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04/02/2019 12:00 AMFollowing several budget workshops and a few small reductions, the Board of Finance (BOF) voted on March 26 to send the combined town and schools fiscal year 2019-’20 budget to a second public hearing. The total proposed budget comes to $84,638,943, an increase in spending over last year of $1,571,742 or 1.89 percent.
The next budget public hearing is Monday, April 22. The budget referendum is Tuesday, May 14.
The Town Budget
The town budget comes to $26,590,840, an increase in spending of $1,627,350 or 6.52 percent. The town budget includes contractual salary increases, an uptick in health insurance, an investment in capital as recommended by the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Committee, and a small jump in debt service due to the addition of the library renovation bonds.
In addition, the budget includes a $150,000 addition to the library operating budget, reflecting the town commitment to steadily restore the library operating budget in anticipation of the new building opening in 2020, and a $110,000 infusion into the Madison Ambulance Association, which had requested $160,000, and is currently operating at a loss.
The BOF opted to add back $28,000 to the Land Use Department budget after a misunderstanding between the Board of Selectmen (BOS) and a department head, one that eliminated an existing and needed part-time position, was resolved and the part-time position was restored.
The budget does not include projected revenues or expenditures for the Our Lady of Mercy Preparatory Academy (OLMPA) lease of Island Avenue School as the town does not yet have a signed lease.
A significant point of discussion among BOF members was the size of the town budget increase. However, after working through the line items, BOF member Kevin Kranzler said this level of increase is a necessary anomaly.
“With the BOS, I am assuming you guys saw an opportunity with a reduction on the school side and you had things that we maybe hadn’t been able to take care of,” he said. “Obviously the expectation is next year we are not going to be looking at these kind of increases on the town side.”
Selectman Bruce Wilson agreed with Kranzler’s assessment and said the town budget has had very small increases over the years in comparison to the BOE and the selectmen wanted to take this year to try to catch up on projects and department needs that had been pushed out.
“We were counting on something like a million [dollars] lower from the schools—not that we were looking to spend all of that—and we were looking to take that tailwind from the BOE budget and use it to right size,” he said.
The Schools Budget
The BOF opted not to make any cuts to the BOE proposed budget. That budget, the district’s first with a closed Island Avenue School, comes to $58,048,103, a decrease in spending of $55,608 or 0.10 percent. The budget represents a decrease in spending for general education, school facilities, debt service, and flat funding for maintenance. Items driving an offsetting increase to the budget include special education and health insurance, two notoriously volatile items.
Coming into this budget, the administration promised the town would recognize a savings from the closure of Island Avenue Elementary School. The BOE voted in 2017 to close Island due to declining enrollment. Rough estimates at the time suggested the closure would yield a savings of anywhere from about $800,000 to $1 million, a savings that would be first recognized this coming fiscal year with the school formally slated for closure in June 2019.
The final number attributed to the closure of Island and reconfiguration of the district is $972,245, a 1.67 percent reduction off the base budget. When the BOE first approved its budget, some board members argued for a larger overall savings for the closure, but Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice said previously even though there is one fewer building and fewer staff, this budget still has certain fixed costs.
“We have contractual increases,” he said. “This is Connecticut, this is a collective bargaining state, and almost all of our employees are within collective bargaining units and within those units there are contractual raises. They generally average about 2.75 percent in salaries. What is interesting is our operating budget increase is generally below that number, so we find efficiencies elsewhere.”
Closing a school was a response to declining enrollment, but Scarice also previously highlighted other reductions and savings the district has adopted in response to the decline over the last decade. From 2010 to now, total enrollment has dropped by 1,046 students from grades K to 12. At the same time, the district has reduced 51.5 full time certified staff positions and 21.7 full time support staff positions.
“Since 2010-’11, we have basically reduced the equivalent of two elementary school staffs,” he said. “We have reduced just shy of 52 teaching positions in the district.”
Revenue and the Mill Rate
While residents do not vote on the projected revenue budget, the BOF reviewed the revenue estimations at the March 26 workshop meeting.
Finance Director Stacy Nobitz said she is assuming flat funding in terms of state revenue this coming year. She also said she is assuming that Governor Ned Lamont’s proposal to push a portion of the teacher pension payments onto towns will hold, so that the town isn’t blindsided when the General Assembly approves the state budget in June.
“I did subtract $150,000 from revenue for the teacher pensions,” she said. “We don’t know what is going to happen. We have another month to change that, but I have made the assumption to be very conservative to stick with the revenue and assume the worst case.”
The Grand List unofficially went up 1.15 percent, a big jump from the historical average of 0.65 percent; that figure is not final until all assessment appeals are completed. In terms of the mill rate, that number is not set until after a successful referendum, but Nobitz offered a mill rate estimate assuming all revenue and operating numbers do not change in the coming months.
Under the current assumptions, the mill rate would go up 0.27 mills or 0.96 percent. Assuming an average assessed home value of $400,000, the mill rate increase would result in an additional $107 in taxes next fiscal year.
The next budget public hearing is Monday, April 22. The budget presentations, supporting reports, and meeting dates can all be found on the town website at www.madisonct.org. The budget referendum is Tuesday, May 14.