The Legislative Council approved the proposed 2026-27 municipal and school budgets at its March 30 meeting, and sent them to referendum for Tuesday, April 28.

The town budget will be $51,453,296 and the school budget will be $95,961,919, for a total of $147,415,217, a 4.34% increase. The mill rate will increase to 29.54, a 2.79% increase.

The school budget was approved 8-4 and the town budget was approved 9-3; The Newtown Bee will include who voted in favor and who voted against in a future story, as the stream of the meeting did not show the council as it voted.

The council made some cuts, including $20,000 in contributions to Newtown Youth and Family Services; $10,000 to C.H. Booth Library, $13,000 for two pickup trucks, $23,097 for an excavator for Parks & Recreation, $12,500 for cameras for the tax collector, $36,000 from a salary for a building inspector since the position will only be employed half a year, and $70,000 for a senior administrator position. Proposed cuts to the Board of Education did not pass. It added $3,000 for additional clerking for the Charter Revision Commission.

The senior administrator position started as a $125,000 director of operations position before the Board of Finance reduced it to a $95,000 senior administrator position, with the difference largely being in whether department heads would report to the position or not. It originated from a recommendation in 2023 for a town administrator position from the Town Administrator Ad Hoc Committee started by former First Selectman Dan Rosenthal. The committee's decision came too late in Rosenthal's time as first selectman to be approved, and his successor, Jeff Capeci, made no attempt to implement the position. Current First Selectman Bruce Walczak took it up by adding it to this year's budget, but it faced a steady stream of opposition from each board it went before during the budget process this year.

Following the Board of Finance choosing to reduce the scope of the position to not have department heads reporting to it, some of the membership of the former ad hoc committee voiced that they no longer supported the position. The council was the final nail in the coffin, with a few members supporting it, noting that the first selectman's office is the only department without a deputy position and that when a position has more responsibilities than time often the first loss is long term planning, as the position plays "a perpetual game of whack-a-mole" dealing with current problems, according to Councilman Arnie Berman.

However, other councilmen, such as Jordana Bloom, felt selectmen knew the responsibilities the position was taking on when they sought election, and that maybe the position could be looked at again in the future.

Prior to the cut for the Board of Education, Councilman Ben Ruben said it was the council's job to "keep Newtown affordable for all residents, not just those who can easily absorb high tax increases year after year." Ruben said he supported the schools and didn't like the narrative that comes each year that those who don't support the budget do not support the schools.

"I disagree with how the funding has been allocated," said Ruben.

Councilman Chris Eide said that he thought the councilmen, if they wanted to cut the school budget, should suggest where cuts were coming from instead of just suggesting a large cut.

Councilman Chris Gardner said he "accepted" Eide's challenge, and suggested that $75,000 be moved from the board's surplus for 2025-26 to pay for some maintenance line items. The proposed cut did not pass and the education budget was eventually approved at the Board of Finance level.

The voters will decide the final fate of the budget at referendum from 6 am to 8 pm Tuesday, April 28.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.