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06/14/2018 12:00 AMFollowing the failure of a third town budget at referendum and after hearing from a handful of residents at a public hearing on June 13, the Board of Finance (BOF) voted to send a revised proposed town budget, down $50,000 to $18,035,099, to a fourth referendum on Wednesday, June 20.
This fourth proposed town budget, which would increase town spending by $527,409 or 3.01 percent, is a $278,350 or 1.52 percent decrease from the town’s original $18,313,449 proposal. The Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted to freeze an open, part-time position and to make additional cuts to the town’s contingency fund, library funding, and town technology and infrastructure spending, but maintained the proposed town planner position.
If this budget fails, it will put the town into the new fiscal year without an adopted budget, which would put the town in an unusual position, paying bills by a process guided by state statute.
According to the Town Clerk’s Office, 2018 is the first time since 1995 that a fourth referendum was needed for the budget. That year the town passed its budget at the fourth referendum, and the education budget was passed at a fifth referendum (this year’s education budget passed at the third referendum). There was a 38 percent turnout at the fourth referendum in 1995, meaning this year’s 36 percent turnout at the third referendum is the highest percentage turnout since then.
Clinton has a well-earned reputation for having trouble passing its proposed budgets. The 2018-’19 budget marks the ninth time since 2009 that the town failed to pass both budgets on the first referendum, and the second consecutive year that at least three referenda were held.
The town spends between $3,000 and $4,000 per referendum according to the Town Clerk’s Office.
While at the third referendum, voters rejected the proposed $18,085,099 town budget by just 10 votes, concerns have been aired that that slim margin may not improve at a fourth referendum. If the fourth public hearing, notably the least-well-attended of the public hearings in terms of speakers and spectators, is any indication, the turnout at the next referendum could be an issue for the town. Only four members of the public spoke. All the speakers spoke in favor of the budget and the town planner position, a position currently budgeted at $75,000 and one that’s hoped to spearhead an economic boost for the town.
The day of the referendum is also the same date as The Morgan School graduation, and, with the education budget already passed, it’s possible that a large contingent of voters will stay away from the polls. In 2017, after the education budget passed at a second referendum, the third referendum saw a significant drop off in voters.
Selectman Phil Sengle addressed this fear after the third referendum, stating, “Now the education supporters may not come out to vote for the town budget again, so the town budget may be impossible to pass. Very unfortunate circumstances.”
Should the budget not pass, according to the town charter, the two-week cycle of budget hearing then referendum will continue until the budget is passed, with a fifth referendum happening in July (the first Wednesday is July 4; at press time no tentative referendum schedule had been posted). According to Connecticut General Statutes Section 7-405, if the budget is not passed by the third Wednesday of June (June 20 this year), “When annual appropriations have not been made by a municipality before the beginning of any fiscal year, the disbursing officers may make necessary expenditures during the period of 90 days after the beginning of such year on proper warrants for purposes and in amounts authorized by the appropriating body or by the board of finance or other budget-making authority.”
The referendum for the proposed town budget of $18,035,099 will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Town Hall green Room on Wednesday, June 20.