A public hearing Thursday on the proposed 2014 – 2015 Seymour budget lasted 12 minutes and included comments from just three people.
Town officials expect to get a clearer picture of how residents feel about the $54.6 million budget proposal at a town referendum May 1.
“They’ll tell us if they want us to make any tweaks,” said Board of Finance chairman Bill Sawicki after the short hearing Thursday.
The budget proposal — at $54,641,581 — would raise town spending by $1.65 million or 3.12 percent.
If approved by voters, the proposal would increase the tax rate by 1.15 mills — from the current 33.23 mills to 34.38 mills.
That means a house assessed at $150,000 would see an annual tax increase of about $172 in 2014 – 2015.
The Board of Finance plans to send the proposal to voters as it was presented Thursday, according to Sawicki.
“We think what we’ve included in here is reasonable,” Sawicki said. “To be premature and start tweaking, I don’t think does justice to the process.”
That process involved the Board of Finance reviewing department requests that sought more than $2.5 million increase, he said. After meeting with department heads and reviewing the requests, the Board of Finance trimmed those requests down to the $1.65 million increase proposed.
About 25 people, include several town officials and employees, attended the hearing at Seymour Middle School.
Board of Education
The schools request was one of those reduced by the Board of Finance last month.
The Board of Education initially asked for a 3.5 percent increase with its $32 million proposal. The Board of Finance decided to reduce the proposed allotment to $31.8 million — a 2.89 percent increase over current spending.
The lower figure represents what the Board of Education calls its “level services budget,” the amount of money it estimates it will cost to fund all the same services and staff members next year.
Seymour residents will vote on the school and town budgets in separate questions at the referendum May 1.
Two of the three people who spoke at the public hearing Thursday talked about the school spending.
Seymour parent Richard Rossick urged the Board of Education to stop funding the schools altogether, and cited personal concerns with the school district.
“Thrown the whole budget out, especially the school budget,” Rossick said.
Another parent, Cindy Dion, urged the Board of Finance to keep the schools budget proposal as-is.
“The Board of Ed has already been cut,” Dion said. “They (the children) are the future.”
The third speaker was Scott Andrews, the Seymour Ambulance Association chief. He asked the Board of Finance to add back money from the ambulance association’s request that would help senior citizens avoid large bills when they have to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
“It’s going to hurt,” Andrews said, “especially those people who go to the hospital two to three times a month. Without that (bundled billing) our senior citizens are going to suffer financially.”
Budget Overview
First Selectman Kurt Miller gave a presentation after the budget hearing on the town’s goals regarding the budgeting process.
He outlined his efforts to get the town to have less debt and more money in its fund balance — two moves he says will help Seymour get a better bond rating and receive lower interest rates in the future.
“The town is becoming more and more fiscally stable,” Miller said.
But there are issues — including roads in “terrible shape” and town buildings in need of updates and maintenance. And town insurance plans are “extremely, extremely expensive,” Miller said.
Budget Referendum
The budget referendum will be held from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 1.
All residents will vote at the Seymour Community Center on Pine Street.
