How to Balance Trumbull's Education Budget

The Board of Education plans to use surplus funds, transportion savings and money in an outside separate account to adjust its spending plan to a 2.74 percent increase.

First Selectman Tim Herbst gave the school district $1.862 million less than it asked for in its original request of a 4.56 percent increase. The district's approved budget is about $93 million.

Schools Supt. Ralph Iassogna proposed balancing the budget using $874,000 in a separate account, an estimated $400,000 in surplus and a possible $240,000 in transportation savings. The surplus may not be as much $400,000, it was noted, and not all of it may be required.

He said balancing the budget would be "difficult." In the meeting packet, Iassogna said, "To accommodate this reduction will not only be an arduous task, but also a complicated one. Many factors must be considered and integrated into the final determination."

The board's increase is driven by benefits, salaries, a small staff increase and Project Catapult, an initiative which updates the district's technology. (Trumbull High School turf improvements and school security have been funded with bonds, in addition to part of the school technology improvements).

"Totally the Wrong Direction"

Before the vote to back the proposal, some school board members relayed concerns about the transparency of the budget process, which involved bonding after budget approval and the use of money in outside accounts.

Board member Lisa Labella, who is in her second term, said, "We have gotten so far from where I wanted to be [when I started]. We had a process that was clear. I think this is totally the wrong direction to be going. It's really disheartening."

The board has made decisions that "muddy the waters" of the budget process.

"I wouldn't run my home like this. I don't want to run the schools like this."

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Tom Kelly agreed, adding that the budget process was not followed.

He said Herbst removed $692,000 from the originally proposed budget of $95 million and the Board of Finance never reviewed the board's entire proposal. (Cindy Penkoff, a board of finance alternate later disagreed with him, while member Andy Palo agreed with Kelly.)

"I think it's a dangerous precedent. That budget never should have passed the Board of Finance. I think the budget process wasn't followed," he said.

It is also now difficult to tell how much education costs per year, Kelly said.

The Salary Account

The final vote to back Iassogna's recommendation came with two nays: Kelly and Loretta Chory. Member Deborah Herbst abstained because she wanted firmer numbers.

At issue was the salary account, which contains enough to pay all staff members for a year. But it was not clear how much was in the account, nor how much should be in the account.

"I don't have enough information before me," Herbst said.

Chory, Labella, Kelly and Herbst debated how to account for vacancies and other things that affect the account.

There is no one way to calculate the "vacancy factor," Labella said. Some private companies don't consider it all, she noted.

The final budget numbers will be released at the board's May 21 meeting.