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01/07/2019 11:00 PMDue to uncertainty with state funding and ongoing union negotiations, the town has decided to postpone the scheduled Board of Selectman (BOS) budget workshops from January until February.
The budget workshops are an opportunity for the various department heads to submit their requested proposed budgets for review to the BOS. First Selectman Christine Goupil said the BOS workshops, originally scheduled to run between Jan 3 and 16, will be rescheduled to February. The scheduled Board of Finance (BOF) workshops that begin in late February are not postponed.
The budget workshops are open to the public, and the times of the workshops will be posted on the town website.
Despite the rescheduling of the workshops, Goupil encouraged the public to get involved in the budget process early, and for people to familiarize themselves with what makes up each budget.
“I think it’s a good opportunity to get to know what each department looks like. It’s very valuable for everyone to understand what every department does,” said Goupil.
Goupil said people with questions on the budget can send questions via email to firstselectman@clintonct.org. The Budget Process
The BOS budget workshops are where citizens can first get a glimpse of what the proposed budget may look like. Once the BOS approves the requests, the town budget and Board of Education budget are both reviewed by the BOF, which also holds a series of workshops in late February and early March. Once the BOF approves of the proposed budgets, a public hearing is held in April where the BOF hears from residents either in support of or against the budgets. The BOF may then revise the proposed budgets one last time before sending them to a referendum in May.
Unlike some area towns, Clinton residents vote on the town and education budgets separately. This means it is possible for residents to pass one budget, while rejecting another. If one or more budgets are rejected, the BOF will hold a meeting immediately after the budget referendum where the board will make reductions to the failed budget. The week after the failed referendum, a public hearing on the revised budget is held, and another referendum is held the week after the public hearing.
Clinton is notorious for its difficulty in passing budgets. Only once since 2009 have voters passed both budgets at the same referendum. In 2018, the town was forced to four referenda; it took three referenda to pass the education budget and four to pass the town budget. The town spends between $3,000 and $4,000 per referendum according to the Town Clerk’s office.