As a direct result of the horrific shooting in December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, the proposed $60.7 million budget coming to the Ansonia Board of Aldermen Feb. 12 will include a suggested line item for “city-wide security.”
At this point the city officials have not decided how much money to spend to bolster security at city schools (including the Assumption School), but the topic dominated a meeting of the Aldermen’s Finance Committee Monday night in Ansonia City Hall.
How to improve school security is a discussion happening all over the U.S. in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings.
Everyone at the finance committee meeting Monday agreed that something needs to be done. But just what to do — and how to pay for it — are not easy questions to answer.
Gene Sharkey, president of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen, said a safety committee of police, school officials and Aldermen have been studying security issues. A voluminous security report of school buildings in the city will be circulated among public officials soon. While not providing a definitive price tag, the document will give a clearer picture of what Ansonia needs to do.
Meanwhile, the federal government and state lawmakers in Hartford are also in the early stages of deciding how to bolster security in light of Sandy Hook.
While Sharkey and his fellow subcommittee members — Edward Adamowski, Phillip Tripp, Jerome Fainer, David Knapp and John Marini — were in the room Monday to talk about next year’s budget, much time was spent informally brainstorming ways to protect teachers, students and staff.
They touched upon everything from the possibility of hiring retiring police officers to installing school ‘panic alarms’ wired to the police department.
The subcommittee ultimately decided the best way to proceed from a budgetary perspective was to suggest a new budget line item for “city-wide security” be created under the city’s Office of Emergency Management.
The Alderman’s finance committee endorsed a 2013 – 2014 budget Jan. 29.
It includes an $2 million — or 3.5 percent — increase in spending over the current city budget.
The budget now moves to the full Board of Aldermen, who are scheduled to meet Feb. 12.
However, the Aldermen don’t have the final say on the budget.
The ultimate decision on the budget falls to the Ansonia Board of Apportionment and Taxation. They usually make a decision later in the year.
