Council trims budget to match finance‑board ceilings, approves crossing guards and funds for independent legal counsel

The New London City Council spent much of its May 18 meeting reconciling the council’s budget priorities with ceilings set by the Board of Finance and addressing public concerns about staffing and transparency.

Public comment focused heavily on short‑staffed municipal services. Matthew Joselyn, a mechanical maintenance employee, said the shop has fallen from multiple mechanics to a single mechanic and one crew leader and urged the council to hire two heavy‑duty mechanics. Carrie Lynch, president of the public‑works union, told the council she had been “somewhat naive” about the political complexity of the budget process and stressed that public‑works staffing shortfalls are visible to residents.

Councilors and the administration described an unusual year: additional state aid arrived between council first reading and the finance board’s review, producing roughly $2.9 million in new state support that the mayor said left a net $1.6 million for the city side and $1.4 million for education after adjustments. The Board of Finance set ceilings for the general‑fund and education budgets; the council amended its second readings to comply with those ceilings while preserving positions it prioritized at first reading.

Key council votes: - City budget: The council amended the second reading to reflect the finance‑board ceiling for the city general fund (final ceiling recorded at $60,637,437) and made a line‑item change moving approximately $1.93 million for certain utility expenses back to the education budget; councilors said the change preserved council‑prioritized hires and left an internal surplus for future allocation.

- Education budget: The council amended its education appropriation upward to match the finance‑board ceiling ($49,742,634) and passed the second reading by roll call.

- Crossing guards: Citing school closures and new egress patterns, the council approved funding for eight crossing‑guard positions and added $142,600 to the public‑safety/general government appropriation to staff those crossings. Councilors noted operational details (hiring, training and deployment) will require coordination with police and school administration.

- Independent legal counsel: The council approved an interdepartmental transfer of $25,000 from the law department to the council administration budget to permit the council to retain independent legal counsel if needed; the transfer passed 5–2.

Councilors and staff repeatedly stressed that under the city charter the Board of Finance sets ceilings that the council must observe unless an appropriation board (the seven councilors plus the five finance‑board members) votes to change them. The law director and mayor both explained the procedural steps for any future adjustments and emphasized that the new state dollars are one‑time funding and not automatically recurring.

The meeting closed with the council referring several grant and property items to the finance committee for follow‑up; councilors asked for a faster committee review so state deadlines and developer timetables could be respected.