Falls Village: Finance board keeps school budget cut

FALLS VILLAGE — The Board of Finance stuck with their decision to cut $20,000 from the Board of Education’s proposed spending plan after a special meeting Monday, May 16.

The May 16 meeting came after an unusually contentious Board of Finance meeting Monday, May 9, during which First Selectman Henry Todd and finance chair Dick Heinz sparred repeatedly over whether or not the Board of Finance needs to approve expenditures from the town’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Heinz insisted the finance board has that obligation and authority; Todd said they did not.

The finance board did approve the proposed spending plan from the selectmen, with the addition of $15,000 for the Planning and Zoning Commission, for a total of $2,121,474.

But the board reduced the Board of Education’s proposal of $3,641,541 by $20,000 on a motion from Dan Silverman, who cited the school board’s failure to respond to a question weeks earlier.

On May 16, Silverman again said he never got a substantive response to his question of what a $20,000 cut would mean for the proposed spending plan.

Board of Education chair Pat Mechare, who was in the audience, said that the school board’s attorney advised her that responding to questions about cuts would mean the finance board was taking an operational role that is the responsibility of the school board.

The finance board members disagreed, taking the position that their responsibility is to make sure town funds are spent properly and they cannot do that if they can’t get answers to their questions.

Several members said that if the school board needs the $20,000, they can ask the finance board for an additional appropriation (and explain why) at a later date.

Like the May 9 meeting, the special meeting got heated, with Mechare trying to respond and Heinz asking her to be quiet.

The town meeting on the spending plans is May 26, 7 p.m. at the Emergency Services Center.