It’s time to set the record straight on budget deliberations in Ansonia. For the past four months members of the Board of Aldermen, together with Mayor Cassetti’s administration, have worked tirelessly to craft a budget that will offer overtaxed residents a break while at the same time delivering a responsible increase to the Board of Education.
As it stands, the tentative budget decreases the tax rate by .2 mills and includes a $750,000 (2.5 percent) increase to the Board of Education. The schools will also receive at least $100,000 additional dollars in cost savings from the teachers’ adoption of a new health insurance program featuring health savings accounts – a proposal that was made by Mayor Cassetti on the outset of the budget process. That’s a total of $850,000 extra going to the schools this year.
The increase to Ansonia schools appears fair in comparison to other municipalities. The Seymour Board of Education received a .06 percent ($18,968) increase this year. The proposed increase to Derby schools this year is 3.5 percent ($606,000), while the Naugatuck Board of Education approved a 0 percent (zero) increase.
Of course, who really cares about how other towns are funding their schools? As an elected official in Ansonia, it is my duty to help improve the schools in my city. That is why I joined Mayor Cassetti and my fellow aldermen over the past 2.5 years in supporting and achieving the following for the good of our schools:
- 4.0 percent increase to the schools in the 2015 – 2016 budget;
- 3.5 percent increase to the schools in the 2014 – 2015 budget;
- Funding of the underfunded city pension (which includes primarily education employees) for the first time in a decade;
- Contributing city money for an $87,000 match for engineering to help the school board obtain portable classrooms to keep down special education;
- Allocating $125,000 in city money towards a $1,250,000 grant that will pay for sidewalks leading to Ansonia High School;
Most recently, I joined the Mayor’s administration in attempting to persuade the Board of Education to combine with the city for a self-funded medical insurance program. A self-funding program would have allowed the aldermen to allocate additional funds to the schools without increasing the tax rate and without impacting employees’ insurance benefits. Yet after months of effort, the school board voted to reject self-funding this year.
Now, with a tentative budget on the table, members of the school administration and teachers’ union are painting the very aldermen that have fought for them as moustache-twirling villains. Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion. I am resolute in my support for the students and teachers in Ansonia. I believe that we can achieve structural changes that will help lower costs and divert more resources to where they are needed most: the classroom. I remain hopeful that we will achieve these cost saving changes in the future, whether it be a self-funding program, regionalization with other districts, or implementation of other best practices.
One thing Mayor Cassetti, this Administration and I will not do, however, is give up. We will not give up on our schools. Nor will we give up on our overburdened taxpayers. Quite frankly, I do not understand members of the opposition party calling for a “small” tax increase this year as a way to increase the school budget. It is an option I flatly reject. Ansonia residents should remember all too well where the path of “small” tax increases leads to, as our community once held the ninth highest tax rate in the State of Connecticut. Driving taxpaying residents and businesses out of the city will only hurt education in the long run.
Sincerely,
Lorie Vaccaro
Member, Board of Aldermen
Chairman, Aldermanic Subcommittee for Finance
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in guest columns should not be interpreted as the opinion of the Valley Indy staff.
