Bridgeport budget committee amends budget to direct $35 million toward public schools; mill-rate changes proposed

A Bridgeport City Council budget committee amended the mayor's proposed 2027 budget on May 9 to incorporate a $35 million package aimed at the public schools and to approve a set of related revenue and personnel changes. Committee leaders and staff said the package combines three separate pots: $15 million in new education equalization aid (ECS category), about $10 million the city could allocate from a Pequot-style town-aid lump, and a proposed $10 million permanent increase to the board's Minimum Budget Requirement funded by modest mill-rate adjustments.

Budget staff told the committee the state's enacted budget provides two distinct authorities: a one-time phase-in of new ECS/equalization funding and a separate non-recurring town-aid distribution. The administration's recommendation asks the council to (a) pass the $15 million ECS money through to the Board of Education as a restricted grant account, (b) redirect roughly $10 million of the Pequot-style town aid to the board as one-time supplemental funding, and (c) adopt a permanent $10 million increase to the city's contribution to the Minimum Budget Requirement for schools, which would be funded in part by a small property-mill adjustment.

Explaining revenue mechanics, the city's finance staff said the package assumes a small bump in the property mill rate (from the mayor's proposed 27.75 mills to 27.95 mills in the proposed amendment) and a separate motor-vehicle mill proposal (the city recommended 31.75 mills rather than the mayor's lower motor-vehicle proposal). Staff cautioned that some of the state aid is technically one-time in the enacted biennial language and would require further legislative action next session to be made fully recurring.

Council members debated whether the state's support would arrive as durable, ongoing funding or as an election-year one-off. Some members urged caution and asked for written assurances the $15 million ECS increase will be preserved in future legislation; others said the combination of state and local commitments represents a historic infusion of resources for Bridgeport schools and urged immediate passage.

The committee also considered related technical and programmatic items in the amendment packet: instructions to treat the ECS equalization money as restricted revenue in the Board of Education's budget (to be entered into grant accounts), minor tax-levy adjustments tied to updated grand-list numbers, and a set of departmental personnel transfers and small appropriations intended to reflect recently awarded grants and operational needs.

After discussion, the committee moved and approved the amendment package for the Board of Education funding and advanced the revised budget totals to the full council. The committee recorded a set of separate votes to adopt revenue increases, adoption of revised appropriation increases and decreases, and to transmit the amended general-fund budget (new amended total reported by staff at $655,474,539). The measures passed the committee for the council to consider in its final ordinance vote.

What happens next: Council members said the full council will consider the amended budget and the ordinance language that sets salary and unaffiliated pay tables. Staff told members they would continue to coordinate with the Board of Education and with state officials about the classification and treatment of the ECS equalization funds.

Attributions: Committee discussion and staff explanations come from the Budget & Appropriations Committee meeting on May 9, 2026; many of the technical budget and revenue explanations were presented by the city finance staff (identified in the transcript as the staff revenue presenter). Direct quotes in committee discussion referenced in this article were attributable to staff and to named and role-identified council members as recorded in the meeting transcript.