Council Sends Budget To Referendum

With Three-Percent Tax Increase

By John Voket

After more than five hours of deliberation and separate votes on requested town and school spending, the Legislative Council sent to referendum a proposal that would impose a 2.99 percent tax increase if approved by voters on April 27.

According to First Selectman Pat Llodra, the total 2010-2011 budget proposal equals $104,453,615, representing a total of $37,458,881 in town-side spending, and $66,994,734 for the school district.

During the opening two hours of the meeting, public comments that were offered occasionally became spirited.

After Independent Party of Newtown (IPN) treasurer Gianine Crowell waved a 2009 campaign mailer in the air accusing freshman council member Chris LaRocque of breaking a campaign promise to support education, the Legislative Council member explained why he supported a budget that provides a school spending increase of $679,000 and an increase on the town side of $58,000.

“I feel it’s a compromise between our education side and our town side,” Mr LaRocque said. Looking at it from “purely a numbers perspective,” he said if about two dozen school supporters who spent more than two hours Wednesday evening calling for restoration of a $2.5 million district spending reduction got their way, the resulting tax increase would be about six percent.

He likewise acknowledged that it was unrealistic to propose cutting anything more from either the town or school side to achieve a zero tax increase. Mr LaRocque said he backed a budget as proposed, because it represented a fair split between the “people who say I don’t want any tax [increase]” and the ones who say “throw all the money at it.”

In the end, the council lined up in agreement.

On the town budget expenditures, council member Kevin Fitzgerald was alone in his opposition after arguing that he believed additional funds might be found to reduce municipal spending. And he was joined by fellow IPN Councilmen Gary Davis and Richard Belden in opposing the school spending proposal as being too little to carry on district programs as they stand today.

A Few Adjustments

Although there were a number of slight adjustments, including applying Town Aid Road grants to the revenue side of the proposal, and transferring some Highway Department overtime funds to a contingency line, the bottom line remained unchanged from the amount the Board of Finance recommended almost a month earlier.

Other adjustments included about a $175,000 reduction to the Grand List resulting from assessment appeal lowering anticipated property taxes, and the addition of the same amount in revenue from anticipated auto tax supplements and the sale of outstanding tax liens.

Of the approximately two dozen individuals who spoke in support of restoring reductions to the proposed district spending request, only one represented himself as representing a so-called “silent majority” of taxpayers who could not afford to pay more.

Mitchell Bolinsky, who is also vice chairman of the local Republican Town Committee, said he and his wife were both subject to wage freezes in their jobs going back two and three years, respectively. And while he said both were pleased to still be employed, he did not support adding tax dollars to the $679,000 school budget increase “when the economy is on the rocks.”

Ms Crowell was among the most vocal advocates for restoring funds to the school district’s request, but was admonished by Council Chairman Jeff Capeci when she began singling out Mr LaRocque with pointed criticism regarding a campaign mailer she received from him before the 2009 local elections.

“Where’s your support of education?” she asked, adding that many council candidates made campaign promises to advocate for local schools.

IPN Selectman William Furrier also spoke in both his capacities as an elected official and a town taxpayer, saying the finance board’s proposed reduction to the requested education plan represented “an inequitable cut that falls squarely on the shoulders of the Board of Education.”

Appealing To The GOP

Tom Bittman, husband of school board Chair Lillian Bittman, told the council in his profession he provided consultation to the White House and Microsoft pioneer Bill Gates. He then switched gears, saying he hoped to appeal, as a lifelong member of the GOP, to the eight of 12 council members who were Republicans, to restore funds to the schools.

Mr Bittman said he blames the town’s current budget challenges on the Board of Finance taking more financial risks.

Representatives of both the townwide PTA council and the middle school PTA appeared and read from letters signed by their members requesting proposed school spending be restored. The school board, however, did not escape criticism from Robin Fitzgerald, wife of council member Kevin Fitzgerald.

“We’re not even seeing the Board of Education be pro-education,” she said. “They roll over.”

During deliberations leading up to both the town and school side votes, each council member had an opportunity to explain his or her position.

Council Vice Chair Mary Ann Jacob defended her vote to support the budgets as presented to the council, and spoke about some passionate correspondence she received from constituents who requested the council hold the line on tax increases.

Ms Jacob read from an email that was sent to all council members from a family with two children in local schools, who said while both heads of the household are still employed, “We just can’t afford another budget increase this year.”

She spoke about the exploding demands on social service agencies, including Newtown’s two food pantries, which were expecting to serve 1,000 Newtown families this year, and the 3,800 uninsured Newtown residents, 700 of whom seek free medical services from the Kevin’s Community Center clinic.

Last-Minute Proposals

Before the final roll call on the education portion of the budget, council member Gary Davis proposed restoring $760,000 to the school budget increase, saying it would add about one mill to the tax rate of the existing proposal. Failing to gain traction on that measure, Mr Fitzgerald proposed adding $250,000 back to the school budget, saying the restoration would cover the salaries of four to five teachers.

After an amendment was offered and then retracted by Ms Jacob to establish a contingency fund holding the $250,000 for the district under the town finance director’s control, the final vote was tallied passing the district increase as proposed.

The council also took up the issue of adding an advisory question, and Mr Capeci said he was awaiting a written decision from the town attorney clarifying whether the charter-stipulated “local question” provision was appropriate to gauge budget opinions.

Mr Davis said if the decision was to advise against including a question, he wanted the town attorney to site case law regarding the content of “local questions” versus “advisory questions,” as provided for in Connecticut General Statutes.

The council will review the ballot question issue before the town’s deadline to order ballot forms April 14.