It turns out the Seymour Board of Finance should have made some type of change — if only by a dollar — to the proposed Board of Education budget before sending it back to voters.
The board on Monday voted to send the same $30.5 million school budget proposal to referendum, tentatively scheduled for June 14, that voters had rejected at the town’s third budget vote last month.
But that’s against Seymour’s charter, according to town counsel Richard Buturla.
“It’s pretty simple,” Buturla said. “Section 12.3 requires the Board of Finance to make a revision after a budget is rejected by the voters… The charter doesn’t address how big a revision, and I’m going to let the Board of Finance address that.”
The Board of Finance will meet again 7 p.m. Wednesday at Town Hall to consider what changes to make.
“Even if they cut a dollar, there has to be some revision,” said First Selectman Kurt Miller.
The Board of Finance on Monday voted 6 – 1 to make no changes to the budget proposal, and send it back for a fourth referendum.
Their reasoning: The Board of Education needs the money this year, after several years of stagnant budgets, members said.
Board of Finance chairman Trish Danka was the lone dissenting vote.
Danka said after voters rejected the school proposal by about 200 votes on May 30 that she didn’t think it was smart to send the same budget proposal back to voters. Doing so risks having it rejected again, and pushing the town past the July 1 fiscal year start date without a budget.
“I was a little surprised at my board’s action last night, to be honest,” Danka said Tuesday.
Reaction to the vote was mixed on the Valley Indy Facebook page. Some school supporters applauded the Board of Finance for taking a stand in support of the school system.
Others criticized the board for ignoring the voters.
It’s not clear if the Board of Finance will change gears, or make just a small decrease, at its meeting Wednesday.
“I don’t know what my board is going to do,” Danka said. “But I stand firm with what I did last night.”
