Budget workshop 4/4
We had another budget workshop tonight. The Town Manager presented us with $101k in changes to his proposed budget. His changes are here (for easier reading, click on the image to enlarge it):
If these changes (and the overall budget) are adopted, the proposed mill rate will increase by 0.45 to 27.60 and the property tax will increase by 1.66%.
During the meeting, I voiced three main concerns:
1) I think the town government has functioned well for the past year and I would prefer to see it continue that way for the upcoming year. In other words, I'd prefer to avoid increasing services. But as I've said... you need 5 votes.
2) I suggested we save $14,000 and remove the money for the consultant for the Strategic Plan. That seemed to have unanimous support, if only as a one year deferral. Instead, the hope is that the Planning Committee will review the Strategic Plan before the Council further considers spending this money.
3) I mentioned my desire to lower taxes further, but my reluctance to changing any of the budget assumptions (collection rate, state funding, etc.). My reason was simple... when you look at all levels of government, one of my main concerns is debt. Be it social security or medicare at the federal level; the teachers' pension or bonded debt at the state level; the "heart & hypertension" fund or bonded debt at the local level... these future costs will someday be here. And for nearly 20 years, the Town Manager has done an excellent job helping to prepare the town for when that day comes. But that preparation would not have been possible, if we did not rely on his judgement (and assumptions). And since his judgement has worked well in the past (particularly so in comparison to the people in Washington and Hartford), I lean toward trusting his judgement again and not adjusting his assumptions.
Well, those were my main thoughts. One other notable comment was from Tom Ruocco. He raised the topic of Bulky Waste, including suggesting that the dump be opened at least once a year (or more) for people to drop off their stuff.
Anything else get mentioned? I'm tired and going to bed.
Tim White
Town Council, Budget Committee
p.s. Can we tone down the insults a bit? How about some Churchillian creativity when describing your political opponents? "A modest man, who has much to be modest about." -- Winston Churchill On Clement Atlee
51 comments:
this is the kind of budget that we can all support
Good services
Good schools
8 million surplus
low tax increase
low mill rate
lets do it
this budget has my approval and I think will be a keystone when we do a reval
We will have to spend less then and we will have to readjust our sites a little.
I trust the Democrats to not go the route of the 'zero' folks
That was tried and found to be no good
I wonder if the next reval will lower residential values and increase commercial since residential increases have slowed and commercial seems to be on the rise? That will be very interesting.
Tim,
I was told at last night's meeting the Supt of schools said he could live with the Town Council reduction of 242K. Is this true? Earlier he could not live any more of reduction from what the BOE sent over. If he said that what has changed his mind?
This was after Kathy Hellreich stood up and said any reduction to the BOE budget by the Town Council was devastating? What is going on here?
The council is cutting too much of the BOE buget. THat is what is going on the boe always get the short end of the stick.
1:58 PM
How you can you even justify such a comment? You only see the short end. BOE's big hand is allover most of that stick. Do they have to get everything to make you happy or can we save a little for trash collection and police services.
Education is very important and given the spending increase and the amount that has to go for the teacher's contract increase there is nothing left for programs. Ever.
So what "program" don't our kids get now? Isn't learning and "teachers" part of the "program"? I went through Cheshire Schools (with fewer programs) and so have my 4 kids (last one graduated 2003). None of us were ever starved for programs, enough work to do or school sponsered activities.
I must admit I could have used a spelling tutor. my last post should read "sponsored"
Good idea, Tom Ruocco. The dump should be opened at least once or twice during the year. Hope to see that happen!
Also, Milone should get most of the credit for keeping the town's finances in good shape - not the dems or reps.
4:09 Great observation. Maybe Dr. Florio is also doing his part. We are lucky. They have to answer to many. Let's look at recent headlines in North Haven and Madison. Hope they have thick skin and stay. Tim, this recap helps since I work nights..
The town is well run that is why we are in this position.
The town is well run since the democrats took the majority. The Republicans never were this smart or innovative
all they ever did was blame binding arbitration or the state or whatever
Now we have real leader in control
Good job Democrats
as far as i call tell the Democrats didnt fire Milone. Are you going to break your arm patting yourselves on th back for that decision?
wow I really like this new budget it seems like we can rest easy that the democrats have done what they said they would
keep the schools funded well
keep taxes down
help the seniors with tax relief
tone down the negative talk
It's obvious the dems are just full of themselves. Give me a break. The town was well run before they had the majority thanks to the hard work of Mr. Milone. I still say the budget could be reduced with possibly a "no tax increase" or near to that by for example adjusting the tax rate collection budgeted amount by a couple more tenths or some of the suggestions Tim had. The dems would never do that though as they criticized the reps for holding the line on expenses in previous budgets. God forbid they do the same. They missed an opportunity last year and it seems they missed another opportunity with this budget.
