$72.4 Million Budget

Goes To Council

By Steve Bigham

A proposed town budget of $72.4 million – representing more than an 8 percent increase – is now in the hands of the Legislative Council. It is a budget that includes money for two major capital projects, which town officials say is making it all but impossible to keep the increase down.

The question is: will Newtown taxpayers support a 2.6 mill increase? As it is currently proposed, the 2001-2002 budget would cost a family owning a house assessed at $300,000 about $750 in additional taxes next year. Of course, much of the rise is due to a $1.1 million increase in debt service stemming from the proposed construction of the 5/6 school and the purchase of Fairfield Hills.

If approved, the budget would increase the town’s tax rate from 29.5 to 32.1 mills.

As it now stands, the Board of Education’s budget is $42.6 million, up 8 percent. The remaining $29.8 million comes from the Board of Selectmen’s side, which, including debt service, represents an 8.4 percent increase. Take away debt service and the selectmen’s operating budget is up just 3.8 percent.

Mr Rosenthal made a brief presentation of his budget Wednesday night. School officials, however, were unable to attend the meeting. No doubt, council members will want to hear from them, particularly since it is the school budget that will be the focus of the council’s attention.

Last week, the council’s finance committee, in an effort to keep the increase from going above 2.5 mills, recommended that the school board’s proposal be cut back by $1.1 million, including more than $700,000 in capital costs which school officials sought to have financed over several years. In doing so, the finance committee restated its insistence that operating budget increases be limited to 7.5 percent this year. Since then, the school board cut nearly $200,000, which is still well above the 7.5 percent threshold. The school board has cut a total of $600,000 out of Superintendent John R. Reed’s original budget.

This week, Finance Director Ben Spragg announced he had reworked the town’s borrowing figures, based on lower interest rates, and found that he could reduce debt service by $341,000, dropping the budget increase to 2.4 mills. The budget that was submitted last night does not reflect this revision.