Ansonia residents and school officials urged the Board of Apportionment and Taxation Monday to give the school board its full budget request.
They showed up at a public hearing at City Hall to give feedback on the $59.07 million budget proposal.
About 60 people came to the public hearing.
About 10 spoke. Several of the speakers asked the Board of Apportionment and Taxation to increase funding to the Board of Education budget. Others asked the tax board to restore funding to the library and the Ansonia Nature Center.
Two people asked the board to consider the taxpayers, and keep taxes low.
The budget proposal, at $59.07 million, includes a level allocation for schools.
The proposal represents a half mill increase in the tax rate, from the current 25.75 mills to 26.25 mills.
That means a resident with a home assessed at $200,000 would see a tax bill increase of about $100 next year.
The proposal includes $26.07 million for the Board of Education — the same amount allocated in the current year.
The Board of Education in January had requested a $26.9 million budget allocation, or about a 3.5 percent increase.
Superintendent Carol Merlone said a level budget equates to a decrease because the district is losing $1.2 million in federal Priority School District grants over the next several years.
She said in 2011 – 2012, the district will lose about $300,000 from the federal grant.
If the city gives the district a level budget, it would be like a 1 percent decrease, considering the lost grant, she said.
“It will be devastating,” Merlone said.
She anticipates layoffs with a flat budget, and the elimination of full-day kindergarten.
Several parents spoke about the need to fund the schools, saying they would be forced to move out of Ansonia if the city keeps cutting budgets.
“I think the message was loud and clear: the children are our future, and our tax base,” Merlone said.
“I have three beautiful children who I surely believe will be leaders in the future,” said parent Milton Soriano.
“Making cuts to education is ruining that dream,” Soriano said.
The Board of Apportionment and Taxation voted to approve a tentative budget — so they can publish it in the newspaper this week.
But they will continue discussing the proposal, and take into consideration the public comment from the hearing Monday, chairman Richard Sturges said at the meeting.
After closing the public hearing and adjourning the meeting, the tax board members split into two groups, and met behind closed doors in two separate rooms at city hall.
They asked reporters to leave each room, saying there wasn’t a quorum of the board in either room.
When asked why they couldn’t hold the discussion in public, as mandated in the Freedom of Information Act, board members said the discussion wasn’t listed on their regular meeting agenda.
