Imposed By Finance Panel—

School Board Struggles

With Budget Goal

By Steve Bigham

Finance committee members Monday appeared unreceptive to a Board of Education proposal to finance $1.3 million in capital items in accounts separate from its operating budget for 2001-2002. Board of Education chairman Elaine McClure and vice chairman Vincent Saviano made their request in response to the 7.5 percent guideline that the finance committee has set for increases in operational budgets this year. Board of Education members said they were having a difficult time keeping within that cost, especially as the school system continues to grow. A 7.5 percent increase for the school board works out to about $3 million.

However, the finance committee stood by its guns this week. Faced with a $32 million expenditure for a 5/6 school and an additional $20 million for Fairfield Hills, ball fields, and municipal space, the finance committee said it simply cannot use capital money for anything other than the major projects already on the books.

“What they wanted to do is pull certain items out of the operational budget that were capital in nature,” explained finance committee chairman John Kortze. “We unanimously recommended to the full council that the guidelines should not exceed a 7.5 percent increase in the operational budget both for the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen. It is not our intent to fund any Board of Education capital items, except for the school.”

This week, Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed said there is simply no way that the school system will be able to afford funding so many capital items in the operating budget “unless you reduce staffing or postpone maintenance projects.”

Although a final budget figure has not been disclosed, it is clear that the Board of Education’s operating budget is filling up quickly. First, it had to absorb a $1.3 million increase in contractual salary increases for all school employees. Then, it had to find room for another $1.45 million in what Dr Reed calls his list of “extraordinary increases.” They include a $307,303 (42.5 percent) increase in utilities, a $444,500 jump in health insurance (12.2 percent), an additional $200,000 for transportation (9.3 percent), more than $242,000 extra for out-of-district tuition (37.5 percent), and a $184,000 (158.8 percent) increase for technology equipment.

The school system’s list of capital improvement projects for 2001-2002 are $600,000 for athletic field expansion at the high school, $323,000 to purchase existing modular classrooms at Sandy Hook School, and another $165,000 in sewer and water hook-ups at Sandy Hook.

“Under the 7.5 percent guideline, I don’t see any like probability that many of these capital items can be funded at that level. It’s not possible. Some things just won’t get done,” Dr Reed said.

Mr Kortze said his committee has tried hard to come up with guidelines and a plan that has a “foundation in common sense and real numbers.” He and other members said they felt that many of the capital items did not fit under the category of “urgent.”

“Everybody has needs, but we have to be careful to not go beyond our financial means. This will be a difficult year from the point of view that we are going to have an increase that is larger that normal. Our expectation is that it will be north of two mills,” Mr Kortze said.

The finance committee projects that the increase in revenue to the town from the grand list will be about 2.7 percent. That money should go a long way toward offsetting the debt service for the 5/6 school and Fairfield Hills. However, with that money absorbed, there will be no cushioning to offset any further increases.

“Any increases in the budget will be directly reflected as a direct increase in the mill rate because there is nothing there to absorb it. The grand list increase is already accounted for,” noted Legislative Council Pierre Rochman.

“That’s the reason we gave the increase guideline of 7.5 percent, because we have to accommodate these projects plus the day-in and day-out expenditures of the town,” Mr Kortze added.

Town officials say a two mill increase this year will help the town avoid major tax rate increases two years from now when the 5/6 school finally opens and more money is needed for the development of Fairfield Hills.

“We’ve been in a hot economy with a lot of growth the past few years. But we recognize that all good things must come to an end. Even a slight recession is going to make it very difficult to pass any budget with a significant increase. But we are committing ourselves to big projects. It’s worrisome. It becomes a huge burden for an awful lot of people,” Mr Rochman said.

Despite this week’s setback, Dr Reed showed little panic in his voice Wednesday.

“When the smoke settles, the town normally finds a way of getting the job done.”