Officials Call For

Zero-Tax-Increase Budget

By John Voket

A consensus among members of the Newtown Boards of Finance and Selectmen point to a 2009 municipal budget strategy that will deliver a zero sum tax increase. But several town leaders, including First Selectman Joe Borst, agree that such a goal can only be achieved by reducing the town’s workforce.

Whether the staff reductions will come by attrition or layoffs has not been made clear.

At least one official, finance board Chairman John Kortze, told The Bee that the school district, which allocated nearly 78 percent of its $66 million budget toward salaries and benefits this year, may have lost its chance to make those personnel adjustments painlessly.

“We previously [questioned] the Board of Education about why they were hiring elementary teachers,” Mr Kortze said, referring to student population projections that almost uniformly showed declining elementary trending. “That was the time to use attrition to their advantage.”

Now, Mr Kortze said, as the town is teetering on the potentially darkest and most unpredictable period of financial uncertainty in anyone’s memory, it is appropriate and important to present taxpayers with a zero-increase budget.

“We have to play defense. We can talk about offense when the taxpayers can afford it,” he said. This was reflected across his board during a December 8 meeting when all six members conceded that at least a zero-sum increase is necessary and doable.

The only thing that kept the finance board from calling for even deeper budget cuts from town departments — including the school district — was Vice Chairman James Gaston’s request to hear departmental requests, and possibly more about proposed state cuts to town and school grants, before making a final decision.

The rest of the finance board all appeared ready to recommend town departments come to next month’s deliberations with budgets pared to 95 percent of their 2008, or present budget year, totals. And both Mr Kortze and the first selectman agreed that probably will not happen without departmental layoffs on both the town and school sides of the budget.

“That’s the unfortunate part — it can’t happen without layoffs,” Mr Kortze said.

Mr Borst said while he is holding out ultimate hope that President-elect Barack Obama’s promised economic stimulus package will take some of the pressure off, “I’m afraid we are going to have to do something draconian.”

Mr Borst said if that means either co-signing or penning his own recommendation to the school board to make the cuts necessary to deliver a zero-increase budget, it is what he is prepared to do.

“I don’t mind countersigning with the chairman of the Board of Finance, or writing a letter of my own once I’ve seen [Mr Kortze’s] recommendations,” Mr Borst said.

Selectmen’s Call

On the same track, Republican Selectman Paul Mangiafico, on December 4, wrote to Mr Borst, school board Chair Elaine McClure, and Legislative Council Chair Will Rodgers, expressing grave concern for the future economy, and calling for unified “objective of not increasing taxes.”

“There are, to be sure, mandated increases which I believe — must — be offset with reductions,” Mr Mangiafico wrote in the memo.

Democratic Selectman Herb Rosenthal concurred, calling on the Board of Education to cooperate.

“I agree with Paul’s sentiment,” Mr Rosenthal said. “But the only way we are going to make it work is to make the board of ed do the same thing.”

Mr Rosenthal also concurred that while elected officials could try to achieve the no tax increase goal by cutting services and supplies, “The only way to get there is to lay people off.”

“It’s a year where the people of Newtown are not immune to layoffs themselves; cuts in pay; people lucky to be holding onto jobs; people losing lots of money in their retirement funds,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Kortze countered, however, with one of the few points of good news. He referenced several administrative moves on the part of his board, and the town finance authority in recent years, positioning the town to potentially “counter what’s coming.”

“We want to be in a position to institute a policy of growth in the budget, while decreasing planned debt and debt expenditure,” Mr Kortze said. The finance board this week unanimously agreed to accomplish the latter by recommending a decrease in the town’s self-imposed debt cap on borrowing from ten to nine percent in the 2009 budget.

A consensus of five among the six finance board members was positioned to recommend the five percent departmental budget cuts. Mr Kortze said this will likely be necessary in the end because the town already used revenues in 2008 to help reduce the taxation rate that it will not have in 2009.

State Of The Town

Town Finance Director Robert Tait reported to both the Legislative Council and the finance board in recent days that projected revenues from town investments and conveyance taxes have accounted for a half-million dollar reduction in anticipated revenues already.

“If we lose more in revenues, a flat budget will not deliver a zero-tax increase. We have to bring it in less,” Mr Kortze said.

The finance board unanimously agreed to have Mr Kortze send an official notification of its sentiments to the Boards of Selectmen and Education, and the Legislative Council.

In hearing about the news, School Superintendent Janet Robinson said she was already calling for one teacher cut per elementary school, and increases in elementary classroom sizes to consolidate further.

“But that doesn’t even get the budget down below five percent [increase],” Dr Robinson said Tuesday.

She said a 95 percent starting point “means moving the district backwards.”

“I have a responsibility to protect the education of the children of this town,” she said, adding that the draconian suggestions of more widespread layoffs might, in effect, achieve a financial goal in the coming year.

“But you only get to go through third grade once, don’t you?” the superintendent observed.