Seymour’s Board of Finance Monday approved an overall $230,000 cut to the proposed 2013 – 2014 budget that was defeated heavily at a referendum last week.
The reduction represents a $155,000 cut from the town side and $75,000 from the school side of the budget proposal.
The revised budget totals $53,023,899, with a mill rate of 33.26 mills — a 1.3 percent increase in the tax rate.
That means should the revised budget pass, a resident with a house assessed at $230,000 would see their property taxes rise from $7,550.90 to $7.649.80, an increase of $98.90.
The proposal is a 2.4 percent increase in total spending over the current budget.
Click play on the video above, recorded and posted to YouTube by citizen Frank Loda, to see part of the finance board’s deliberations Monday.
Cuts ‘Painful’
Finance Board Chairman Trish Danka wasn’t happy about making the cuts to the budget that was soundly rejected by voters and represented less than a mill increase.
“Any cuts made are painful to me,” Danka said as she and fellow board members worked to reach a consensus during Monday’s special finance board meeting.
The finance board asked for input from department heads concerning areas to cut, and also took into account proposals First Selectman Kurt Miller’s proposed cuts.
“I’m trying to spread the pain and spread it across the board,” Danka said.
The latest round of cuts include $69,000 from the Police Department, which would postpone plans to add a second lieutenant position by a half a year and do away with plans for a new police car.
A total of $6,000 was cut from the Fire Department gasoline line item, $20,000 from highway department materials and $3,000 from the Culture and Arts Commission’s building rental budget.
The Economic Development Commission and the finance department each lost $10,000, and $20,000 was removed from a town computer technology line item.
The Communication Commission and Valley Emergency Medical Service (VEMS) also lost money, and $2,000 was cut from the parks department and $1,000 from the Seymour Ambulance Association utilities line item.
Schools
Cutting the $31 million school budget proposal that voters rejected 817 to 487 also drew discussion during Monday’s finance board meeting.
Resident Richard Rossik said that by voting down the budget, the town sent a message that residents don’t have money to spend on tax increases.
Rossik said he couldn’t even afford to fix one of his cars that sits on blocks on his property.
School board members “don’t care about the kids,” he said. “They just care about inflating salaries.”
School board member and parent Kristen Harmeling disagreed.
“Everything … is for the benefit of our children,” she said, adding that teachers need to be paid adequately so they won’t leave the district.
Harmeling urged the finance board to keep the cuts “minimal” and within the $25,000 to $50,000 range.
“We have an obligation to move our school district forward,” she said.
Most of the increases in the school budget proposal are in the area of salaries and benefits, said School Board Chairman Yashu Putorti, and the $504,000 “status quo” budget allotment equals a 1.7% increase over the current plan.
A total of $211,000 has been earmarked for improvements, including two middle school teachers to keep class sizes down, a late bus at the high school, four paraprofessionals and $5,000 for extracurricular activities.
The school board will have to deal with the cuts to the budget proposal, he said. “It’s going to hurt, but we’ll do what we can.”
Finance board members debated how much to cut from the school budget, and proposals ranged from $45,000 to $125,000.
Finance board member David Bitso said he was concerned that cutting $75,000 “wouldn’t be enough in the eyes of the taxpayers.”
Danka said people want to improve the school system, but don’t want to fund budget increases for the improvements.
The Board of Education will meet Monday, May 20 to deliberate on where to make the cuts, Putorti said.
Danka Speaks Out
At one point during Monday’s meeting Danka took time to address a lengthy voicemail from a resident.
Danka said a man left her a message saying he’s going to vote the budget down because proposals by “the governor and the president” are sending taxes “through the roof.”
Danka said the problem with that philosophy is that federal and state spending increases are driving local costs up, and defeating a local budget would only hurt the quality of life in town.
A zero tax increase would mean layoffs and a shortage of workers to keep the parks clean and fix the potholes, she said.
People are voting on the budget based on emotions, she said, and aren’t taking the time to make thoughtful decisions.
Officials have scheduled another budget referendum for May 23.
