A screen shot from the April 6 meeting.
DERBY — The chairman of the school board this week urged the city to invest in education as a way to improve the quality of life in Derby.
“The philosophy of cutting services, cutting services, cutting services — it’s just not working,” said school board chairman Jim Gildea, a father of seven and a 50-year Derby resident. “Think about it. Our kids are moving out of town. People are moving out of town. Derby is no longer a generational town.”
Gildea described Derby government’s budget philosophy as cutting every department to the bone. That philosophy is not improving life in Derby, he said.
“You only need to look at your kids, your children, your grandchildren. They are not staying in Derby,” Gildea said.
The school board chairman made his comments Tuesday (April 6) during a meeting of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation, (BOAT or ‘tax board’) the elected group of volunteers responsible for setting the city’s annual budget, including the mill rate.
The Derby Board of Education is requesting a $629,000 increase in funding from the tax board, a 3.3 percent budget-to-budget increase. The school board’s total proposed budget is $19,706,006.
The schools have averaged a 1.2 percent increase over three years or so, Gildea said. He noted the school district is doing everything it can to reduce costs, including considering whether to create a new, regional school district with the City of Ansonia. In addition, the school district has created special education programs to teach students whose needs could not be met in Derby. Those students were previously sent to schools outside the district at major cost to local taxpayers. Click here for a previous story on the Derby school district’s proposed budget.
“We certainly have shown an affinity to see where we could save money and be even more efficient,” Gildea said.
A screen shot from the April 6 meeting.
He also said six teaching positions have been eliminated over the last three years.
“I feel like every time somebody comes up with something ‘Oh, enrollment, you (have) to cut teachers;’ we cut six teachers. ‘Oh, special education is too high;’ we’re coming in with a 1 percent (increase in) special education costs,” Gildea said. “I almost feel like we’re running out of excuses of why you can’t give us money and why you can’t fund us.”
BOAT chairwoman Judy Szewczyk asked Gildea how her board could finance the school district’s funding request.
“Just taxes up, taxes up?” she asked. “In all my years on the tax board, and it’s been a lot, I’ve never had somebody come forward and say ‘I’ve got this great idea how we can get more money’,” Szewczyk said. “It just never happens.”
Gildea suggested the city could look at making Witek Park more attractive. He also pointed out that Derby lost Sheila O’Malley as economic developer and grant writer (O’Malley left Derby in 2013 after Anita Dugatto was elected mayor). Gildea said O’Malley is getting Ansonia millions in grants, while the position is part-time in Derby.
“I think it comes from investing. It doesn’t come from cutting,” Gildea said to Szewczyk. “I would love to have these discussions. I think there are other areas in town we can maximize. But, again, it has to come with a shifting mindset.”
Derby Public Schools are not the only department looking for more help.
Brian Mezzapelle, Storms Ambulance and Rescue chief, said his agency suffered a $75,000 loss last year and needs more support from the City of Derby. BOAT is considering allocating $60,000 to Storms — but Storms requested $200,000. Mezzapelle suggested some of the COVID-19 relief coming from the feds or state be allocated to the Storms, the city’s ambulance service, whose members have been even more vital to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 Relief Funds
This year Derby is in a position to get more money — and lots of it, it seems.
That’s because the city is a distressed municipality, and the school district is an alliance district. The designations generally mean the city can’t afford itself and its school system, so it qualifies for more state and federal aid.
The federal government is spending trillions on COVID-19 relief — money that filters from the state down to Derby.
During Tuesday’s meeting Derby Mayor Richard Dziekan repeatedly said he expects to see a big increase in aid — but he didn’t have a concrete dollar amount. He also said more information is needed regarding precisely how the money can be used.
Members of the tax board are worried about giving more money to the schools because once they adopt a bottom-line, they can’t come back the next year and reduce it. The approved budget is the starting point for next year’s discussion.
Derby Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway said the city, because of the schools being designated as an alliance district, is poised to get an additional $542,000 (roughly) from the state’s payment in lieu program (money from the state to cover state-owned properties that don’t pay local taxes). Conway suggested that additional money will be a reliable source of revenue Derby can use toward education.
The Bigger Picture
As of Tuesday, the city is looking at a budget totalling roughly $47.9 million, a decrease of about $176,700. They are looking, according to the draft budget posted online, to lower the mill rate from the current 43.8 to about 40.1 or 40.2.
This is a revaluation year, so a lower mill rate does not automatically mean lower tax bills. It’s one part of the tax bill formula. Many on Derby’s hilltop saw steep increases in their assessments — something the tax board is very aware of, and has raised the issue at every meeting. Other residents saw no change in assessments.
According to the calendar posted on the Derby website, the tax board next meets on April 13. Its members still have to adopt a preliminary budget, then hold a public hearing, then adopt a final budget. At Tuesday’s meeting they talked about adopting a budget, but knowing full well that more money will be coming in from the feds and state.
