New Canaan council adopts $184.5 million FY2026–27 budget after insurance reforecast lowers BOE request

The New Canaan Town Council voted April 14 to approve the fiscal 2026–27 general-fund operating expenditure budget of $184,471,451, following a presentation that lowered the school insurance projection and reduced the board's net budget ask. The main motion passed on roll call, 10 yes, 2 no.

The budget change followed a reforecast of the town's internal insurance claims presented to the council by Dr. Lutzky, who said the reforecast reduced the expected claims line in the budget book from $20,118,002.81 to $19,059,006.84. "After looking at all of it and doing a new set of expected claims for next year based on the data that we now have, we are able to improve that number by a little over $1,000,000," Dr. Lutzky said in presenting the update. He explained the town uses a 12-month rolling lookback for the model, that March claims were lower than the previous year, and that the town's stop-loss and reserves provide protection for high-dollar events.

The reforecast and other adjustments reduced the year-to-year increase for Board of Education spending to about 2.31% (roughly $2.628 million net) from earlier, higher projections. Dr. Lutzky also said turnover and retirement assumptions produced an estimated $500,000 in savings: "When we started, we had, I think, 4 retirements. We're talking about it. We have 12 as of today," he said.

Council members pressed on risks and assumptions. One member asked whether improved early-year trends could reverse later in the year; Dr. Lutzky said the projections reflect the best available data and that reserves exist to cover shortfalls if claims spike. Another member said the reductions should not come at the expense of classroom services and asked staff to confirm that turnover assumptions would not harm operations.

Procedural votes accompanying the main motion included approval of a $10,552,461 nontax revenue budget, a proposed $5,000,000 fund-balance contribution, an amount to be raised by taxation of $168,918,990, a property-tax collection rate of 98.5% and capital appropriations totaling $19,574,153 across funding sources. Most line-item and fund votes were unanimous.

The council's adoption triggers posting and publication requirements; appropriations will become effective eight days after publication unless a petition for referendum is filed, according to council members.

Action: Motion to approve the general-fund operating expenditure budget of $184,471,451; mover: Speaker 1 (chair); second: "Christina" (as stated in the record); roll-call outcome: 10 yes, 2 no. Other related budget, revenue and capital motions passed as recorded in the meeting.

The council indicated final budget documents and summary pages would be circulated and filed with the town clerk as required.