Selectmen Approve $450K Increase in Fairfield Budget

The final leg of the began Monday when the officially adopted a $273 million operating budget for Fairfield -- $9.9 million more than the current budget.

The $273,011,000 budget represents a net $450,000 increase over the $272,560,000 budget initially proposed by First Selectman Michael Tetreau in February. An exact effect on the mill rate was not immediately available, but Chief Fiscal Officer Paul Hiller said the , as was previously reported.

Adjustments to both the revenue and expenses that generate the budget were incorporated into the financial plan by the board at its Monday afternoon meeting.

The adjustments arose from “changes that came up” since the budget was released publicly in February, Tetreau said. Those changes included an overall $113,000 increase in revenue and an increase of more than $1 million in expenses.

An additional $1 million line item was added Monday to the Human Resources budget as a supplemental contribution to the town’s internal service fund, and remove the negative outlook from Fairfield’s AAA credit rating, Tetreau said.

Another $1 million contribution to the town’s internal service fund was part of the original budget proposed by Tetreau.

Tetreau said that in reviewing the town’s credit rating and ways to remove the negative outlook, the initial $1 million wasn’t enough to make an improvement in the reserves -- it just kept the town afloat.

“In the long run, I know my feeling is it’s the right thing to do because it will save us money in the future,” he said of the additional $1 million contribution.

Rising fuel costs drove the other expenses added to the budget.

The board, lead by Selectmen Jim Walsh, did make an effort to balance the budget with several cuts.

“I think it’s been a tough budget year…I’m not looking forward to a 4 percent tax increase,” Walsh said. “We have to spread the pain somehow.”

The board unanimously approved the following $600,000 in cuts:

• : $250,000: The Selectmen approved Walsh’s motion to reduce the school budget by $250,000, resulting in a $148,600,000 plan. The cut represents a .2 percent reduction, “not much of a reduction at all,” Walsh said. “The Board of Education budget is almost two-thirds of our budget.” Selectman Cristin McCarthy Vahey said she followed Walsh’s math but is concerned about the hits the school budget may take from the Board of Finance and the RTM.  It’s up to the Board of Education to determine where the cuts should be applied.
• Legal Services: $100,000: This reduces the $703,000 legal service budget to $603,000. “No case was made to support the proposed 30.19 percent increase” in the legal budget, Walsh said. According to Tetreau, the new town attorney Stanton Lesser is committed to “doing everything to keep legal costs under control.” Tetreau added that as many pending legal issues as possible will be resolved during the current fiscal year to prevent the fees from running into the FY13 budget.
• Contribution to Internal Service Fund/Unassigned Balances: $250,000. This cut slashes the original $1 million contribution to the town’s surplus fund to $750,000. Both Tetreau and McCarthy Vahey were hesitant to make the cut, but Hiller OK’d Walsh’s reduction.

The board also voted in an extra $50,000 into the budget’s contingency account to secure funds for the eventual addition of a second full-time secretary for the Building Department.

The next step in the budget process will take place Wednesday night at 7 p.m., when the begins the first of two nights of deliberation before voting on the budget on Thursday.