I think I speak for all the good citizens of cheshire when I say this is a great budget and I am very happy that there is only a half mill increase and a very small tax increase. Let us all be happy that the democrats are in charge!!!
by jove these democrats have done a fine job with the budget
As a senior citzen I am thinking of changing my party to Dem instead of Rep.
Good job all the way around
Who cares? The only thing that people should do is look at the spending increases in the late '90's. If you think that the budget is too big, it grew in those years. Republican years. The dollar increases, not the percentages, were bigger in the late '90's that they are today. How did they let this happen? These Dems are more conserative than the Republicans from the late '90 and early '00. Give credit to Michael he has earned it, not the to the Republicans or Dems for that matter. Give it all to Michael M.
Why does anyone need credit? I think it is good for the town that we are in a strong financial position. Does it matter how we got here, all that matters is that we are here. Not good for a person or a party but good for the town. Everyone can have the credit. All that matters is that it stays this way.
The job of the Town Council is to provide government services for a fair price. The hired folks, Town Manager & the Supt of schools are there to provide professional guidance, but do not believe everything they say. There does not have to be tax increase this year. We pay the pool subsidy out of the surplus form this year's budget, that removes 416k from the proposed increase. Remove the 130k for the perscription drug renewal, read the renewal there is no increase, yet the the Town Manager and Supt have chosen not to believe their medical broker and want to leave the increase in. The state will increase funding for 08-09 budget year for the schools, another 1.2 mil above what we get now. Do your Tim and the others, no tax increase at all this year.
Historically the tax collections have been higher than the projected collection. I applaud the decision was made to increase the planned collection rate by 1/10 of 1% but at minimum it should have been raised by .5% We are going to experience an income tax increase, what is the Town Council doing about that? Steps should be taken at the local level by local officials to minimize the state income tax increase on the residents.
the governor wants to give us 1.2 million dollars more for education and property tax relief. the democrats in hartford want to give us more. 50% will be mandated for education and 50% will mandated for property tax relief.( based on what cheshire spend per student now ) so the bottom line is we will get more for education and property tax relief.( at least the 1.2 that the governor wants to give us) however we will pay higher income taxes for it. town counciler should not play the blame game. you should cover our spending on need new and current services not just with new taxes of 1.3 million. how much the mill rate goes up is a misguided way of looking at it. when you say 1.3 million it speaks the truth to the increase. oldest sales trick in the book . make it smaller ( only 135 per average taxpayer per year ) to make it sound better. our budget as it stands adds services for education and the town that are needed. why do we need 1.3 million in new taxes . the good taxpayers of cheshire have paid their taxes at a rate of 99-100% . moodys( rating agency for our bonds ) and the state legislature know that a good credit rating is not just based on 8%. but a range of 5 to 10%. ( and the four other major factors in determing our credit rating cheshire gets a+ ). the taxpayers pay their bills and should be reward for that. that council tom r tried to bring out at the last budget meeting . which mr white failed to back him up on i thought you did you homework mr white or do you let greg florio and mike milone do it for you . rx for the schools are projected to be flat or 0 increase next year . another 130,000 that can come out of the school budget without cutting staff and still with plenty of money to add new staff. it is about time greg florio stop saying he has no money to add teachers at dodd. when he does every year. we elect the council to get professional assumptions from florio and milone. they always are expected to be worst case . it is you job as town council people to make sure you dont cut service we need and want . but it is also you job to do your own homework and come up with your own assumptions , so that you dont over charge us taxpayers for those services we need and want . when do ever see a politican come back the next year and say. we should not have raised taxes that high to cover the needed services. and give us the reduction or calculate it into next years increase as a reduction. the town council takes no responsiblity or accountablity. the reason we have a two party system . it for the party out of power to kept the party in power in line on spending and taxing. the spending is reasonable this year , however where the revenue comes from is the big decision. new taxes of 1.3 million or other sources .
Can we depend on $1.3million from the state? Are we sure?
you should change the name of this blog to tim white listens , tim white lets milone and florio do his homework for him. tim white takes no action , responsiblity or accountablity. it is always someone else's fault. hartford , washington. milone or florio if there numbers are off. it time to step tim and take a stand on something. o another thing . how many times do we need to pay new taxes to subsidy the town pool. raise the tax collection rate . take 400,000 out of our projected surplus . we will still have 8% reserves with 400,000 out. and collect enough taxes. it is bad enought that the republicans lied to us on the true cost of the pool . the democrats opened it when they should not have. that we have to pay new taxes every year to pay for out of the general fund, that could be spent on education , tax relief etc. things people really support.
we can because the republcan governor is willing to raise the income tax for it. and the democrats are fighting over how much each of their towns will get. new governor willing to increase taxes. it will happen. are our town councilers going to lower taxes if we get the money? they can alway raise taxes or cut service next year. the buracrats have to stop running this town. we are buying our budget at the msrp. now one buys a car at the msrp in the age of the internet.
