Selectmen set town budget at $30,732,523

WINSTED — After a two-hour-long budget hearing on Wednesday, April 13, the Board of Selectmen officially approved a total town budget of $30,732,523.The town side of the budget, as approved by the selectmen, stands at $11,402,127.The selectmen officially made many of the additions and cuts that they had suggested during their April 6 budget hearing.One cut that had not been discussed at previous hearings was $2,820,561 from the school budget.Selectman Karen Beadle made the motion for the cut and cited declining enrollment rates and problems obtaining information from the Board of Education.“For the last two years we have struggled with getting any firm numbers from the board,” Beadle said. “There are two grades going to another school where they are getting new books and the tuition went down. The [school] budget did not even have firm numbers for transportation.”With $2,820,561 cut, the proposed budget for the Board of Education stands at $18,600,000.“I think it should get them through,” Beadle said.Selectman Ken Fracasso agreed with Beadle and voted for the cut.“We have to realize that there’s only so much money that can be spent,” Fracasso said. “We have to lose the perception that throwing money at something is going to make it better. I think the Board of Education made a huge stride in moving the seventh and eighth grades to The Gilbert School. However, we have not heard any credible justification for increasing the school budget. I think in a time where we have to do more with less, [the originally proposed Board of Education budget] is just a spit in the face to taxpayers.”Mayor Candy Perez, along with fellow Democratic Selectman Michael Renzullo, were the only two selectmen who voted against the cut.“I am in the profession of education, and some people think there is a bias there. Maybe there is,” Perez said. “I agree both Gilbert and the Board of Education should have sharpened their pencils more. I do think the request is too high. But I don’t know how we can attract families to the town when we take this out of the school’s budget. They don’t have everything they need. They are still using blackboards in the schools.”Beadle disagreed with Perez and said the cut is justified.“Throwing money at [the board] has not improved problems,” Beadle said. “With a decrease in enrollment, we were supposed to save money. We never saw that.”“I just think from the Board of Education side they have put their worst foot forward,” Fracasso said. “Just tonight [Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno] sent us a letter requesting that [the town] reimburse [the district] $155,000 for items that he does not feel the Board of Education should be responsible for. He was instructed to do this at the meeting on March 8, but it’s taken him a month.”“I have no argument with the reasons [for the decrease],” Perez said. “My argument is with the fact that we are holding kids accountable for the actions of adults.”Selectman Glenn Albanesius disagreed with Perez and supported the cut to the education budget.“What we are trying to reallocate funds to the town side,” Albanesius said. “When I sat here listening to the department heads give their budget requests [at previous budget hearings], it became clear that we have slighted the townspeople for a long time. It’s high time that it stops. I don’t think this is at the expense of the kids. This is about adults making the right decisions. That’s what needs to start. This is a reaction to reality, nothing short of that.”During public comments at the beginning of the hearing, Gilbert School Corporation Chairman Steven Sedlack spoke against heavy school budget cuts.“I think when the whole concept of the seventh and eighth grades coming to Gilbert came up, people expected the savings would come back to the town,” Sedlack said. “The expectation was different for educators because they thought they could put the savings back into the education for our kids. I think it is a well-accepted fact that education in Winsted has been underfunded for quite some time now.”Winchester Taxpayer’s Association President David Lapointe disagreed with Sedlack.“Over the past 10 years, education spending has increased in Winsted while the student population has decreased,” Lapointe said. “Our school teachers have enjoyed pay increase after pay increase in this town. The average salary is close to $80,000 for a majority [of teachers] and they receive health benefits of $14,000 to $20,000. When you add it all up that’s close to $100,000 that taxpayers have to pay for teachers. The residents in this town cannot afford tax increases.”Resident Brian O’Heron agreed with Lapointe and asked the selectmen to cut at least $2,700,000 from the Board of Education’s budget.“We need a zero percent increase in taxes in these difficult times,” O’Heron said. “What we are trying to do is save costs and run a more efficient education [system]. The town should also assume the maintenance of school buildings. Let’s stop these maintenance catastrophes in these schools.”Resident Caroline Christensen asked the selectmen to keep the district’s children in mind when deliberating any cuts.“We have a lot of needy children in our school system that can’t be compared to other school systems,” Christensen said. “Please use care in reducing the budget and don’t use any emotion in reducing it. We don’t want the kids caught in the middle of this and hurt by your decisions.”During the Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday, April 18, Board of Education member Richard Dutton told the selectmen that he is disappointed with the cut.“For more than three months [in developing the education budget], we felt that we had produced an educationally sound budget for the future of the community,” Dutton said. “We are obviously very disappointed in the magnitude of the reductions in this budget. I disagree with many of the justifications that have been given in reducing this budget.”Dutton said the state addresses the risks of having municipalities cut too much from a town’s education budget by having a minimum budget requirement (MBR).However, Dutton admitted that the current status of the MBR is unclear at the present time.He added that the state Legislature is looking to enact and enforce the MBR by June.“I think that [the MBR] will set a minimum budget requirement that is substantially higher than what was voted on by the selectmen,” Dutton said.In response, Selectman Lisa Smith said she supports the budget.“I think it’s a good budget, although I don’t think it’s a perfect budget,” Smith said. “For many years we have not been able to put public safety at the forefront of this budget. In this budget, we have put money in for two police cars, we have funds for a new firetruck and we have allocated money back to the fire department. Those things are very important. We are putting public safety first. Also, if we don’t hold the Board of Education accountable, we will not be doing due diligence to the town.”Some of the additions to the town’s budget that the selectmen officially approved at the budget hearing include $15,000 to the Board of Selectmen’s contingency budget, $50,000 to the police department for the purchase of two new police cruisers, $18,450 to Planning and Zoning for an update to zoning regulations, $15,000 to the town manager’s budget to be used by the Economic Development Committee for marketing, $26,824 for a full-time fire marshal, along with $24,795 in medical benefits, and $55,000 to pay for crossing guards. Selectman George Closson was not present at the hearing.