Council Hears Diverse Concerns During Final Budget Hearing

By John Voket

Calling for audience members to be respectful of all opinions offered, Legislative Council Chairman Will Rodgers convened the final public hearing before he and his fellow elected representatives consider the $101 million spending package.

“I would ask people to not applaud the speakers. It may be intimidating to those who might have a minority view and adds to the pressure they may feel in terms of bringing their remarks up in front of a crowd,” Mr Rodgers told the approximately 75 attendees at the high school auditorium Wednesday evening. “Also this is a public hearing on the budget, not a daytime talk show.”

Resident Jack Harrison began the public input calling the budget irresponsible and unconscionable. He pointed out that with average household earnings rising at approximately three percent, asking taxpayers to underwrite much more than that in the local budget would be inappropriate.

Leonard Perrini referred to a memo that came home from school with his grandchild, questioning why the Board of Education chose to turn surplus money back to the town instead of using it to replace seats in the middle school auditorium. He then asked to clarify a point in the document about noncertified salaries in the school budget.

“Are we shorting the students because of these administrative salaries?” he asked.

Later in the hearing Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff was asked to answer the question posed by Mr Perrini. Dr Pitkoff explained that the line item being referred to was actually related to salaries for all the noncertified employees, including custodial, secretary, and other nonteaching support staff.

Katherine Metzker and Linda Nasse each spoke about the threat of being squeezed out of town by high taxes. Each pointed out their concerns, especially for aging members of the community who are facing rapidly escalating costs to remain living in town.

“I lived in town years ago, and it was my dream to come back to Newtown,” Ms Nasse said. “But this town is pushing people out because they can’t afford the taxes. These are people who built this town and that is pretty sad.”

She said her family has to go without on occasion so she could afford to pay local property taxes.

“I for one, will vote the budget down until it’s an amount I can afford,” Ms Nasse said.

Ms Metzker echoed a similar sentiment, saying she relocated to Newtown from southern Fairfield County because she got squeezed out by high taxes there.

“I see the same thing happening in Newtown,” she said, adding that local property taxes are significantly outpacing the increases she is seeing in her own pay.

Mary Ann Jacob spoke representing the Sandy Hook PTA, encouraging the council to pass on the budget to taxpayers as presented by the Board of Finance.

“We believe this is a responsible budget,” she said, noting there was a high degree of focus on the proposal this year, because it marked the first Newtown spending package to exceed $100 million.

“This budget has many items in it for the entire population of Newtown,” Ms Jacob said. “There are funds for not only school areas, but also municipal areas such as funding for a senior center addition, new police vehicles, and an incentive for our volunteer firefighters.”

Ms Jacob said she was loath to report that none of last year’s budget referenda drew more than 21 percent of qualified voters. She suggested that supporting the existing recommendation, and then working toward promoting unity by carrying the proposal forward to the voters, would send the strongest message encouraging taxpayers to back the initiative on the first round of voting.

Reduce Debt Service

An accountant, Gary Tannenbaum, spoke during both the first and second round of commentary targeting ever-increasing debt service as both a top concern and an opportunity for savings. He called for the town to refinance any qualified debt service to achieve the greatest savings to taxpayers.

Mr Tannenbaum also asked to clarify which, if any, additional department budgets reflected costs related to Fairfield Hills beyond the line item for the campus management authority. Later in the meeting, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said that the Fairfield Hills Authority budget line reflected nearly all municipal operating costs to maintain the campus.

The first selectman noted that police on routine patrol and an occasional situation that might call for immediate assistance by the Parks and Recreation or Highway Departments were insignificant, and not broken out in other individual budget lines.

Po Murray, a co-founder of WeCAN (We Care About Newtown) called for all town leaders to work harder to provide more information to the public, and called for the council to consider forming a task force to appeal to state legislators to return more tax dollars back to local taxpayers.

Ms Murray said she wanted to see local leaders explore more creative strategies to fund town services while holding the line on taxes.

“Many towns in Connecticut are facing the same issues,” she said. “You have demonstrated the ability to be fiscally conservative, now it’s time to demonstrate you can be fiscally responsible.”

Former council member Ruby Johnson spoke, complimenting town Finance Director Benjamin Spragg for increasing the level of local budget and financial information available on the town website. She then asked about an authorization to transfer $500,000 to a reserve fund for nonrecurring expenses.

Ms Johnson said she has asked for, but never received, an explanation about how the funds are used, and called for the elected leaders to hold off on providing additional taxpayer dollars to a budget line that amounted to a “slush fund.”

During his remarks, Mr Rosenthal explained that the proposal to move the half-million dollars was made in the interest of creating an additional buffer toward next year’s budget, when several new high-ticket capital expenditures will wash against an anticipated drop in revenues due to a general slowing of the state and local economies.

Resident Martha Decker was among the final residents to speak, telling the council she had children at the elementary, middle, and high school level. She implored the elected officials to support the budget, especially the education initiatives related to necessary repairs and renovations at school facilities, adding that she was personally opposed to funding new municipal offices.

Finance Board Endorsement

Finance board Chairman John Kortze was invited to address any questions asked, and to offer his comments on behalf of fellow Board of Finance members.

“The Board of Finance supports the budget as proposed,” Mr Kortze said. He also pointed out his board’s shared view that revenue affecting next year’s budget is expected to wane as local construction and housing sales decline.

Mr Kortze mentioned the importance of passing the budget on the first referendum as one of the best ways to show public support for the many capital investments planned for the coming years. He tied a positive budget outcome with the likelihood of a bond rating upgrade, which would save taxpayers millions of dollars in future borrowing costs, and open up current debt service to possible interest reductions through refinancing.

School board Chair Elaine McClure was the final official to speak at the hearing. She reminded the council that a small percentage of the proposed school budget was targeted at addressing concerns of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASAC), which has issued a warning status on the high school’s accreditation.

Ms McClure pointed to new textbooks, technology, staff, security, and the addition of modular classroom space as part of her board’s attempt to quickly begin answering to the regional agency’s issues at the high school. She also noted that a net gain of only 20 students expected in the coming academic year was somewhat misleading, because it did not clarify shifts in the student population overall.

Ms McClure said besides sending 13 more elementary students to a regional magnet school, shifts within the four-tiered system would mean substantial increases in certain school populations significantly higher than the net gain of 20 predicted districtwide. She also addressed savings the board was expected to realize in a healthcare plan switch from a PPO to a POE, and in diesel and heating fuel bulk purchasing.

After the meeting, Mr Rodgers said he felt the diverse range of concerns expressed by individuals who spoke provided relevant food for thought as the council moved toward final deliberations April 4. Mr Rodgers did take issue with Ms Johnson’s referring to the $500,000 tax relief measure in derogatory fashion.

“My reaction is probably illustrative of the frustrations many of us feel when the capital reserve fund, which has almost exclusively been used to reduce taxes, and only after approval by voters at town meetings, as a slush fund,” the council chair said. “I would caution people who are trying to make the jump from not understanding what the money is for to inferring it can only be considered a slush fund. It only goes to reinforce their extreme level of suspicion and paranoia.”