Selectmen take pay cut to trim 2010-11 budget

KENT — The Board of Finance will hold a meeting on Tuesday, March 16, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to look over the town’s budget for fiscal year 2010-11.

Since January, the Board of Selectmen has held budget workshops to hammer out the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The selectmen are scheduled to hold one last budget workshop Tuesday, March 16, at 1:30 p.m.  at Town Hall, before the Board of Finance’s meeting, before they present to the board.

While the full budget had not been determined at press time, the selectmen have proposed several cuts.

First Selectman Bruce Adams has voluntarily reduced his salary by $5,000. The other two selectmen, Karren Garrity and George Jacobsen, voluntarily reduced their salaries by $400 each.

“I am lucky enough to be in a position to be able to do that,� Adams said about cutting his salary. “I offered the cut because I’m collecting a pension from the Connecticut Teacher’s Retirement Fund on top of a salary for being the first selectman. I know some people may not agree with this, but this is not some sort of knee-jerk reaction. This is something I have taken into serious consideration. However, this is something that I will not do every year.�

The selectmen also cut a transfer station attendant position, which would potentially save the town $5,500.

“We’re looking into getting a compactor, which would compact cardboard, newspaper and paper,� Adams said. “Because of which, our transfer station attendant [John Kaminski] said that we may not need an assistant. The assistant currently spends a lot of time compacting cardboard and stacking newspaper.�

As for further job cuts, the selectmen also cut the assistant administrative assistant and treasurer’s assistant positions, potentially saving the town an estimated $4,000.

Adams added, however, “As part of this, we’re going to increase the administrative assistant’s salary by $2,000 and the treasurer’s salary by $500.�

Adams said the selectmen have set salary increases for town employees at 6 percent across the board.

However, there might be a 2-percent increase in the portion of health-insurance premiums which town employees pay. Currently employees pay 6 percent of health insurance premiums while the town picks up the balance. The budgets proposes increasing the employee’s share to 8 percent.

After the budget is approved by the Board of Finance, it will go to a hearing and then a vote at a town meeting.

While the hearing and town meeting have not yet been scheduled, traditionally both are held in May.