Voters Thursday rejected both the town and school budget proposals and now the Board of Finance is looking to make “some very painful cuts.”
The $50.72 million proposal would have increased tax bills by 8.4 percent.
Town officials Thursday attributed the vote to the bad economy.
But they warned that cuts to the budget will mean reductions in town services and jobs.
“This is not going to be easy,” said Mark Thompson, the chairman of the Board of Finance.
Big Increase
If both the Board of Education and town budgets had been approved by voters, the new tax rate would have been 27.98 mills.
The budget proposal represented a tax rate increase of 2.18 mills, or about 8.4 percent increase.
That meant a homeowner with a house assessed at $200,000 would have paid about $430 more in taxes next year.
The rejected budget was a $1.6 million, or 3.38 percent, increase in spending over the current year.
The Results
Of about 9,500 registered voters, 1,794 people turned out to the polls Thursday.
Registrar of Voters Ron Skurat said that was a high figure for a budget vote.
But Board of Education chairman Edward Strumello and First Selectman Paul Roy said they were disappointed more people didn’t show up.
“There are countries where people would die to have the right to vote and we take it for granted in this country,” Strumello said.
The Board of Education budget proposal, at $30.1 million, was less popular than the town budget.
Only 702 people voted in favor of the school budget, while 1,090 people voted against it.
Meanwhile, 849 people voted in favor of the town budget, while 953 people voted against it.
Education
The budget proposal included $30.1 million for the Board of Education — a 3.3 percent increase in spending over the current year’s budget.
Educators had asked for an increase of $1.6 million, but were given only $970,000 more in this proposal.
Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Mascolo said trimming the school proposal would mean possible layoffs.
“I’m just disappointed that the budget went down,” Mascolo said. “What people need to realize is their taxes will still increase, but their services will now decrease.”
The school budget hasn’t been funded to adequate levels for the past seven years, according to Mascolo.
“There’s nowhere else to go but personnel,” Mascolo said.
Town Side
Roy said he didn’t know yet where the town could cut from its budget proposal, but he said he would begin looking for places on Monday morning.
“I think people understand there has to be some kind of an increase,” Roy said. “I think we can find some room to make some preliminary cuts on the town side that hopefully won’t result in any personnel cuts.”
Thompson said it will come down to a decision between wants and needs.
“We’ll look at required services, and the desirable services, and start making some choices,” Thompson said.
Next Steps
The Board of Finance is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and again at 7 p.m. on Wednesday to discuss the budget proposal.
The Board of Finance will come up with another proposed budget — and there will be another referendum for the proposal May 11.
For a full list of articles on Seymour’s budget proposal, click here.
