Politics & Government

Selectmen, Finance Board Deliberate on Budget Before Next Week's Votes

No specific reductions were put forward ahead of the bodies' respective votes.

The boards of Selectmen and Finance deliberated Thursday for the last time on the Fiscal Year 2014 budget before the boards vote on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Chief Fiscal Officer Robert Mayer informed both boards that the initial 6.38 percent tax hike was again revised, this time from 4.8 percent to 4.36 percent.

The updated increase is the result of updated information on healthcare costs and experience, revisions from department heads, and adjustments to the contingency fund and the fire department's payroll to adjust for retirements, replacements, new hires, and vacancies.

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Still, members of the Board of Finance made it clear that the increase must come down -- but just how deep should they cut?

"We have an extremely important decision to weigh next Tuesday," member Catherine Albin said. "To try to get the tax increase as reasonable as possible to please the taxpayers...but if we go too deep, and [affect services], the RTM cannot rectify what we do."

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"Going too deep" was a concern regarding Mayer's proposed $662,608 cut to the contingency fund, which he said offsets the average 10 vacancies the town carries at any given time throughout the year.

Currently, the proposed contingency fund is $2.5 million. Last year, it was reduced to $238,000.

Finance Board Chair Tom Flynn surmised that cutting the fund could eliminate a cushion for overtime expenditures for circumstances akin to Hurricane Sandy and the February blizzard.

Health care projections -- revised favorably in Mayer's latest report based on February's experience -- were described as "squishy" by Flynn. Board members, including Kenneth Brachfeld, were concerned that if March produces poor experience, the account may need to be adjusted unfavorably before the RTM votes in May.

And since the RTM can only reduce -- not add -- at its May vote, that unknown could be an issue.

"We're being asked to pass a budget and these health care numbers jump around month to month," Brachfeld said.

Mayer said that it's a dilemma produced by the budget process. "These are the best numbers available at this time."

None of the board members put forward specific recommendations for reductions ahead of Tuesday's vote, but Flynn gave Superintendent Dr. David Title the floor to defend the Board of Education's budget -- specifically, as it pertains to the district's administrative personnel.

The number of administrators in the district has remained "relatively flat" for the past 10 years, Title said, while the student population continues to grow.

"We have demanding clientele that deserve and demand administrative support to solve problems," he said, adding that the labor-intensive, state-mandated teacher and staff evaluations are coming up.

Title further explained that administrators responsible for curriculum work to "continue equity and consistency across the district," qualities that Albin pointed out disappeared during the 1990s when curriculum leaders were scratched from the budget.

"Parents were coming before the school board because mathematics was being taught differently from classroom to classroom," she said. "It took quite a few years to return those people to writing curriculum, to unite that curriculum not just within the district, but within a building, in a grade."

Albin reiterated her aforementioned point. "We can get ourselves down to a minimal tax increase but there are some difficult choices to make."

Earlier in the day, at the Board of Selectmen deliberations, the police department's request for three new officer positions for a school security task force was mulled over.

Police Chief Gary MacNamara said that the need for the fourth requested position -- a sergeant to supervise the task force -- is "crucial," but the other three positions could wait for the possibility of grant funding.

For now, the task force -- under the supervision of the requested sergeant position -- could be manned utilizing overtime, MacNamara said. This alternative would result in in approximately $60,000 in savings for the upcoming budget.  

Overtime does not go toward an officer's pension, Deputy Police Chief Chris Lyddy reminded the selectmen, but "it will get the officers in the schools when we need them."

Selectman Kevin Kiley thanked the MacNamara and Lyddy for their "creative thinking," adding that this alternative seems "like a great compromise."

The Board of Selectmen is slated to vote on the Fiscal Year 2014 budget on Monday at 2 p.m. in the Fairfield Museum and History Center's Jacky Durrell meeting hall. The Board of Finance vote is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Board of Education Conference Room (501 Kings Highway East). 


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