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Board of Finance sends revised $68.19 million budget and 27.72 mill rate to May 1 referendum after $25,000 school cut
Summary
After citizen pleas and weeks of deliberation, the Board of Finance voted to recommend revised town expenditures of $26,853,952 and a Board of Education budget of $41,340,139 (including a $25,000 additional reduction) and to send a $68,194,091 combined budget and 27.72 mill rate to referendum on May 1.
The Board of Finance voted Wednesday to recommend a revised combined town and Board of Education budget of $68,194,091 and a proposed mill rate of 27.72, sending the package to a May 1 referendum.
Chair (speaker 2) opened the meeting, heard a queue of public comments and then invited the First Selectwoman (speaker 12) and finance staff to present line-by-line reductions on the town side. The First Selectwoman outlined $271,024 in town cuts—reductions to professional services, IT hardware, recreation events, street lighting, certain capital items and contingency accounts—and reported revised town expenditures of $26,853,952, a roughly 1.98% increase over the prior year.
Finance staff (speaker 3) corrected an earlier typographical error in the police chief salary line and then presented totals that, with the Board of Education held at a 4% increase, produced combined expenditures of roughly $68.22 million and a proposed mill rate near 27.73. During deliberations the board debated whether to ask the school board to accept larger reductions to satisfy voters who rejected the prior package in referendum.
Board of Education leadership told the finance board they could not credibly produce detailed negotiated reductions in days. Board of Education Chair (Chairman Champagne, speaker 5) and members, and Superintendent Dr. Susan Compton (speaker 10), explained that roughly 78% of the district budget is personnel and that additional cuts would likely require staff reductions and program eliminations. One finance staff clarification (speaker 13) put the total funding the schools must reconcile at about $1,150,000 from the original 6.9% request to the current 4% proposal.
After lengthy discussion—members proposed options ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 in additional school reductions—the board reached a consensus to recommend a $25,000 downward adjustment to the Board of Education budget, producing a revised BOE total of $41,340,139. The board then moved and passed motions to send the town-side number, the BOE number and the combined revenue recommendation to the May 1 referendum. Voice votes carried the motions; the record notes abstentions by Bev (speaker 7) and Lucy (speaker 14) on at least one combined vote. The chair cast or recorded affirmative votes where indicated and declared the motions carried.
Board staff and the First Selectwoman reminded the board that ballots must be printed imminently, that the next referendum is May 1, and that a final budget must be in place by June 1; if no budget is approved by June 1, tax bills will be issued at the current mill rate using the new assessments.
The board’s recommendation will be presented to voters on May 1. The board scheduled its regular meeting for the following evening at 7 p.m. before adjourning at 8:47 p.m.