Good job Democratic council for putting together a great budget
Republicans-take note!!!!!!!!!
Did the Council take $500k out of the surplus? Are you taking another $400K? Can it still be 8%?
Snakes alive! I can support this budget and will tell all my neighbors to do so.
1:07 It's the "E & E" team vs the "F & M" team regarding this budget. Forget the parties. It is very easy when you have more money than you need and no taxpayers attending to question. The BOE did a small part of their job and placed a monkey wrench at the feet of TC. Easy year for all. Maybe a rumor (kidding) should be started to cut something and attendance will increase for the meeting on the 10th...
1:33 $2m surplus and almost $1m in grand list growth. $1.3M increase proposed. That's $4.3. Yes 8% plus. Total budget increase was $3.2m..
let's get all excited about the Rell plan??? which returns 8 cents to Cheshire on each dollar of extra taxes?
http://www.yankeeinstitute.org/files/pdf/Tax-3.pdf
Before all you DTC cheerleaders grab the pom-poms, she's offering a better deal than one of the Democrats who "represents" Cheshire, who believes "rich" towns are already getting plenty of state school aid.
http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-education0331.artmar31,0,5615681.story?coll=hc-headlines-education
"That's funny," Gaffey said. "Like everything else in those districts, that is rich!"
Man what a great budget
We can do ok here all day long
Good job by all
Anyone who has a problem with this budget just does not understand how the process works. We have gotten a real break in our taxes here and I for one am grateful. I think this is the good work of our majority
We could have had a reduction in the mill rate if someone had some guts.
4:04 I hope by the majority, you are referring to all the taxpayers?
4:27 Yes ...
Hot diggity dog!
This is a wonderful budget and I am going whole hog for it!
Me too and anyone who thinks it is not a good budget can go play hopscotch
hopscotch? Oh please finish your koolaide
seems like the local DTC communications whiz wrote the "See Dick Run" children's books
Oh my I love this new budget and it is music to my ears.
If one of the local political parties had any foresighjt and guts they would be fighting over who takes the glory for presenting a 0 budget. It easily done, without hurting services or the poor little kids in the schools. Remember, the total money cut from the BOE budget really has come form one line item; medical benefits; and there is still more that can be taken out.The BOE budget cuts have not yet reached nor will impact any school program, planned teacher position, sports or anything else.
Review the budget and you will see this is a correct statement. Here is the proof, the medical benefits renewal from the broker said 233k increase, the Supt originally asked for 1 mil, then 775k then the BOE reduced that to 415k, the Town Council budget committee another 242k leaves a balance of 173k. The Supt says he needs 130k for perscription drug program renewal when in fact the renewal again came as a zero increase. So take another 130k out, leaves balance of 43k.
Secondly, the 416k we need to fund the pool should come from the Town's surplus. The taxpayers should not be asked to pay the amount again this year.
Until something is done about the pool it will always cost $400k+. Not sure what the answer is but be ready to pay.
8:28 Excellent points.
Also want to add that one shouldn't look at the town or boe's budget as being "cut" - Bottom line is the budget is still going up - it's the proposed increase that is being reduced.
Good gosh-we have an increase of about 8 bucks per month and these negative Nancy's are out in force. You boys need to go home and thank your lucky stars that you have such a wonderful majority on the council who ran on being fiscally responbible and have delivered the goods.
anon 8:40
We are not complaining about the increase, we are concerned about the inability to properly reduce the increases in spending. We may have a low local tax increase this year, but we will be asked for a large tax increase by the State. The combines increases are what is important. If one can maintain support & services for a lower amount why would people oppose that? Why do we have to pay for the pool's cost operational subsidy every year, when the Town Manager was able to derive a surplus from operations. If operations has a surplus that surplus should be used to pay for pool this year. In reality both political parties should be trying to outdo each other on how to have zero increase in taxes and still maintain the service level, it can be done
What a great budget-now all we have to do is get the north end done and this will be a a wonderful town-by jove we have got to do this!!!!!!!!!
Anon 8:40 2 out of 5 in the majority are budget savvy. 2 out of 4 in the minority are budget savvy. The public does not show interest. Score even with one abstention. That leaves the town manager and superintendent. Score 2 to 0. Budget passes no cuts..
Loosing back to back years the TAXPAYERS.......
How do the tax payers lose?
Everyone is saying "how great only $99 this year". Well take into consideration $99 for the next 5 years (if we're lucky) that equates to only $500+ in 5 years. Great deal isn't it? That doesn't even factor in reevaluation. The great bait and switch make it appear low so no one complains. This year we could have a budget with no tax increase if our council shows some courage.
What service can we all do without? Bigger classes, less Police, less snow plowing...etc. It will cost.
But since you have all the answers run for Council, tell everyone that you will give them a zero increase, get elected and then make it happen. I am sure that the town will support you. It is an election year so now is the time. Show some courage, sign your name and DO IT. You might get your chance.
Post a Comment