A screen shot from the April 19, 2022 meeting of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation. The meeting was held on Zoom.
DERBY — The city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation could adopt a preliminary budget at a meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday (April 25).
The budget in its current draft totals $48,385,128 and does not appear to carry a tax increase.
Members of the tax board have been using a budget from Mayor Richard Dziekan’s office as its starting point. Dziekan’s chief of staff, Walt Mayhew, appears to be the budget’s primary architect, and has been answering questions from members of the tax board in person and through emails.
The chief of staff is much more involved than in prior budget years partly because the Dziekan administration placed Derby Finance Director Agata Herasimowicz on paid administrative leave at the beginning of March, and the deputy finance director resigned shortly thereafter.
The administration has declined to answer questions about the city’s chief fiscal officer, and has not fulfilled a Freedom of Information request submitted by The Valley Indy on March 16, 2022.
If the members of the tax board adopt a preliminary budget on Monday (April 25), a public hearing on the budget will also be scheduled, possibly for Wednesday, April 27.
The tax board must adopt a budget by Friday, April 29.
Please check the City of Derby meeting calendar to confirm the meetings are happening, and for the scheduled start times.
The tax board met on Tuesday (April 19) to continue reviewing the proposed budget, which covers the fiscal year starting July 1, 2022.
The funding request from Derby Public Schools appears to be the toughest discussion, as it is most years.
The Derby Board of Education is asking the city for an increase of $913,805 to run the schools next year. However, the mayor’s proposed budget allocates an additional $60,583 for education. That’s a difference of $853,222 between what the school board says they need and what the city is willing to provide.
Jim Gildea, the chairman of the Derby Board of Education, has previously pointed out the mayor’s budget essentially flat funds education, which has happened during three of the last four budget cycles.
Mayhew, at a previous tax board meeting, said the mayor wanted to set up some sort of process by which education dollars from the city would be tied to test scores. Click here for Mayhew’s complete remarks with a rebuttal from Gildea.
At Tuesday’s tax board meeting, Derby Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway pointed out that test scores are up on a year-to-year comparison. Referencing Mayhew’s previous comments, tax board member Mike Gray pointed out that teacher evaluations already include performance goals.
Gray, backing from Conway, repeatedly said the city expects the school district to use grant funding for operating costs — which is exactly how grants are not supposed to be used. The grants are to be used for specific school reform efforts in poor cities such as Derby. The grants are not supposed to be used for normal school costs.
As Derby’s test scores improve, the grant funding will be phased out, and the school district will hit a “fiscal cliff,” Gray said.
The tax board is considering another another $30,000 to $60,000 to the mayor’s budget for schools. That could be formalized during Monday’s meeting.
The other area of contention is Derby Storm Ambulance.
The nonprofit agency is requesting a $150,000 increase to run the city’s ambulance service, according to documents under review in public.
Tax board members seem willing to allocate $100,000, but are on the fence about the additional $50,000. This is an annual discussion in front of the tax board. Storm members have been saying for a decade that running a nonprofit ambulance service is cheaper than hiring an outside agency to take people to the hospital.
Tax board members expressed some misgivings about how the mayor’s budget takes about $947,000 from the city’s fund balance for budget purposes. The city, which has a number of outstanding issues still open in audits and a history of not filing audits on time, has been trying to build its fund balance to get in better financial shape.
However, the mayor’s budget notes that the city’s fund balance is still healthy even after draining $947,000 from it.
