Seymour’s Board of Finance voted unanimously Tuesday (March 26) to present a 2013 – 2014 budget proposal totaling $53,803,630 to voters at a public hearing next month.
If the spending plan were approved by voters at referendum as is, the town’s mill rate would go from 32.83 to 33.91, a 3.3 percent increase.
That means a person who owns a house assessed at $230,000 would see their property taxes go from $7,550.90 to $7,799.30, an increase of $248.40.
The finance board will officially present the spending plan at a public hearing April 10 at 7 p.m. in Seymour Middle School.
After the hearing, the Board of Finance can weigh feedback they receive from residents and make any adjustments they deem necessary before sending the spending plan for residents to vote on at referendum.
The proposal endorsed by the finance board Tuesday fully funds the Board of Education’s budget request for next year, which totals $31,113,984.
That would be a year-over-year increase of $715,959, or 2.4 percent.
On the town side of the budget, government expenditures would rise from $16.1 million to $17.1 million, according to numbers presented Tuesday.
That’s an increase of more than 6 percent, well above the 2 percent figure targeted by First Selectman Kurt Miller months ago.
After the meeting Miller said the finance board made a “prudent” decision to send the budget to a public hearing because they could revise it afterward.
“At this point in the process we’re in a very good place,” Miller said. “I think there’s still some places where we could potentially cut.”
Asked why a resident should vote to have their property taxes raised more than 3 percent if the budget were to go to referendum as is, Miller said: “I think there’s still room in this budget to bring that increase down, to have the mill increase be lower than it is.
“Having said that, I think this is a good budget, and well-planned,” he added. “It gives us the opportunity to continue to move forward in some of the key areas that have been identified: infrastructure, improvement of our roads, technology, streamlining our operations.”
Click here to read more about Miller’s budget priorities from a previous story.
School Resource Officers
The biggest sticking point during the board’s discussions Tuesday was how the town will ask voters whether $377,000 should be spent to put a full-time school resource officer in each of the town’s four schools.
Officials plan to put a special, non-binding advisory question on the referendum ballot asking voters whether or not they approve the expenditure.
But the money will already be part of the budget, which could create an awkward situation if the budget itself is approved and voters reject the concept of school resource officers.
Finance board chairman Trish Danka was concerned that if that happened, taxpayers would still have to foot the bill for the $377,000 regardless of how it’s spent, if it were spent at all.
Danka also said she was concerned at how the $377,000 increased the budget’s bottom line.
“I am not happy with the mill rate and the (budget) figure going forth,” she said after the meeting.
Article continues after the video, in which finance board members and Miller discuss the issue.
During the meeting Danka passed out links to news articles about communities throughout the country who, instead of hiring school resource officers, have patrol officers do their paperwork while at schools in order to reassure students and parents.
Click here to read about a town in Minnesota taking such an approach.
Danka said she reached out to Board of Education Chairman Yashu Putorti and Schools Superintendent Christine Syriac, who were “receptive” to the idea.
Still, Danka said she voted yes — and only after Miller promised to send a Code Red alert to get residents out to the public hearing April 10 — in the hopes that people would weigh in one way or the other on the question.
“After that, all bets are off,” Danka said.
“I don’t like the venue that we’re using” to get feedback from residents, she said. “I would have preferred it to be entirely separate from this budget.”
Other finance board members preferred more of a wait-and-see approach.
“Let the people vote on it,” William Sawicki said. “Nothing’s being hidden. Put it in and let’s see where this falls. You’re better off going in with something you can take out or adjust than not having it there.”
Putorti, the school board chairman, said after Tuesday’s meeting that the decision should be up to residents.
“I want the people to decide whether they want them or not,” he said.
But if the concept is voted down, he said, Danka’s idea would be a good option.
Frank Loda, a private citizen, recorded the meeting on video and published it to YouTube. Click the play button below to watch.
