The Seymour Board of Finance got its first look at the Seymour schools budget proposal Wednesday — along with dozens of pages of documents to back up the $31.3 million request.
Board of Education members, school Superintendent MaryAnne Mascolo, administrators, principals and teachers gathered at Town Hall for a two-hour review of the proposal on March 7.
The Board of Finance is reviewing all department budget requests as it tries to come up with a proposal to present to voters for the March 29 public hearing.
Seymour residents will have the final say on the town and school budgets at a referendum this spring.
“This is a lot of data that is very much appreciated,” Board of Finance Chairman Trish Danka said, referencing the 59-page packet the schools provided with the budget request.
The packet includes everything from job descriptions to comparisons of school district spending across the state. The packet outlines what administrators in several districts make, and what Seymour’s budget has been over the past four years.
Board of Finance members questioned education officials on various line items in the proposal — asking which positions were under contract obligations for raises, or questioning insurance or electricity costs.
Click play on the two videos in this story — provided by resident Frank Loda — to see the entire discussion.
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Balancing Act
Seymour has had a traditionally hard time getting a school budget with any increase passed at referendum.
The 2009 – 2010 and 2010 – 2011 budgets passed with 0 percent increases, after earlier versions failed at referendum. Last year, the schools got a $677,312, or 2.3 percent, increase in spending, after three failed votes.
So finance board members said they will take a hard look at the proposal and try to balance the district’s needs with the reality of voters’ actions.
“Whatever we put forth, we don’t want to spend unnecessarily on referendum after referendum,” Danka said.
Yet, finance and education officials said the tone this year has been less adversarial than in the past.
“I see people that are concerned, without being adversarial,” Board of Education member Ed Strumello said Wednesday.
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The Details
Total Budget Request: $31,330,554. (After the proposal was voted on, the schools said they signed a new electricity contract and expect to save about $71,000 on energy costs next year.)
Total Increase: $1,535,742
Percentage Increase: 5.15 percent
Changes In the Budget: With the consolidation of Anna LoPresti and Chatfield elementary schools, the district expects to see some savings on positions such as a school counselor, a school nurse and one elementary teacher.
The district is rearranging other positions to be able to add a technology integration teacher, two world language teachers and a behaviorist specialist.
The details of the changes are outlined in the following document.
