A screen shot from Thursday's Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation meeting.
DERBY — The tax board, after a 10 – 0 vote, approved a budget on Thursday that does not increase the mill rate.
The budget totals $48,385,128. It carries an increase in spending of $997,551 compared to the budget approved a year ago. It uses about $947,000 from the city’s fund balance.
The mill rate stays at 38.6, according to multiple statements at Thursday’s tax board meeting, which was held on Zoom.
The budget allocates an additional $100,000 for Derby Public Schools, bringing the total school budget to $19,177,364.
The school board had asked for an increase of $913,805, citing union contracts and past years of flat-funding education in Derby.
Mayor Rich Dziekan recommended giving the schools a $60,000 increase: the tax board added $40,000 to the mayor’s suggestion.
There had been talking of finding more money for Derby Public Schools. The school superintendent had said revised insurance numbers were coming in $72,000 less than the city was projecting, and suggested moving that dollar amount to the school district. In addition, there was talk of taking money out of a special working balance and using it for education.
However, neither idea was mentioned at Thursday’s budget adoption meeting.
This was an unusual budget season for the Derby tax board. Seven of the 10 members are new. The board’s review of funding requests started later than in previous years, giving an inexperienced board less time to review the budget (the deadline to adopt a budget was Friday).
Also, the city’s finance director was put on paid administrative leave for reasons not shared with the public in early March, leaving the tax board without the services of the city’s chief fiscal officer. Also, the deputy finance director quit shortly after the finance director was put on leave.
So no one from the city’s finance department attended the tax board’s budget meetings.
Walt Mayhew, Mayor Rich Dziekan’s chief of staff, was the primary architect of the new budget.
Derby Town Clerk Marc Garofalo referenced the unusual circumstances when he spoke toward the end of Thursday’s meeting. He said the city should be especially proud of the tax board’s work given the circumstances under which they worked.
“The situation that you were put in is completely unacceptable,” Garofalo said, referring to what he said was a lack of assistance from city staff because of the personnel issues. “I don’t mean to take away from your enthusiasm, but the situation you were put in is completely inexcusable.“
Garofalo criticized the budget for using roughly $947,000 from the city’s fund balance. Members of the tax board had previously expressed misgivings about using the fund balance for operating expenses, but felt they had no choice.
The Dziekan administration, which recommended taking money from the fund balance, said the account is still healthy.
Several tax board members credited Pollis for his efforts in guiding the tax board through the budget process. Although this was Pollis’ first budget season, he kept the conversation on task and allowed members to speak while avoiding long tangents.
Pollis read a brief statement at the end of the meeting thanking his fellow board members for their time and effort. He noted the budget was completed on time, following the rules laid out in the Derby City Charter.
Pollis also highlighted the fact the budget keeps the mill rate stable, while fully funding the Derby Police Department and the Derby Fire Department. He noted while the allocation to the school district was not the amount of money requested by the board of education, it was a step in the right direction.
Pollis urged the mayor’s office and the school district to start talking earnestly about how to fund education in Derby.
The statements from Garofalo and Pollis are included in the podcast posted at the top of this story.
Derby Storm Ambulance was a somewhat surprising bone of contention at Thursday’s meeting.
The tax board’s preliminary budget allocated $125,000 to the ambulance service, with another $25,000 put aside in case the Storms needs it (its members said they need it).
However, at Thursday’s meeting, tax board member Jennifer Desroches asked to take $25,000 away from the $125,000 allocation and give it to the school district. Desroches, Chris Carloni, and Bhamini Patel were in favor of the motion, but it was voted down by the rest of the tax board (except Rose Pertoso, who didn’t cast a vote because she joined the meeting later).
During this year’s budget process, Desroches said Storm Ambulance did not provide the tax board with enough financial data. It’s not the first time a member of the Derby tax board has said this (click here to read a story from 2013), but it hasn’t come up in a few years.
The Dziekan administration is supposed to be forming a committee or task force of some kind that will be created to look at ways to see if the Storms — a nonprofit — can do better financially, according to statements made at tax board meetings.
