Seymour voters approved the proposed $21.1 million town budget Wednesday by 11 votes.
But for the third time, they rejected the 2012 – 2013 school budget proposal, at $30.5 million.
The results:
Town Budget: $21,160,166
YES: 844
NO: 833
School Budget: $30,548,026
YES: 737
NO: 938
About 18 percent of the registered voters turned out Wednesday — more than the 12.7 and 16.7 percent that voted during the first and second referendums, respectively.
The Board of Finance will meet at 7 p.m. Monday (June 4) to discuss possible cuts to the Board of Education bottom line.
Then on Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen will set a date for another referendum on the new school proposal.
School Cuts Likely
“It’s frustrating,” Board of Education chairman Yashu Putorti said after the referendum results were announced.
Putorti said there’s no place to reduce the proposal without cutting existing programs.
The Board of Education is waiting until a final number is approved to start talking about where those cuts might be made.
Putorti said the proposal defeated Tuesday — at $30,548,026 — doesn’t cover the contractual increases and other regular operating expenses of the district.
“It’s really hurting the students. It’s hurting our children,” Putorti said.
“And having us cut again is just really going to be devastating. I don’t know where to go with it now,” Putorti said.
The school budget voters rejected Tuesday would have meant a 2.53 percent increase over current spending.
The school board initially came to the town asking for a 5.15 percent increase.
The finance board trimmed that request after each failed referendum — $300,000 after the first and $150,000 after the second.
Seymour has traditionally had a hard time getting the school budget passed.
The 2009 – 2010 and 2010 – 2011 budgets passed with 0 percent increases, after earlier versions failed.
Last year, the schools got a $677,312, or 2.3 percent, increase in spending, after three failed votes.
Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller said the cuts to the school budget will “be a difficult thing for the board to absorb.”
However, considering the proposal was rejected by a margin of 200 votes, those cuts will need to be made, Miller said.
Article continues after video.
Town Budget
After the second budget failure on May 17, the Board of Finance trimmed about $200,000 from the town’s budget proposal.
Some of those reductions cut into Miller’s proposed initiatives — such as the reduction of about $48,000 for computer technical support and the reduction of about $25,000 for roads.
Miller said he would look to see if there were ways to shift other spending to re-institute the roads and technology funding.
“I’m going to see if there’s anything we can do to perhaps put those back in,” Miller said Wednesday. “But if not, we’ll just move ahead as done.”
Other plans — such as a new human resources director position — remained intact in the budget proposal.
Miller also said the proposal to eliminate the town’s public works director position was no longer being considered.
The proposal first surfaced in on May 7, after the Board of Finance cut about $90,000 from the Public Works department budget — saying it could come from snow plowing and overtime line items, or that it could come from the elimination of the public works director position.
On May 21, the Board of Finance restored about $30,000 to the public works budget.
Wednesday, Miller said he didn’t have enough votes on the Board of Selectmen to eliminate the director’s position, so he was no longer pursuing it.
Taxes
As the total budget has not been approved, it’s unclear what tax rate Seymour will be facing.
However, going into the referendum Wednesday, the proposal called for a tax rate of 32.95 mills.
The current rate is 27.62 mills. Town officials have recalculated the rate to 31.95 to allow residents to make a better comparison to account for revaluation.
Miller said about 30 percent of residents would likely see no increase — or a tax decrease — once the school budget is finalized.
Residents can call Town Hall with their assessment information to find out what will happen to their taxes under the new proposal.
Click here to read everything the Valley Indy has published about the budget.
