The Legislative Council conducted a meeting over Zoom on April 7 to discuss and act on the Town of Newtown’s 2021-2022 budget proposal.

Legislative Council Chair Paul Lundquist gave an overview of the work leading up to the night’s conversation.

“We know that there are a number of budget adjustments that have been discussed within committees. These committee minutes have been shared. All the questions that have been asked and answered have been shared. We’ve heard recommendations, and we’ve reviewed things at the council level from the committees and now we’ll hear formal motions in a couple minutes, and we’ll take a final vote,” Lundquist summarized.

Some of the items linked to the fund balance adjustments will be acted on at a later date.

He noted that there is $1,371,000 in excess of the 12% cap set for the town’s fund balance policy.

“This is the amount of money that we are looking to move around in this adjustment,” Lundquist explained. “It essentially represents an overtaxation, and, in that sense, we now have the ability to use it to offset some reductions in the proposed budget really in order to minimize the tax impact of voters, so that’s a good thing.”

He went on to say that the fund balance adjustment will allow the immediate reduction in taxation while still funding most of the items slated for reduction.

Town Finance Director Bob Tait added that he wanted the council to understand there were two separate transactions that night.

“You’re adopting the budget with whatever adjustments that you do and then sometime in May/June we are going to amend this current budget year, because our fund balance is over the 12% cap that is in the fund balance cap policy. And we can use that fund balance adjustment for capital items that are being reduced to fund those capital items,” Tait said.

Education Budget

Dan Wiedemann, chair of the Legislative Council Education Committee, motioned to reduce the Board of Education’s (BOE) budget request by $150,000 from the IP capital account to be replenished from the fund balance and also for $345,281 in reductions offset by NoVo And ESSER grants.

It was specified in the discussion that it would be a total number of $495,281 since they do not have line-item authority.

“Although we don’t have line-item authority, it’s always helpful for us to have line-item logic in where we are guiding potential reductions,” Lundquist said.

Wiedemann added that these cuts were discussed and proposed by the BOE.

Legislative Council member Judit DeStefano asked if the grants had been approved or if they were working on an assumption they would come to fruition.

Wiedemann responded that according to Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue the NoVo and ESSER grants have been authorized.

The motion passed unanimously.

Selectmen Budget Request

Finance and Administration Committee Chair Christopher Eide spoke to the group’s Board of Selectmen (BOS) budget proposal by motioning to increase investment income by $200,000.

Lundquist said, “As it’s been discussed in the last few weeks, it’s definitely a recommendation that came from Bob [Tait] based on recent changes and projected changes of interest rates and feeling more confident in what we are likely to see coming our way — still within very conservative investment vehicles that the town’s involved in.”

The motion passed unanimously.

Eide then motioned to increase the assumed tax collection rate from 99.2% to 99.3%.

Wiedemann asked what the .1% increase equates to in dollars and cents, to which Lundquist answered that it is about $100,000.

The motion passed unanimously.

For the next item on the BOS budget, Legislative Council Municipal Operations Committee Chair Phil Carroll said they are looking to remove $220,000 out of capital non-recurring.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal clarified the money would be “from savings to capital non-recurring.”

Eide inquired, “Is there any way to make this show not as a decrease in spending?”

He brought up that he wonders if this number will go back up $200,000 next year and if the intent is to keep pulling from unassigned fund balance every year from now on.

Tait said, “If we had the ability to pull out of fund balance every year, that would be great. It’s because we’ve had a favorable budget balance… I can see some favorable fund balances in the near future.”

Eide responded that, personally, he would rather see the money go to offset bonding than to offset the budget itself. He asked Tait if that is something that was considered.

“First of all, like for instance, in this year’s budget you have a $220,000 budget amount in transferred capital non-recurring. Once we amend it in June, if we go with the proposal, that balance is going to go up to close to a million dollars. But as long as it’s capital and non-recurring, so it’s not a normal operating budget item that you’re talking about,” Tait said.

After some discussion, Eide said, “So it sounds then like it won’t put us in a hole in the future, and it looks like you have a plan for offsetting the bonding in the future with that assigned fund balance. That puts my mind at ease.”

The motion passed unanimously.

The Final Numbers

DeStefano made a motion for the final budget numbers, which included the BOS with $43,521,856, the BOE with $79,697,698, and the town’s total budget of $123,219,554 (an increase of 1.31%).

Legislative Council member Cathy Reiss asked where this brings the mill rate.

Tait said the mill rate is 34.65, which represents a decrease of 0.32%.

Legislative Council member Ryan Knapp asked, “When we say that there’s undesignated funds for capital that we haven’t yet been able to identify, presumably we’re voting on a spending plan. What are we talking about there, I mean, that are not normal operations expenses if we haven’t yet identified them?”

Tait responded, “I think that is a separate subject… that’s talking about when we decide how we are going to use excess fund balance. We don’t have to decide — so let’s say we have $1.3 million. We don’t have to designate everything. The piece that’s undesignated will still go into capital non-recurring; however, I wouldn’t be able to spend it. I’d have to go through the process and get an appropriation for anything undesignated. That’s really what we’re talking about. There’s nothing undesignated in this budget.”

The discussion continued with the motion ultimately passing 11-1, with Knapp opposed.

DeStefano then made the final motion “to allow the finance director to address any rounding errors in the budget just set by the Legislative Council.”

The motion passed unanimously.

Final Thoughts

During the meeting, there were two opportunities for residents to have their voices heard about the budget. No comments were made.

Tait told The Newtown Bee that evening that the increase in budget is “being financed, for the most part, by increase in grand list (new money).”

After the Legislative Council meeting, Knapp posted a statement to his Facebook page about his decision to vote against the proposal and submitted it to The Newtown Bee.

In it, he wrote, “Tonight I voted against the 2021-22 Newtown budget, because while I applaud and support the desire not to raise taxes, I do not agree with how we arrived at the point we did. In short, I feel this process focused too much on revenues as opposed to the naturally harder decisions relating to spending.”

Knapp went on to cite specific concerns, including that he believes the “Fund Balance money should be used to offset bonded debt to spare the taxpayers not only the cost of those projects, but also the interest payments on those projects.”

Town Clerk Debbie Halstead told The Newtown Bee that absentee ballots for the budget referendum will be made available beginning Friday, April 9. For more information about upcoming Legislative Council meetings, visit newtown-ct.gov/legislative-council.