The 8 – 4 vote came after a public hearing during which an overwhelming majority of speakers asked the Aldermen to give the schools more money than the $750,000 increase envisioned in a “tentative” budget approved last week.
But the school board had requested a $2 million increase, and said Monday athletic programs could be eliminated.
School leaders said after Tuesday’s meeting cuts of some kind will still hit the district.
The Valley Indy recorded Tuesday’s meeting in its entirety. Click the play button on the video above to watch.
The budget decreases the city’s property tax rate by 0.2 mill — which means a person with a house assessed at $150,000 will save about 30 bucks on taxes year-over-year.
School Threat Update
The meeting began with a brief update from Mayor David Cassetti, Superintendent Carol Merlone, and Police Chief Kevin Hale regarding an anonymous threat that resulted in schools closing Tuesday.
They begin speaking at about the 8 minute, 30 second mark in the video.
Hale said the high school’s resource officer was made aware of an anonymous threat of violence on a smartphone app called “After School,” which resulted in a heavy police presence as schools dismissed Tuesday.
The chief asked anyone with more information to contact police at 203 – 735-1885.
Schools will reopen Wednesday — with police officers present in each location.
Merlone apologized to parents who felt left out of the loop during Tuesday afternoon because the schools didn’t immediately notify them of the threat, saying she did so as soon as police allowed her.
The superintendent also said the high school’s graduation will still be scheduled for June 9.
The Budget
After Cassetti, Hale, and Merlone spoke, the Aldermen held a public hearing on a “tentative” budget they had approved last week.
The public comments begin about 17 minutes into the video.
Most of the discussion during the hearing regarded the city’s public schools.
A total of 32 people offered comments on the budget — and 31 told Aldermen to think about giving more to schools, with many worried about cuts school officials said they’ll have to make should they get less than the $2 million increase requested.
On Monday, Schools Superintendent Carol Merlone and Assistant Superintendent Michael Wilson told the Valley Indy during a podcast interview that even athletics were on the chopping block.
Cassetti then read a prepared statement — it begins about the 1 hour, 43 minute mark in the video — during which he said the city could give the schools about $250,000 more than previously envisioned while still delivering a modest tax cut.
The new figure represented a year-over-year increase of 3.35 percent, or $1,007,389.
The mayor said the increase could have been bigger — if the Board of Education had voted to implement “self-funded” insurance plans.
Last week the school board voted to delay any action on self-funded insurance until next year’s budget.
Cassetti’s remarks on self-funded insurance prompted a smattering of heckles from the audience.
Alderman Joseph Jeanette then proposed giving the school district a 4 percent increase.
Jeanette’s motion failed by a 7 – 5 vote. Those voting yes were Jeanette, Denice Hunt, Richard Kaslaitis, Joan Radin, and Phil Tripp. Those voting no, Charles Stowe, Lorie Vaccaro, Anthony Cassetti, Matthew Edo, Patrick Henri, David Blackwell, and Frank DeLibero.
Assistant Comptroller Richard Bshara then discussed some changes to the spending plan approved tentatively last week.
Vaccaro proposed approving the budget as presented by Cassetti and Bshara.
It passed by a 8 – 4 vote, which takes place about the 2 hour, 20 minute mark on the video.
The yes votes: Vaccaro, DeLibero, Stowe, Cassetti, Edo, Blackwell, Henri, and Tripp.
The nays: Hunt, Jeanette, Kaslaitis, and Radin.
Reaction
Wilson, the assistant schools superintendent, said school officials would meet Wednesday with a view to having recommendations on where to make adjustments by the end of Thursday.
He said he couldn’t be more specific about where those adjustments will be.
“We really have to just work the numbers tomorrow and see what the impact will be,” he said.
Once the administrators come up with recommendations, the school board will schedule a special meeting to discuss them further within the next week or two, Board of Education President William Nimons said.
Nimons said he wanted to wait to see what Merlone recommends before commenting on specific adjustments.
“We have to listen to the superintendent,” he said. “She’s the CEO.”
Mathew Hough, the president of the teacher’s union, said he appreciated any more money the schools can get, but was disappointed at the reason offered by the mayor for not being able to provide more.
“I think it’s unfortunate that we keep coming back to self-insurance,” Hough said, adding that the numbers originally envisioned as potential savings didn’t pan out.
He also noted that the self-funded insurance proposal came relatively late in the process.
“To keep throwing it back at the Board of Education is really unfair,” Hough said.
He said he’d sit down with administrators to see if the union could come with a plan “that will cause the least impact to students. But there will be an impact.”
The city’s corporation counsel, John Marini, said the city did what it could for schools, and noted that the school district was due to save about $250,000 because teachers agreed to open their contracts and move to health savings accounts.
He also said the increases provided by Cassetti’s administration have been higher on average than those given to the schools in the last few years of the mayor’s predecessor.
Cassetti said that whlie he couldn’t give schools all that they wanted, he gave a responsible increase to the Board of Education while still lowering taxes.
He noted that he campaigned on that platform and won a second term in a landslide last November.
“I funded education. I funded it,” Cassetti said. “I made the promise during the campaign that I would fund education and lower taxes and that’s exactly what I did. They wanted more. I think I did pretty good crafting this budget.”
