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05/22/2018 12:00 AMFollowing the defeat of the proposed town and education budgets held on May 9, the Board of Finance (BOF) trimmed 0.5 percent from the town and schools budgets, after which the town administration elected to cut a greater percentage from its budgets. The new proposals with reduced increase requests went to a second public hearing on May 16 and next go to a second referendum to be held on Wednesday, May 23.
While the BOF called for a $76,289 cut to town spending, following the selectmen’s $128,200 reduction to the first proposed budget, the proposed town budget going to vote on May 23 is $18,185,249, an increase of $677,559 pr 3.87 percent over current spending. Following the BOF 0.5 percent cut of $179,267, the proposed education budget going to vote May 23 is $35,674,055, a $1,253,603 or 3.64 percent increase from the current year. The total proposed budget is $53,859,304, a $1,931,162 or 3.72 increase over last year’s total budget.
The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Town Hall Green Room on May 23.
Regarding the Board of Selectmen (BOS) decision to make a more aggressive cut to spending than called for by the BOF, First Selectman Christine Goupil said she “just didn’t think we’d get to where we need to be” to pass the proposed budget on the second referendum by making only the recommended cut.
Goupil said the cuts were not insignificant, and that “between the school and the town, when you cut one thing, you’re impacting the other.”
At a special meeting on May 14, the BOS cut the budgets of the library; the Fire, Public Works, Building, Park and Recreation, and Police departments; and the Planning and Zoning and Water Pollution Control commissions.
At a Board of Education (BOE) meeting on May 15, the board cut $179,267 from the first proposed budget. The BOE’s new budget includes staff reductions and reductions to custodial supplies, athletic equipment, and instructional supplies and materials.
“We’re all working hard,” Superintendent of Schools Maryann O’Donnell said after the May 14 BOF meeting. “We’ve done a lot of cutting.”
O’Donnell said eight staff positions have been eliminated. Some members of the community have asked why the town can’t simply close the Abraham Pierson school to save money. O’Donnell said she understands the desire to contain costs and that it is something the board is studying, but the process has several complicated steps.
“It’s not prudent for the students right now,” O’Donnell said.
At the BOF meeting following the public hearing, the BOF voted to accept additional cuts to the library budget and add in $7,000 for a pump out boat, something for which several members of the public asked. BOF member Jane Scully-Welch said that she felt not having the boat was a public safety issue, though BOF Chair John Olsen said taking money from the library to pay for the boat “is not my values.” The motion to add the boat to the budget passed 5-1, with only Olsen in opposition.
The second public hearing was less well attended than the hearing held last month, with only 12 speakers and about two dozen members in the audience. Most of the speakers focused on the education budget.
Catherine Staunton said that the education budget is “already very tight” and that additional cuts are “just not there.” Annaliese Spaziano said that “student need is what drives the budget” and “we are at our wit’s end” with where further cuts would come from.
“If education continues to be cut, Clinton will continue its downward spiral,” PTA Vice-president Laura Colebank said.
“The cuts that we made are not easy or painless,” BOE Chairman Erica Gelven said.
Voters rejected the original proposed town budget on May 9 by a tally of 1,807 to 1,534 votes, and the proposed education budget 1,805 votes to 1,536. About 34 percent of registered voters cast a vote in the first referendum.