Budget 3/27 (incl Pool)

Tonight's budget meeting was probably the most interesting so far. But it wasn't because of The Pool or because of proposed increases in spending (again, most depts are status quo + wage & fuel cost increases). Rather it was because of Mixville. But that's not where the meeting started....

Youth & Social Services asked for about 400hrs/yr for a Dodd-aged social worker (or something along those lines). I believe the cost on that was $8,000. Senior Services asked for another 5hr/wk to be added to their program coordinator (I think that's the title). One reason for the increased hours is to ensure staff coverage of the Senior Center at all times. I believe that can be difficult to do at certain times. Park & Rec asked for $10,000 for an adaptive program called Camp Nerden. This is not a request for an increase in services. Rather, this is a request to fund a program that has been in use for the past ten years. Thing is, normally towns donate to the Camp, but this hasn't been happening in Cheshire's case.

Then the big draw for the evening... Mixville. The primary concern was the lack of lifeguards, but there were other concerns... public safety, geese (& their droppings) and a general feeling that the park is neglected. I know that much of this sentiment is set against a backdrop of the pool (which with a proposed subsidy of $416,000, is difficult for many people to accept that lifeguards at Mixville are too expensive). It seems to me that we ought to be able to get some lifeguards at Mixville at least on the weekends. If a lifeguard costs $10/hr and is there 5 hrs/day on Sat & Sun for 12 weeks... just as an example... the cost would be $1,200. Anyway... that's something that I think the Council needs to consider. I'm not sure how we can stop the geese though from leaving their mark all over the beach.

The Pool went pretty smoothly. Not many people showed up for it. What interested me the most was the total number of "pool user days." (I think that's the number of people who have entered the pool on a given day... so some people could be counted up to 365 times.) I believe the year on year comparison was 21,000 user days thru Feb '05 for last year, compared to 36,000 user days thru Feb '06 for this year. It was a nice number to hear. But ya know what??... $416,000. It's still too much money. And it's going in the wrong direction... with energy costs on the rise, it's growing, not shrinking. A possible increase in fees was discussed. And I think P&R recommended an increase be put into effect immediately.

We rounded out the night with the Town Council, Town Manager and Town Attorney budget. I got a chuckle when the comment was made that the Town Council was the only department with no "key performance indicators." ha. The only item that caught my attention in this whole thing was a modest increase within the Council budget (~$40,000). It was related to televising meetings. And as far as I'm concerned, every penny we spend on this is well worth it. I can't imagine a better way for everyone in town to know exactly what is going on in town. And the truth is... a lot of people really do watch channel 14.

Anyway... that's it for now.

Tim White
Town Council, Budget Committee
TimWhite98@yahoo.com