Staffieri: My Budget Spends Less Money

Mayor Anthony Staffieri Wednesday unveiled a last-minute budget that he said will carry a smaller tax increase than the spending plan being considered by the city’s tax board.

“My budget spends less than the preliminary budget you adopted last week,” Staffieri said in a prepared statement.

Staffieri’s announcement ​“blindsided” the tax board, said chairman Jim Butler, who pointed out his group has been working for months in public to create a 2012 – 2013 spending plan for the city.

The mayor had remained silent, Butler said, even after the tax board adopted a preliminary budget and invited the public to comment. The budget was scheduled to be adopted Wednesday. Now the tax board is scheduled to meet Friday to digest the mayor’s suggested changes.

The Derby tax board creates the city’s budget, including how much money to give to the schools. 

They’ve already adopted a preliminary budget of $37.2 million — and they held a public hearing on that plan. It carries a proposed mill rate of 36.6 mills. The current mill rate is 27.9.

(Derby properties went through a revaluation this year. Click here for a simple math formula that will help you determine whether your property taxes are going up, down or staying the same.)

Staffieri Budget Highlights

Staffieri’s budget, copies of which were given to the tax board Wednesday, results in a mill rate of 33.2 mills.

The mayor’s budget shrinks money the tax board allocated for social security, medicare and electricity. It asks the Derby Public Library to use $30,000 from a library endowment in order to shrink the library’s funding request from the city.

It sets the Derby school budget at $15.5 million — about $421,000 less than the tax board wanted to give to the schools.

The majority of the mayor’s statement to the tax board is posted in the two videos below:

The mayor’s proposed school spending also banks on the school district receiving an additional $283,000 in state funding through the state’s recent education reform bill, which attempts to bring more cash to the state’s worst school systems.

Finally, the mayor’s plan asks the school district to keep a $400,000 projected surplus the district thinks they’ll have at the end of this school year.

Watch the video below for a detailed explanation from Superintendent Stephen Tracy about the school district’s surplus:

Reaction

Resident Tom Lionetti, a member of the Derby Democratic Town Committee, wanted to know why Staffieri waited until the last minute to start talking about the budget with the tax board.

Staffieri, a Republican, said the creation of his suggested budget was delayed because the tax board ​“blocked” the city from hiring an interim finance director. 

Derby finance director Henry Domurad, Jr. and Derby parted ways in April. Domurad then filed a lawsuit against the mayor for unlawful termination, the settlement of which is scheduled to be discussed by the Board of Aldermen Thursday (May 24).

Staffieri brought in Alan Schlesinger to replace Domurad until a full-time finance director could be found, but that didn’t go over well with everyone on the tax board. Click here and here for more information.

Staffieri’s ​“blocked” statement at the tax board set off a volley of comments from Lionetti and Butler, as seen in this video:

Butler, the tax board chairman and a Democrat, was clearly frustrated. He has repeatedly complained that the absence of a finance director has created serious problems for the tax board. Example — the tax board has been unable to tell the public what the average assessed value of a home is in Derby.

He pointed out last year Staffieri came in at the end of the budget process and announced the city would be absorbing the school district’s medical benefits.

“This is the second year in a row we come in the night the budget is to be adopted and we’ve been blindsided,” Butler said.

Tracy, the school superintendent, questioned the wisdom of banking on $283,000 in additional state funding. It’s money Derby schools will have to apply for and may not receive, Tracy said.

Butler wanted to give the tax board to digest Staffieri’s suggested budget.

The tax board will meet again Friday, May 25 at 6:30 p.m. to analyze Staffieri’s budget.

The tax board is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, May 30 at 7 p.m. to adopt the budget.

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