If the Board of Finance is worried that a proposed education budget would fail at a town referendum because the dollar amount is too high, resident William Ferris wants to put members’ minds at ease.
Ferris has offered to personally pay for the cost of the referendum — estimated at $5,000 — at which residents vote on the proposed school and town budgets.
There’s a catch: The Board of Finance has to forward the school budget as initially proposed by the Board of Education — with a $1.12 million increase.
The Board of Finance March 9 voted to give the schools $500,000 next year — roughly $600,000 less than school officials requested.
The move disappointed dozens of parents and school officials who packed the Town Hall meeting room in support of the original proposal.
“What they did was a travesty of democracy,” said Ferris, who attended last week’s meeting and spoke during public comment.
Ferris said he believes the Finance Board voted to cut the request not on its merits, but on the belief it could not pass with voters.
So Thursday, Ferris hand delivered a letter to First Selectman Paul Roy offering to donate the $5,000 cost of the referendum.
Seymour residents vote on the town and school budget proposals during a referendum in the spring. If either proposal is rejected, another referendum is held. Each one costs about $5,000.
Article continues after Ferris’ letter.
“I personally find it regrettable that the heartfelt beliefs of these Board of Finance members were subverted by the $5,000 cost of the referendum,” Ferris said in his letter.
Who Is Bill Ferris?
Ferris owns a business, CSA Data Solutions, in Seymour. He has two daughters — a junior and a senior — in the high school.
He describes himself as politically independent, and not a member of any parent group, board or commission.
In an e-mail distributed Saturday morning, Ferris said he’s donated just $100 to a political cause during his lifetime.
He’s lived in Seymour 30 years — and he’s not Mr. Money Bags, according to his e-mail.
“If you come to my house you will see the following: The couch in the family room is torn, there are no drapes, carpets or pictures in the living room, there are no marble counter tops, downstairs half the carpet has been torn out and it has not been replaced because we still have to fix the drainage problem, though we’ve lived in our house for 25 years there is no front walkway, the deck in the back needs to be replaced,” he said.
“So there’s no lack of things on which I could choose to spend $5,000. But for me, right now, this is the most important use of $5,000,” he said.
Reaction
Robert Koskelowski, chairman of the finance board, said he was offended by Ferris’ offer, and likened the gesture to someone trying to buy his vote.
Koskelowski said he would refer the letter to the police chief to determine if there is anything illegal about the offer.
“My vote has never been for sale and will never be for sale,” Koskelowski said.
The finance board members did not vote the way they did because of the fear of a referendum cost, Koskelowski added.
“I voted on behalf of the entire town of Seymour,” Koskelowski said.
Ferris said he doesn’t see how his offer could be illegal because he doesn’t stand to gain anything personally if the budget passes. He said he is interested in the democratic process.
It’s not clear if a private resident can pay for the cost of a referendum.
“I have no comment now because it may not be something that can even be done,” Roy said Friday.
Roy plans to bring the topic up at the next Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday.
Ed Strumello, chairman of the Board of Education, welcomed the gesture as possibly being positive for the school district.
School Funding
At the heart of the matter is the school budget.
School district officials, after several years of flat funding, had requested a $1.12 million increase, with a $30.2 million proposal.
On Wednesday, the Board of Finance voted 5-2 along party lines (Republican – Democrat) to push forward a $29.6 million budget to voters.
That proposal is still a $500,000, or 1.7 percent, increase over current spending, but nowhere near what school officials said was needed to bring the district back up to par.
Last year the budget was approved on the fourth referendum. Voters had rejected a previous proposal, even though it had a zero percent increase.
At last week’s Finance Board meeting, several members brought up last year’s multiple votes.
Peter Jezierny, a retired teacher who serves on the Finance Board, said residents sent a clear message to town officials — we won’t pass anything that raises our taxes more than a mill.
He said the town wasted money on multiple budget votes.
