Combined Requests $107 Million—

Officials Hope Conservative Increases

Prompt First Round Budget Passage

By John Voket

Like a puck dropping on the hard surface of a hockey rink, the delivery of the proposed school district budget binders this week at the First Selectman’s Office signaled the official start of budget deliberations for 2008. And across the scope of leading elected officials from the finance board, selectmen, council members, and the Board of Education, the best case scenario is clear — get the budget passed on the first try.

Whether those hopes materialize is the 107-million-dollar question, since the combined municipal and school budget proposals total $106,959,032.

Publicly, First Selectman Joseph Borst has outlined his take on the townside spending package in a terse, one-page summary. He outlines the bottom line first, pointing out the proposed $3,034,269 increase which, if approved as submitted, would increase the municipal portion of the overall proposal to just over $40 million.

That final submitted number follows the selectmen voting to ultimately trim $2.9 million from general government department requests, which were presented more than two months ago.

Mr Borst points out that after debt service in the selectmen’s budget, which includes new school district capital projects including the high school expansion construction phase one bonding, the general government increase is $1,573,294, or 4.25 percent for all other services, salaries, and operating expenses.

The first selectman’s memo further states that factoring in nonschool district related debt service of $366,850 the total townside increase creeps up to 5.24 percent. The townside capital increase is just 0.8 percent or $280,000, primarily covering planned road and bridge improvements.

The school district budget request, which is introduced via a summary signed by school board chair Elaine McClure, tops out just under $67 million, representing a 6.4 percent jump. She states that this year’s proposal is the lowest percentage increase forwarded to the school board in 11 years, which was further reduced by her board by another $193,253 to arrive at the bottom line of $66,931,044.

The school board’s reductions were achieved by reducing three new bus routes to one, saving $151,530, cutting plant maintenance by $15,000, sports equipment by $18,717, trimming $4,359 from the Family & Consumer Science budget, $8,006 from phys ed training equipment, and eliminating a $6,925 upright piano from the music department line.

Benefits are the second highest expenditure in the school’s proposal at 15 percent, the same amount budgeted for all high school operations, and just two percent less than the entire combined elementary system’s budget (17 percent).

The highest percentage increase in the district budget, however, is in technology. In her cover letter, Ms McClure justifies the 50.8 percent increase saying Newtown must remedy inequities in its schools, including two schools that have been unable to transition from obsolete Macs to Windows platform PCs.

“These schools are certainly lacking in their ability to provide students with the skills essential for the 21st Century,” Ms McClure writes.

The current school proposal supports a ratio of 62 percent of its total expenditures in salaries and an additional 15 percent in benefits. Combined salary and benefit increases over last year make up 59 percent of the $4,045,886 total requested increase.

An additional one percent is built in to the district’s overall increase for new salaries.

On the municipal side, Mr Borst reports salary increases amount to two percent or $768,000 of the selectmen’s proposed increase, with $156,000 earmarked for new positions in the technology department. Up until this year, those salaries were paid by the town to the school district, which provided and housed all town and school technology services.

The first draft selectman’s budget document that appears today on Page C9 of The Newtown Bee, is subject to changes as the deliberations transition through the finance board to the council, according to town Finance Director Benjamin Spragg. The town charter authorizes the finance board to “revise estimates” of any aspect of the town or school proposal in the process of preparing the budget for presentation to the council.

The Board of Finance’s deliberations began Thursday, February 21, after The Bee went to print this week. Next Wednesday, February 27, the Board of Finance conducts its public hearing on the 2008 budget proposal, followed by school district deliberations Thursday, February 28.

Monday, March 3, could be the final deliberation and possible finance board action on the 2008 budget proposal. Monday, March 10, the night of a regular finance board meeting is reserved for further deliberation and action on 2008 budget proposal, if required.

By Friday, March 14, the council is scheduled to receive the approved budget proposal from finance. At that point, by charter, the council can reduce any item by majority vote, and/or increase or add on by a two-thirds majority vote.

The council can, however, only add back or increase any item to the amount proposed in the selectmen’s or school board’s original draft submission.

In examining aspects of the municipal side of the proposal that could remain intact, or be subject to change, Mr Spragg said state grants will likely remain consistent with what is proposed.

“There may be some new action in the state budget that could affect us slightly, but since we’re in the second year of the two-year state budget cycle, we won’t get any less than is proposed,” Mr Spragg explained.

At the state level, however, the scheduled “sunsetting” of the state property conveyance tax could cost Newtown taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars, based on the current trends of local home sales and property transfers.

This year, Mr Spragg said, represents an anomaly in health care cost trends with a proposed first draft rate increase of just five percent, a far cry from the 18 percent increase proposed at the same time last year. While the 2007 health plan increase ended up at eight percent after factoring in low January–June (’07) claims, this year’s same period experience could drop the new five percent rate even lower.

Even if the town’s claims experience is unfavorable, the provider cannot increase rates in 2008 by more than the proposed five percent, Mr Spragg said.

On the school district side, the district summary indicates a similar five percent gain for the school’s PPO. Increased employee contributions in the 2008 school year account for more than $1.4 million, bringing the total school increase for benefits up to just over $9.9 million or a $442,844 increase.