Legislative Council Reduces Budget Proposals Before Second Referendum

Newtown's Legislative Council voted Tuesday night to remove $750,000 from the 2013/14 proposed education budget increase and $150,000 from the town's proposed budget increase, after voters rejected both budgets at referendum last week. 

Officials emphasized they intended to keep school security a priority in the budget, saying the cuts would not affect police presence at schools, though an armed officer at Reed Intermediate School would need to remain at her post.

Council members deliberated for about three hours on the right amount to remove from the budget, with one eye on improving chances for a successful second referendum.

"If we go and we cut it by the smallest of amounts, we're going to get a really significant pushback and it's going to go down more," said council member George Ferguson. "I think the best strategy is to cut it -- not like we did last year, but not a small cut that's going to get laughed at. And maybe we'll get through a second referendum."

After the cuts, the town budget stands at $39 million, with the education budget at $71 million. The resulting mill rate is 33.42, with an effective tax increase of 4.29%, according to town finance director Robert Tait.

Board of Education Proposed Budget Increase Reduced by $750,000

Board of Education officials are responsible for finding places to cut from their budget once voters approve it. Some council members suggested school board officials re-examine staffing at Newtown High School, including a request for an assistant principal.

"I have not heard anyone who has supported that," said board member Kathy Fetchick. "I think it's extravagant and unnecessary." She cited declining enrollment as an overall concern. Education chair Debbie Leidlein warned the council cuts could come in unpleasant areas, including a long-championed full-day kindergarten initiative.

"We're going to have to find that money somehow in our budget, and if our budget is continually reduced, I don't know where that money's going to come from," she said.

She said later that a $750,000 reduction could eliminate a variety of initiatives, including full-day kindergarten.

"I'm sorry, but unless you can substantiate your reduction, I can't publicly support this budget," she said.

Council member Mary Anne Jacob proposed limiting cuts to the education increase to $500,000, which ultimately failed in an 8-4 vote. The $750,000 reduction passed 9-3, with Jacob, Daniel Honan and Paul Lundquist voting against.

"I don't think that just because the number of people who said there is a reduction is more significant, the reduction should be larger -- I don't agree with that," said Jacob.

Council member Dan Wiedemann disagreed.

"I think we need to go further," he said. "I don't think this is going to pass. I think we're going to be right back here again."

Selectman's Budget Increase Reduced by $150,000

On the town side, First Selectman Pat Llodra and Chief Michael Kehoe said the town could save $100,000 from the town's contingency fund by restructuring to cover the work of a School Resource Officer at Reed Intermediate School included in the original budget.

When the Board of Finance approved funds for additional SROs in schools, Llodra said, they built in the maximum amount to fully replace Reed's officer in her role at the school. (The officer also serves as Newtown's Youth Officer.) The new plan, Llodra said, is to reorganize her time to allow her to continue to serve both roles.

"As difficult as it will be, that commitment would be made with existing resources," she said. "It means we don't have to replace that position. We would keep that person in place as SRO and Youth Officer."

The officer could potentially have the assistance of a backup to relieve her of some duties, said Chief Michael Kehoe. He told the council the officer's workload has "doubled or quadrupled" since the Dec. 14 shooting, in part due to her work on sexual assault investigations.

An extra $30,000 would be removed from health benefits within the contingency fund, and $20,000 would be removed from the budget at the First Selectman's discretion. The first municipal budget, asking for a 3.3% increase, failed by 66 votes at referendum.

"It's very good we are able to provide the same quality of service and security with a reduction of $130,000 to security," said Capeci before the vote. "That's really the message here: we will not be impacting the security, and hopefully with this we will be able to bring a dollar value down to a point the taxpayers will support it as well."

Residents Speak Out

Before the vote, resident Daniel Kormanik told the council he voted no on both issues last week.

"And I'll continue to vote no if it takes five times," he said. "I think we have town budget up about $750,000 too much and the school budget up about $2 million too much ... You want to talk about everybody living here? The middle of the road is the way to go."

"We can't just spend, spend, spend," he said.

Some PTA members who have previously asked officials to avoid education cuts reiterated their concerns both before and after the vote. Michelle Assante said she would like to see the council give the municipal budget the kind of scrutiny the education budget received.

"It's been interesting to me to see ... it seems the officials on these boards have very laserlike focus in finding every single dime in the Board of Education budget," she said. "I'm very concerned about where we're going to go from here ... I don't know anyone personally that's going to vote for the Board of Selectmen's budget until the Board of Education budget is on safe ground. I think we're going to end up locked in an impasse again."

Newtown's second referendum is set for May 14 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.