“Doing that more than twice is irresponsible, where we’re putting out referendums in an effort to find something that the voters will accept,” Jezierny said.
A copy of the proposed Seymour school budget is posted below:
It’s a very nice Gesture; the first time in the 14 years I have been living in Seymour that someone is willing to put their money where there mouth is. Now let me live up to my moniker, what if there are 4 referendums required to pass the budget, then the town is still out $15,000. You have all seen the way these budget votes go, about the only thing I would bet on is it won’t pass the first try, even the reduced amount, and this year, I hope I am wrong. Kudos to Mr. Ferris. This is not a jab at anyone, just a little reality check.
I have been a resident of the town of Seymour for ten years now, and within that time, I have witnessed the slow decline of the town and the employees that are supposed to represent the best interest of the residents. First the trucking school is allows into our a residential/industrial area because the town was too slow to change the zoning laws, and because the town lawyer dropped the ball. Now, the town wants our students to succeed and become positive students in our community, but they are not given the adequate education because the finance committee hasn’t bothered to move ahead with their plans to implement a better teaching system than we have had in the past. How are the teachers supposed to keep our students at or above the state average if they aren’t given the best opportunity to do so. We are losing teachers all the time to other districts. Why not find other ways to limit the budgets of other organizations within the town? It is not like our roads are getting any better, and as for the sidewalk replacement, there is a single person doing the work of what should take a whole team. Why is it so hard to see that we need this education budget to pass in order to help our students excel and be able to compete with other students from around the state? And as for pressing charges against Mr. Ferris, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN CONSIDER IT . . .he wasn’t trying to do anything criminal with his donation, he was trying to remove some of the excuses the board has put before the parents of this community. It saddens me to even hear a hint of anger or disgust at such a suggestion! Mr. Ferris, I wish that I had the money to support your effort, but unfortunately, in this economy, we are very much living paycheck to paycheck.
PLEASE SEYMOUR . . WAKE UP AND SEE WHAT THESE BOARDS ARE DOING TO OUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!! THEY ARE OUR FUTURE!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS
Stacey Eva
Once again, Bob Koskelowski is allowed to destroy the town of Seymour. We voted him out of office, yet he creeped his way back in and as his first official act, he sets back the town of Seymour another year.
When will the people of Seymour learn to never vote for Republicans?
I’m with all other posters. KUDOS to Mr. Ferris. I cannot commit $5K, but I encourage all who agree to call town hall today to pledge what they will contribute to the cost of putting a decent school budget to referendum. I will pledge $100. Mr. Koskelowski is a decent man with a limited perspective. We live in a town with potential beyond his imagination. It is not about republican or democrat, tax or no tax. It is about vision, intelligence, investment and innovation.
His unilateral decision FOR the taxpayers of Seymour that they could not afford the nominal tax increase to fund the proposed budget was what was arrogant. Borne of the premise that any tax increase is bad. He was not so concerned about taxpayer obligations and the state of the economy when he supported the ramming through of the $35 million commitment to build CChat-fieldSchool ‘as new’ without ever authorizing a thorough study of the REAL cost of upgrading Lopresti, one of the most historic schools and truly a neighborhood school (what was presented was based on Chatfield renovations, which included big tix items new gym and cafeteria, which Lopresti did not need) As CT is faced with recession related concerns, they can freeze school bond funding (which is not what they told taxpayers) and we would be on the hook for the whole $35 mil. Can taxpayers afford that, Sir?
Mr. Koskelowski specifically advanced the notion that the budget requested by the Board was beyond the means or will of taxpayers and we could not afford a failed referendum. Thus, Mr. Ferris’ offer was highly appropriate, Mr. Koskelowski. Because your primary objection to submitting the requested budget was the cost of the referendum, he has resolved your objection. So if your concern is truly to support the will of the taxpayers of Seymour, then step aside and allow those who wish their voices to be heard to tell YOU what they can and will pay to ensure the quality of our public schools…which many understand direct relates to our quality of life, now and in the future.