During its regular meeting February 17, the Legislative Council continued with its ongoing series of discussions on various town and school district practices focusing first on expenses related to shared services between the municipal and Board of Education budget.

The series of presentations along with ample opportunity to ask questions is intended to orient newly elected members of the council, as well as providing an opportunity to comprehensively address issues that may be subject to rumor or misunderstanding in the community or on local social networks.

First Selectman Pat Llodra began the presentation telling council members that she and Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, met several times to review the costs and service overlaps in recent months.

The first selectman also expressed some frustration at having to try and divide the two budgets for the purpose of assigning specific cost to either one.

"We understand we are in this together," Mrs Llodra said. "It's not our intention to separate the budgets and assign costs to the levels provided. I was asked to do that."

Mrs Llodra said she believes one of the most important things a municipality can do is support a strong school program.

"And shared costs are assigned where they are assigned," she said.

Council Chair Mary Ann Jacob responded, saying, "Part of our role is to inform constituents and to provide a platform so if we're asked, we can be sure information is out there and correct."

Turning to the details, Mrs Llodra distributed a data sheet that summed up $770,810 in townside budget costs dedicated to Board of Education operations.

Among the roughly one dozen line items, the town's police budget underwriting of armed and sworn school security officer costs at $267,616, and $117,595 in wages for two school resource officers who are Newtown Police Department employees, amounted to the bulk of those shared expenses.

Along with those school safety positions come approximately $40,000 for Social Security contributions, equipment, and training for those individuals.

The town also offsets the following expenses to the school district:

*$89,000 for significant winter storm snow removal by Public Works

*$82,000 for infrastructure maintenance done by Public Works

*$63,100 for lawn maintenance by Parks & Rec

*$8,000 for sod on the high school sports fields by Parks & Rec

*$17,500 for grub, fungus, and weed control by Parks & Rec

*$52,000 for maintenance on eight school sports fields by Parks & Rec

*$7,500 for field paint by Parks & Rec

*$2,000 for athletic field lighting by Parks & Rec

*$5,000 in excess snow removal costs by Parks & Rec

That final spending item is above and beyond $18,000 already charged to the district for other snow plowing and removal done by parks crews. Including that allocation, the district compensates the town $139,700 for the following:

*$39,000 for Parks & Rec overtime costs

*$70,500 for district office space and expenses in the municipal center

*$77,450 from the "Pay to Participate" sports programs

*$20,000 from parking permits

*$8,000 for "child development fees"

*$31,500 for "local tuition"

*$2,750 in miscellaneous fees

While the top two expenses are direct reciprocal payments for services, the balance is from the district's operating budget, which pass through to the town's General Fund as revenue.

Along with those identified expenses and costs, Mrs Llodra said there are a "lot of indirect costs."

"Everything we do has a school support component for it," Mrs Llodra said.

The first selectman said that because of the disproportionate split between town and school spending, it could be argued that any town department engaged in the assessment or collection of fees and taxes could technically be viewed as contributing 67 percent of effort costs - corresponding to the amount of taxation collected for schools annually.

Dr Erardi made the point that when he meets with the first selectman, or when other school and town colleagues meet, "it's not competitive." He said whether it is the public works and school facilities director, the parks and school athletic director, or the school security supervisor and police chief are meeting, everyone is collaborative and cooperative for the good of the students.

"It's seamless how they work together," Dr Erardi observed. "The town departments take good care of us."

Focusing on school board contributions to the General Fund, town Finance Director Robert Tait explained that when he and school officials are preparing both budgets, they determine how it will be funded.

"We take other revenues first - interest, fees, contributions from the BOE, collections - and what's left are [assessed as] current year taxes," Mr Tait said. "Contributions to the General Fund help fund the Board of Education's budget."

To that point, Ms Jacob affirmed that eliminating parking fees would then have direct taxation implications on everyone in town.

School board Chairman Keith Alexander said his board reviews the shared services numbers regularly and are often "surprised by the numbers."

"Then we talk about it and it becomes clear," Mr Alexander said. "We get a lot out of the town [including] the shared use of facilities. It's not a question of yours, mine, or ours - but it generates conversation. We have to pay for these things."

Mrs Llodra reiterated that when it comes to town and school shared services and costs, "We're in this together, we don't want to separate this out."

Ms Jacob said sharing services are the most cost-effective way to accomplish work that needs to be done - while avoiding duplication of costs and effort.

"Ultimately taxpayers need to know this is best way to provide highest level of services at the lowest cost," the council chair said.