After years of contentious budget seasons where education and municipal officials tended to retreat into opposite corners to defend their spending requests, the Legislative Council began holding annual summit-style gatherings to bring its members and representatives of the Boards of Finance, Selectmen, and Education around the same table to reinforce that everyone involved was playing for the same team. Members of the council felt so strongly about the need for such meetings to open the annual budget process that they memorialized the practice as part of the latest charter revision. The latest budget summit was held in Newtown Municipal Center council chambers on November 16.Input From School Officials

During that gathering, First Selectman Pat Llodra, School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, and Board of Education Chairman Keith Alexander spent a little over 90 minutes talking about anticipated future spending needs, as well as some of the drivers behind those budget requests. Mrs Llodra telegraphed an approximate two percent overall increase and Dr Erardi indicated he would not be circulating preliminary spending requests to the school board until just before Christmas break.

The main driver for the anticipated townside bump, Mrs Llodra said, was due to pay increases and the need to fund a pension shortfall she blamed on the pension portfolio's poor investment performance last year. She also reminded attendees that June 2017 would usher in negotiations with three municipal unions, and a concern that Newtown's pay increases for those employees have "lagged behind state averages."

Following the departure of several key staffers who were recruited away with what Mrs Llodra said were significant pay increases, she pointed out that in order to retain some remaining nonunion and management staff, the town was going to have to face "enhancing" their earnings. She cited the fire marshal, human resources director, and executive assistant in her office as positions where compensation packages needed to be improved.

She said the recent retirement of Fire Marshal William Halstead could mean some type of restructuring in that office, but any decisions about that are the responsibility of local fire commissioners. The departure of Newtown's economic development coordinator presents an opportunity to restructure positions in that department as well, she said.

At the same time Mrs Llodra told officials around the table that no new hiring was expected to occur next year, and she expects debt service on capital bonding next year to remain flat. In regard to the town's self-funded health insurance plan, Mrs Llodra indicated that claims in recent months were light, boding well for minimal increases in the 2017 fiscal cycle.

The first selectman went on to say that plans to continue bonding and budgeting for road repairs were on track, and suggested creating a policy that would mandate specific annual allocations to the town's Capital Non-Recurring Fund. She said that the town needs to replace some municipal motor pool vehicles at $25,000, make a third and final $100,000 payment on a loader for the Public Works Department, and pay a $240,000 installment for the town's property revaluation.

Mrs Llodra also hopes to shift $40,000 in budget funds to underwriting the town's Center for Support and Wellness, anticipating the sunsetting of grants that are currently funding the human services agency.

Responding to separate questions about anticipated revenues and Grand List growth, Mrs Llodra said on both fronts, it was too early in the current fiscal year to offer any projections.

With no budget projections available, school officials moved into their presentation saying that a significant looming expense in the form of added federal taxation on self-insured health plans that was anticipated to hit next year is off the table for the time being. Dr Erardi added that the district was on track to participate in regionalizing special education services, as well as continuing to work toward establishing single shared service departments with the town for IT, human resources, and facilities management.

Both the superintendent and first selectman also reported that while these eventual merging of services was expected to enhance efficiency and quality of service, projected cost savings would be insignificant.

Turning to the subject of increasing costs in the face of declining enrollment, the school board chairman and superintendent referenced the most recent trend projections as justification for a decision to not consider closing an elementary school. That discussion organically reverted to the most recent proposal about possibly closing the Newtown Middle School and splitting its grades between the intermediate and high schools.

"The choice to close a school is to provide better use of space and income," Dr Erardi said. "Hopefully the board of education will come to a decision by its next meeting about returning a facility to the town."

When asked about projected savings if the district deactivated the middle school, the superintendent said the anticipated half-million dollars in year one would double to $1 million annually for at least the next decade. The only caveat would be if the town decided to sell the facility instead of converting it fully or partially to other community uses. If the building was sold, the town would likely need to reimburse the state for its partial funding of a recent roof installation.

Responding to a question about planned future uses if the middle school building is vacated by the district, Mrs Llodra said that options ranged from housing police, Parks & Recreation, and Cultural Arts Commission offices there, or even converting part or all of the building into senior housing. Ultimately, however, Mrs Llodra said, "You don't close a school to save money, it's an educational decision. But you also shouldn't tax people for a resource you don't need."

Returning to the subject of shifting eighth grade students to dedicated space in the high school, Dr Erardi admitted there were very few similar models to use for guidance.

Council member Ryan Knapp and Chair Mary Ann Jacob both appealed to education officials poised to make a decision on the middle school, to consider refocusing funds for students' benefit that are currently devoted to keep underutilized buildings on line.

"Kids benefit from quality teachers - not the facility," Ms Jacob said. "Our elementary students are seeing an erosion of services to keep buildings open. We're going to have less than half the amount of kids in Newtown High School than we can fit."

Dr Erardi picked up on the statement telling officials that since 2007, the district has lost approximately 1,100 students, and he expects the high school to sustain a population of about 1,000 fewer students than the building can accommodate within ten years.

The balance of the summit conversation concluded around the potential accuracy of various population predictions, both from a student/enrollment perspective, as well as a community demographic standpoint, with both sides asserting reservations about whether Newtown and its student population will increase as some consultants predict.

Upon adjournment of the summit portion of the meeting, council and education officials reviewed the latest settlement of the school administrators' contract. The four-year contract is proposed to provide a 2.25 percent increase each year, with administrators moving to a Health Savings Account model for coverage, and paying one percent more than teaching faculty for benefits.

The council had an option to support the contract, to take no action which would cause the proposal to take effect after 30 days, or vote against it, sending the contract into mandated arbitration. In the end the council unanimously agreed to take no action.