Date: Fri 26-Jan-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

selectmen-budget-Cascella

Full Text:

Proposed Town Budget Shows 4.3% Increase

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

First Selectman Bob Cascella Wednesday proposed an $18.8 million budget for

1996-96, an increase of 4.38 percent over the current budget.

He also recommended that the town spend its $2 million surplus from the

1994-95 fiscal year by using $1.2 million to reduce taxes and equalize the

results of the recent property revaluation and by using the remaining $800,000

to renovate Town Hall South.

"Last year we put $600,000 back to offset taxes and $900,000 into the capital

reserve fund, but last year we didn't have revaluation," Mr Cascella said.

"This is an incredibly unique year. So this year I am recommending to the

(Board of Selectmen) and the Legislative Council that we not set aside money

in the capital reserve account."

The need to repair Town Hall South has reached a crisis point, he said.

"Just look at the building. Go stand in the puddles of water (in the

building). A few more leaks and I'll have to move the police department to the

Edmond Town Hall gym."

The proposed 1996-97 budget shows an increase of $791,000 over the current

year. This includes about a three percent salary increase for town employees,

$59,500 for five replacement police cars, $130,000 for a tanker for the Sandy

Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, $37,000 for computers for town offices

and some new and replacement equipment for the public works department and the

parks and recreation department.

It also includes $40,000 to hire a human resources director (personnel

director) for the town.

"Town government is a $20 million business with 135 employees," Mr Cascella

said. "There hasn't been continuity in the administration of the town - when I

was elected two years ago we'd had four first selectmen in eight years. We

need to bring in someone who has the educational background that is needed to

deal with such areas as ADA (the American Disabilities Act), Workmen's

Compensation and employment policies. I don't have this professional

background and neither have any of the first selectmen who proceeded me."

"A chief executive officer shouldn't be handling day-to-day personnel matters

yet 20 to 50 percent of my time is spent doing just that."

Mr Cascella said town offices have been working with typewriters and memory

writers, technology that dates back to the 1960s. Used computers that

occasionally are given to the town won't run up-to-date software, he said.

Although any expenditure would have to go out for bid, Mr Cascella said he did

some pricing and found that for about $37,000 "we could buy 15 PC's and six

laser printers that would allow all offices to use the same basic software."

The first selectman said the purchase of a replacement tanker for the Sandy

Hook fire company will fulfill the town's promise to provide a new tanker for

each of the five volunteer companies.

"The cost of having a full-time (paid) fire department would be staggering,"

he pointed out. "We've purchased a tanker for each of the (volunteer)

companies - this is the last one. The tankers are critical to bring water to

fight fires. Sandy Hook's tanker is so old and in need of so much work that it

isn't practical to renovate it."

As part of the highway budget, Mr Cascella recommended including $1 million

for road improvements for the second straight year and bonding an additional

$1 million.

"It is important to maintain the level of funding for our five-year road

plan," he said. "We are chipping away at the problem of deteriorating roads."

The proposed budget includes a new dump truck, a pickup truck and a loader for

the highway department and a new backhoe to help maintain the town parks. New

equipment means less "down time" with highway workers waiting for trucks to be

fixed and reduces the maintenance costs, Mr Cascella said.

The budget also includes money for a study of the swimming pond at Dickinson

Park. "The Parks & Recreation Commission believes this is a high priority,"

the first selectman said. "There are problems with the (paved) bottom of the

pond."

The selectmen's budget is about one-third of the total proposed town budget.

The other two-thirds, or $28 million, is the school budget which

Superintendent of Schools John Reed proposed recently to the Board of

Education. The proposed school budget is up 5.6 percent from this year's

spending level.

Town and school officials are waiting for the results of the compilation of

the Grand List which shows how much of an increase in taxable property the

town has had in the last year. This figure is expected to be announced by the

tax assessor's office on or before January 31. This increased revenue, plus

the $2 million audited surplus from 1994-95, will be weighed with the

revaluation results in the deliberations over the town budget.

The Board of Education is expected to make a final decision on the school

district budget at its February 13 meeting.

The selectmen held their first workshop on Mr Cascella's proposed budget on

Wednesday night (see related story on Page A-6). More budget workshops will be

held on January 25, January 29 and January 31. The selectmen's budget then

will go to the Legislative Council for its review and deliberations before

public hearings are held this spring. The entire town-school budget then will

go to the voters in a referendum in April.