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Mayor backs 4.9% boost for schools as Norwalk budget talks continue
Summary
At a joint Norwalk City BET and Finance & Claims Committee meeting on April 13, Mayor Barbara Smith said she supports a 4.9% increase for the Board of Education amid FY27 budget pressures; the BET continues deliberations and no final budget votes were taken.
Mayor Barbara Smith said the city faces a difficult fiscal year and voiced support for a 4.9% funding increase for the Board of Education as Norwalk reviews its FY27 operating budget.
"I am in support of the 4% 4.9% increase that the board to the board of education that the city council approved," Mayor Barbara Smith said, urging the panels to look forward as they finalize the budget. She cited rising health-care costs, six collective bargaining agreements coming due at once and the property revaluation phase-in as core drivers of the current budget pressure.
Smith said the administration asked departments to seek a 10% reduction exercise but that the city could not meet a uniform 10% cut without putting essential services at risk. She described searching for targeted spending reductions and said an ADA compliance capital item had been omitted from the proposed capital budget; that item, she said, will be handled by a special appropriation.
Mr. Abrams, speaking for the Board of Estimate and Taxation, echoed the mayor’s description of the challenges and said the BET will review the mayor’s revised proposal at its April 15 meeting and continue deliberations on April 20. "We are turning over every stone," he said, while emphasizing the board will avoid cuts that would compromise education, public safety or infrastructure.
City staff member Jared summarized the budget drivers in more detail and restated numbers from the mayor’s original proposal: an overall proposed increase of about 7.04%, a city-side increase cited at about 10.72% and 4% on the Board of Education side. Jared also noted median tax-increase ranges of roughly 10.6%–16.8% depending on district and mill-rate increases reported in the 3.8%–4.6% range; he said the BET will provide more detailed figures at the Wednesday meeting.
During public comment caller Diane Lella urged deeper cuts in municipal waste and energy spending to improve recycling and lower building energy costs. "I ask that you go back and additionally cut at least 10% if not 20% across the board of the municipal waste amounts," Lella said, and also asked the city to hire a full-time grant writer in finance and to consider combining duplicative services.
Lella also criticized the redevelopment agency’s scope and said a staffer, named in her remarks as Brian Bedolei, had been in Germany and could not be serving full time; she urged cutting redevelopment funds and returning functions to planning and zoning.
Committee members pressed for specific blended-rate figures reflecting different proposals. After discussion, a blended-rate figure was given during the meeting as 7.54% (one speaker also referenced 7.9%); committee leaders said precise blended-rate computations would be provided at the BET meeting on Wednesday.
No formal votes on the operating budget were taken at the April 13 session. The panels recessed and scheduled continued deliberations: the BET will review the mayor’s revised proposal April 15 and meet again April 20 to consider additional reductions and to move toward adoption per the city charter.
