Politics & Government

Targets Vary, But Council Looks at Cutting More Than $1 Million From Budget

Members talk about shaving a little from town side, making up the difference in school budget.

Over the course of two five-hour meetings, the town council learned every detail of the 2011-2012 proposed budget.

Members learned that the town pays $17 per month to rent each fire hydrant, that the town owns two houses that are rented out for affordable housing, that the requested 24-hour police supervisor’s SUV would literally be driven 24 hours a day, as one patrol supervisor would park it and another would start it up. But by 8 p.m. Thursday, council members were ready to discuss numbers, with most looking to shave more than $1 million from the proposal.

Town Manager Kathy Eagen presented her budget on Tuesday, with a 5.65 percent increase over the current year. The number includes a 3.04 percent increase on the town’s side and 5.79 percent for the Board of Education.

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The council’s newest member, CJ Thomas, said he was concerned that if the number stayed anywhere near 5.65 percent, it wouldn’t pass.

“By putting a number up that can’t pass, I think we’re dooming it to fail – twice,” he said. He said he wanted to find a number that was high enough to support the town’s schools and services, while not “mobilizing the ‘no’ votes.”

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Charlie Keniston said he was aghast the first time he saw the Board of Education budget a month ago, and his sentiment hadn’t changed much.

“When I first looked at this about a month ago, I thought a 3.27 percent was going to be all we could do this year – certainly not go above the 3.4 that we did a year ago,” he began. “I have to say that anything above last year is not going to be in the best interests of the citizens’ pocketbooks and that’s what we have to look at here. It’s about everybody, not just the students, the teachers, seniors or retirees – it’s everybody.”

He noted that while Farmington’s taxes are much lower than those of other towns (Clark said the town’s tax rate is a full 4 points lower than the next lowest town, Avon), residents are only interested in how much more they will have to pay next year.

Patty Stoddard said she’d like to see the town’s increase come down to 2.7 percent and have the Board of Education number decrease as necessary to cut the overall tax increase to between 3.5 and 4.5 percent. She also suggested not fully funding the self-insurance fund.

Nancy Nickerson agreed, asking for the town side to come down to 2.8 percent.

Clark began the discussion, asking Eagen to calculate what cuts would have to be made to get the tax increase between 3.5 and 4.5 percent if the town budget dropped to a 3 percent increase and the capital budget stayed about the same. He also asked her to look for any additional sources of revenue.

His plan included possibly cutting the wireless infrastructure at Irving A. Robbins Middle School and the Dial-A-Ride van from the capital budget for about $140,000 in savings, then moving the $173,000 proposed for school technology equipment out of the Board of Education’s operating budget and putting it into capital.

“So we would fund the $173,000 for technology from the operating budget plus the high school wireless,” Clark said. “That makes an instant cut in their budget without the pain.”

Lone Democrats John Vibert and Mike Demicco (two to the Republicans' five) said they are very concerned about pain.

“I’m very concerned about the school board, because when I look at the Board of Education budget, other than the technology funding, I don’t see anything else but teachers,” Vibert said. “We can mask it by saying we’re not talking about teachers, we’re talking about class size, or we’re not talking about teachers, we’re talking about programs, but … I don’t quite know how to work around it because this is going to dramatically impact the quality of our education and because it has ramifications throughout our community beyond how good our kids are to how much our homes are worth and what does that do to our grand list.”

Mike Demicco couldn’t talk about numbers; he said it really comes down to funding what the town needs.

“Does it really make sense to save a couple hundred dollars on your tax bill and lose a couple thousand dollars on your property values? … It makes no sense to be pennywise and pound foolish, to underfund the things that you need in your town, the things that make your town the great community that it is,” he said. “If you start cutting back little by little each year, especially on the education side - and let’s face it that’s where the big cuts have to come from - you’re going to … lose in the long run.  Minimal tax increases translate into a decreasing property value down the road.”

Eagen said she and Town Finance Director Joseph Swetcky would prepare the different scenarios requested by the council members for the next meeting, Saturday at 9 a.m., when the council is expected to take action on the budget. Additional meeting dates have been scheduled in case the council needs more time before a vote. The public is welcome to attend Saturday’s meeting at the Town Hall in the council chambers.


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