Starting with a public hearing, the Legislative Council on March 18 continued discussions on the proposed 2026-27 municipal and education budgets, but has yet to make any changes.

The council was reviewing the budget following a Board of Finance review, with the 2026-27 proposed budget currently standing at a $51,630,490 town budget and $95,961,919 school budget, totaling $147,592,409. The town has a 3.54% spending increase, and the BOE is looking at a 4.6% spending increase, for a total effective tax rate increase of 2.91%.

During the public hearing, only two members of the public spoke, and they delivered conflicting messages.

Herb Rosenthal, a former Board of Education chairman and former first selectman, started the meeting stating it was his first time in his 42 years in elected office advocating for cuts to the Board of Education budget. Rosenthal stated that with rising food and gas costs, Newtown residents could not bear a three percent increase this year after four percent two years ago and six percent last year. He said there must be somewhere in the budget to cut, maybe in capital items or to the BOE's "top heavy administration" with "20-plus administrators with higher salaries than the first selectman, the chief of police," and a number of other town-side executive positions.

Rosenthal said that Newtown used to be viewed as a high performing district with lower than average spending compared to others, and now he felt that it was the opposite, with Newtown among the highest spending with lower performance.

Following Rosenthal, parent Jessica Kinney came forward to ask the council to not only not cut the BOE budget, but to restore the $125,000 cut by the Board of Finance last month.

Kinney said she felt the school administrators had looked at all areas for cuts, while there were many escalating costs outside the board's control, and she "didn't see a lot of fluff." She did see buildings in need of maintenance that has been deferred to help save money.

Following the public hearing, councilmen discussed some budget specifics, most notably a proposed senior administrator position that was put in the budget this year, replacing the originally proposed director of operations recommended by the Town Administrator Ad Hoc Committee two years ago. The main difference between the director of operations position (essentially the same as a town administrator) would have department heads reporting to them, while the senior administrator would not, and would not be considered a higher rung in the hierarchy of the municipal center than the department heads.

Some councilmen wondered what duties the senior administrator would be doing that are not under the purview of Executive Assistant Sue Marcinek. Walczak noted that the executive assistant was a secretarial position, while the senior administrator would "provide higher level support" — follow up on projects assigned to committees, attend commission meetings the first selectman was unable to keep track of, and put together a transition manual for when the first selectman changes.

Councilman Chris Eide asked what duties are not being performed that would be performed with the extra manpower. Walczak said that there is little time to work with boards from outside of town, such as WestCOG, and on duties such as forming objectives for each department each year, as well as there not having been performance reviews in years.

"We need to do this so the departments don't get used to flying on their own jet fuel with no supervision," said Walczak.

Councilman Ben Ruben noted that members of the Town Administrator Ad Hoc Committee had withdrawn their support for the position after the change from a director of operations to the senior administrator position.

"That's enough for me to withdraw my support," said Ruben.

Walczak noted that the Board of Finance voted unanimously in support of the position with the change.

Later in the meeting, Ruben also questioned a Board of Education line item for "Districtwide Strategic Investment." He said that there were a number of one-time items in that line item, like $162,000 for an emergency communications system. Putting that in the regular budget, Ruben contended, raised the town's minimum budget requirement, and that money would become a permanent part of the budget for a one-time expense.

Councilman Michelle Embree Ku noted that the money would likely be used for other one-time expenses — the communications system was 20 years old, but there is likely a 19-year-old piece of equipment that needs replacement next.

The council was expected to continue discussions at its March 25 and March 30 meetings. The budget will go to referendum on Tuesday, April 28.

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