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Bloomfield residents press council to restore school funding as budget cuts loom; council debates grants, town-attorney contract and a retirement incentive
Summary
Hundreds of residents, students and teachers urged the Bloomfield Town Council to reject proposed Board of Education cuts; council approved a grant application, postponed final budget votes pending state aid figures, and debated (but did not approve) a town-attorney contract adjustment; the town manager proposed a voluntary retirement incentive to close the budget gap.
Dozens of Bloomfield residents, teachers and students packed the town hall and spoke at length during citizen statements to oppose proposed cuts to the Board of Education budget and to urge the council to preserve arts, athletics, and intervention programs.
Parents recounted how school-based supports and small-group interventions helped their children; teachers warned that proposed cuts would increase class sizes and undermine special-education and social-emotional programming. Students described robotics teams, choir and athletic scholarships as critical to college access and personal development. “If the budget is cut, my son will no longer receive the incredible education he is currently getting,” one parent said. Several speakers emphasized that program cuts would push families to leave the district.
Council business later included routine items (consent agenda adopted) and two grant-related votes. The council scheduled a public hearing for Neighborhood Assistance Act applications and authorized participation in the FY2025 Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG), which requires a 50% local match; Captain Zack Lombberg, the town’s emergency management director, explained EMPG’s purpose and told the council the initial grant amount would be modest (about $11,000) and that staff would return for formal acceptance of any award requiring local matching funds.
A contentious discussion centered on the Crumby Law Group engagement agreement. Attorney Crumby and multiple council members debated who authorized recent hourly-rate increases and whether the council had been properly informed. After procedural votes and a roll-call, the council voted to take no action on the item (leaving the executed contract in place as executed by the town manager) while directing future process changes for how legal fees and rate changes will be handled.
Facing a budget gap, the town manager proposed a voluntary retirement-incentive program for senior staff that he said could save roughly $821,000 annually if 11 eligible employees participated; the manager said an initial targeting of about six early acceptances could reduce the FY2027 tax-rate increase projection from about 5.5% to roughly 4.67% (estimates subject to verification by finance staff). Council members expressed concern about loss of institutional knowledge, succession planning and the timing of any retirements, and asked for more detailed, written cost and staffing impacts. The mayor reported the state was expected to announce additional ECS (education cost-sharing) and municipal funding the next morning; the council agreed to pause final budget votes until updated figures were available.
