnight, but that meeting only yielded modest cuts to the Police Department’s capital line, the emergency communications budget, and the registrars of voters totaling $60,000.