Community Corner

Little Opposition, Few Comments in Budget Hearing

The Board of Finance budget hearing drew a large crowd to DePaolo Monday night, but there were few comments and even less opposition to the current proposals.

Are requests for a 2 percent increase in general government spending and 3.82 percent in Board of Education funding in the upcoming year acceptable in this tough economic climate?

If the lack of comments and questions regarding this year’s $129 million combine budget request is any indication, there isn’t much opposition to either the education or government level requests. In fact, there was considerable support for the proposed education funding from those who spoke out at a Board of Finance budget hearing at on Monday night.

The annual budget hearing drew a considerable crowd, with many teachers and parents in attendance, but just six residents approached the board to comment on the proposals and only one opposed the and by the and Garry Brumback.

Those in attendance were there instead to show support for the Board of Education budget proposal, one they said is both responsible and already cuts several teaching positions and should not be reduced any further.

“The most serious cuts in this year’s budget is the elimination of over 20 education personnel. Most of us realize that while this is unfortunate, it is also necessary,” said Bob Brown, a 30-year Plantsville resident and 38-year Southington teacher.

“My plea is that we don’t allow this budget to be cut any further. As state and federal mandates require more of our teachers, we can’t afford any further staff cuts,” he said.

Monday’s hearing began with statements from Finance members John Leary and Sandra Feld, who each indicated that the board would take a look at the budget for any possible reductions or cuts before it is approved for council review.

Feld said in a world where the economy has continued to struggle, the board will be tasked with trying to find that middle ground between the wants in the budget and the actual needs of both the town and its taxpayers throughout the community.

“We are still dealing with a floundering economy with many of our residents still underemployed or unemployed,” she said. “We need to take all of this into consideration.”

Brumback and Erardi each said that while there are increases in this year’s budget, the costs are necessary to stay current in technology and address aging infrastructure and other needs that have been neglected through the years.

But local resident Art Cyr, the first to speak during the public portion of Monday’s hearing. He said there are some definite areas that need to be looked at a second time. Cyr questioned line items in both budgets totaling nearly $1 million, but focused primarily on the Board of Education budget.

Cyr questioned increases in the Vocational Agriculture portion of the education budget, saying a “new staffing request for $61,000” was unreasonable give the showed revenues almost $125,000 short of what was anticipated over the past two years.

“When you look at the trends, it shows a decline of 80 students from last year to the current school population and anticipated declines of 40 students per year over the next three years. With less students, we don’t need to be spending more in education,” Cyr said.

But others, including Brown and Board of Education Business Manager Sherri-Lin DiNello responded to his concerns in their public address, suggesting that the budget has already been reduced as much as possible.

DiNello, who is also a town resident and has a student in the school system, said she has gone over every item of the budget and some line items are up this year because money was “shifted around” at each school in order to make sure it is used most effectively for education. In doing so, other line items were cut.

When it comes to the Vo-Ag budget, new staffing requests in the 2011-12 school year accounted for Vo-Ag increase in the current proposal, but the increases are reallocations and not new costs, she said. This year’s proposal includes 22 staff reductions, not increases.

In addition, she addressed the projected student decreases and said the board needs to be aware of possible changes to that and what it actually means.

“If you look at 40 students over the course of 13 grades, that’s just three students per class year. That is not enough to justify or suggest staffing cuts,” she said.


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