Dismal Tournout At Budget Public Hearing

Town residents had a chance Tuesday night to hear the town side and Board of Education tell about how they each arrived at the budget that will be up for vote at referendum on April 24. Instead, in a crowd of 50 people gathered at the McGee Middle School auditorium, less than 10 were not affiliated with the town in some way.

If the budget is approved at referendum (April 24) it will increase the mill rate by .71. The mill rate will increase from 24.5 to 25.21. That will make for a tax increase on a $225,000 home of about an additional $150 a year per household.

Mayor Adam Salina was not in attendance as he was at the wake of his father-in-law Sal Verdi. Deputy Mayor Steve Morelli presided over the hearing.

The town presented its budget first and then came the Board of Education.

Former Councilor Bob Dacey was very disturbed by the lack of participation by town residents.

"Out of all the people here I don't think there are 10 people that aren't employed by the town," Dacey said. "Since we have the referendum, people don't show up. We used to have this place packed and people outside waiting to get in. Somehow, we have to get the people back because they need to hear how you come up with this budget."

Dacey encouraged those in attendance to pass the budget.

"This is a good budget," he said. "Two of the last six years we have had a zero increase but it is mathematically impossible to do that every year. All I hear s the sky is falling and that people will move out of town. Baloney. We have growth of 1.5 percent on the grand list. Tell me any surrounding towns that can say that."

Resident Barbara Coughlin had an idea why there were very few residents at the hearing.

"I'm from New York City where we never had a chance to go to a meeting like this and meet our government officials personally," she said. "The meetings that were packed in the past that were packed were all about controversy and fighting. You had people come out in droves to fight for their positions. This council has managed to operate on a basis of consensus, which is commendable.

"I don't have any children living here any more and I could go to the dark side and say we don't need this Board of Education and they don’t need all that money and I had 50 kids in my class. But that won't happen. I hope I'm right and I appreciate all your hard work."

Morelli responded.

"I hope you're right Barbara and I hope the low turnout is reflective of a responsible budget," Morelli said. "We have had flashpoints where we have had larger, angrier crowds but if the people are home and content, that's good news."

Brian Pskowski of Berlin asked a few questions, one concerned the pension expenditure, another on the reason why capital expenditures are not more fully supported.

"We have only funded 29 percent of the capital requests and that is going to catch up to us," Pskowski said.

"I don't disagree with you," Morelli said. "When you look at the budget, those capital expenditures are large and they stick out when you are looking for something to cut. They become the most obvious things to cut. We have properly addressed the high school problem and the McGee roof as well as Town Hall."

Town Manager Denise McNair added, "If you push somebody against the wall and say can you go another year without a dump truck, they will tell you they can. That is a $175,000 truck and to cut it is much easier than something smaller that wouldn't have gotten us to a realistic budget. The big line items are the biggest cuts."

Councilor Bill Rasmussen tried to give some context as to how lean the budget is even though there is an increase.

"If you look at the budget closely, there are no big line items to cut anywhere," Rasmussen said. "To keep these numbers in perspective, if we cut $230,000 it would save a household $17.50 for the year. If we cut $23,000 it would save a household $1.75. This budget is a good budget."