School Backers Wince –

Finance Bd Trims

The Budget

By Jan Howard

Following an hour of comments from the public and approximately two hours of tense deliberation, the Board of Finance voted unanimously Monday night to approve a proposed 2004–05 budget of $84,359,922 for the combined Board of Selectmen and Board of Education budgets after slicing over $820,000 from the annual spending package.

Approximately 100 residents attended the budget session at the Reed School.

The Board of Education fared better than the town side of the budget, with $250,000 reduced from its bottom line, as opposed to $570,325 in reductions from the Board of Selectmen’s requests.

 The Board of Finance approved the selectmen’s budget of $31,241,465 and an education budget of $53,118,457.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said Wednesday that the proposed Board of Finance budget represents a six percent increase over the current year’s budget. If approved, it would raise the tax rate by 1.5 mills, from 23.4 to 24.9.

The Board of Finance also voted unanimously to approve total revenue in the amount of $11,435,432, which included approval of an addition of $200,000 from the Capital Non-Recurring Reserve Fund to offset increase in taxes.

The budget now goes to the Legislative Council, which will hold a public hearing on March 24 at 7:30 pm at the Reed School.

Despite continued requests from parents, Board of Education members, and school administrators to approve the Board of Education budget as presented to allow voters to decide whether or not to support it, the Board of Finance voted 3-2 to reduce the budget by $250,000. Some speakers had called upon the board to increase the school budget.

Resident Bill Sheluck, former chairman of the Charter Revision Commission that created the finance board in 2001, told the Board of Finance members that he sees their role as not passing a budget that will pass but passing a responsible budget that provides citizens with services they need.

A central part of those services is a strong school system, he said. “I urge you to take a stand and pass the budget on to the council as is.”

The $250,000 reduction to the Board of Education was a much smaller reduction from the original motion offered by Board of Finance member Mike Portnoy. An audible gasp from the audience greeted effort to reduce the school budget by $1 million. His motion was not seconded, and failed. A subsequent motion by Mr Portnoy to reduce the budget by $750,000, again accompanied by gasps and murmurings from the audience, was not seconded, and the motion failed.

A third motion to reduce the budget by $500,000 was seconded, but the motion was amended by Board of Finance Chairman John Kortze to reduce the school budget by $250,000, which passed by a 3-2 vote.

Mr Portnoy suggested that the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education should try to negotiate lower premiums for health insurance. He also noted the Board of Education budget could be reduced by decreasing some positions, salaries, and benefits, not adding two additional teachers in the sixth and seventh grades, and asking teachers to decrease the number of developmental days from six to five. He also noted that the school system could save additional funds if it negotiated with a private bus company.

Town Accounts Reduced

The finance board also approved reductions of $570,325 from the town government side of the budget. These reductions included: Selectmen other account, non-recurring supplies, $4,025; capital roads, $70,000; Town Hall Board of Managers, $25,000; C.H. Booth Library, $50,000; emergency management/dive team, $8,000; police, patrol cars, $78,800; health insurance, $50,000.

Mr Gaston voted against the reduction in the capital roads fund, saying, “We can’t keep slashing roads every year. We should be thinking of getting it up to $2 million.” He was the lone dissenter voting against the reduction.

Mr Rosenthal said that he would consider asking the Legislative Council to replace the funding for the police cars. Eight of the 12 Legislative Council members must vote in favor of replacing funds that have been cut from the budget.

Proposed increased town support for several organizations that serve the needs of Newtown’s residents were reduced to their current levels of funding. The reductions were: Children’s Adventure Center, $5,000; Family Counseling Center, $2,000; Northwest Regional Mental Health Board, $500; Northwest Safety Communications, $1,000; Shelter of the Cross, $500; and WeCAHR, $500.

The Board of Finance members also voted 4 to 1, with Jim Gaston voting against, to reduce the Tercentennial Committee’s request of $75,000 to zero. The board had originally approved the request last week after amendments calling for reductions to $50,000 and $60,000 failed in 3-3 votes.

The finance board also voted to increase debt service by $75,000 to pay for principal and interest for another $1 million in open space acquisition and to reduce debt service funding of $125,000 for Fairfield Hills and $150,000 for Head O’ Meadow Climate Control.

During public participation on Monday, some townspeople, in addition to supporting the school and town government budgets as presented, discussed economic development and other issues.

Resident Ruby Johnson urged the finance board to retain funding in the budget for an engineering study for 38 acres received from the state for economic development. “We need to get started on it,” she said. “Don’t continue to put that off.”

She also urged renovation of Bridgeport Hall on the Fairfield Hills campus for revenue producing as well as a place for some senior citizen activities. She suggested the building would also be useful for upcoming tercentennial events, such as exhibits, or when it might rain during outdoor festivities. She urged the board to “get that hall fixed for all of us.”

A Warning From Pitkoff

Superintendent of Schools Dr Evan Pitkoff warned that the quality of the schools is at stake as increased reductions are made to the annual budget. “The children are feeling the reductions,” he said, adding that prior reductions, such as fourth grade orchestra, are “experiences that are gone.”

Several residents reiterated that class sizes are too large and that the percentage of the total budget spent for schools in Newtown is lower than that of surrounding towns.

The school budget as presented by school principals had previously been reduced by $1.9 million by Dr Pitkoff and approximately $500,000 was cut by the Board of Education. 

 During the budget session March 4, representatives of the C.H. Booth Library had argued on behalf of budget increases for employee salaries and the creation of a capital reserve fund of $47,000 for maintenance of the library building.

Philip Kotch, chairman of the Library Board of Trustees, explained that a study for the town of Trumbull, which included statistics on Newtown, showed that the library employees were underpaid, particularly clerks, in comparison to other towns.

“Their salaries are significantly lower than other towns,” Mr Kotch said. “Our ultimate aim is to bring the level up to equal others in the state.”

Mr Kotch said that the reserve fund would make it possible to have money in place when maintenance was needed. “Care of the building is necessary,” he said.

The Board of Selectmen had cut approximately $80,000 from the library budget. With the $50,000 reduction by the Board of Finance, the total reduction in the library’s requested budget is almost $130,000, which is $16,300 less than what the library received in the current year’s budget.

The Board of Finance voted unanimously for the $50,000 reduction following a failed amendment to decrease the budget by $30,500.

The Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance, in discussing reductions to the request, said that the library has funding available from other sources, but Mr Kotch and Director Janet Woycik argued that many of these funding sources are restricted to specific uses and are not able to be used for library operations.