Town Hall thoughts on Governor's budget proposal
Town Hall sent this email to the Council today:
Earlier today Governor Rell released her proposed budget for the next two fiscal years, which contained the amount of municipal aid that would be distributed to municipalities throughout the State. Finance Director Patti-Lynn Ryan developed the attached spread sheet which indicates that at this time Cheshire would see a reduction of approximately $ 1,286,734 in State aid from this fiscal year to next fiscal year. While this is disturbing it is less than the approximate $1.6 we were projecting when we had the preliminary budget discussions in October and December. This reduction could have been much worse.
We are still analyzing the numbers to compare apples to apples, since the Governor’s budget base is somewhat different from the FY’09 numbers that the State previously provided to us in Sept. 2008.However, the variation should not be substantive and could possibly shift slightly in our favor.
Please note that when I discussed the FY’10 budget with the Council in December we estimated a revenue reduction of approximately $2.4 million , about $.800 million was a reduction in locally generated revenues, and at this time that estimated shortfall has not changed.
It's late and I'm tired, but I'm pretty sure it says that we've got problems... regardless of what happens with the ECS money.
The Courant offers a municipal grant database here, if you want more details.
Tim White
7 comments:
Let's budget as if things get worse. Hartford is assuming we have seen the bottom of the economy nearing and Obama will be sending lots more dough from DC. I'd be sure of neither proposition.
BTW, who exactly signed off on the 4.4% annual raises for the teachers in this economy?
Ever wonder who really runs the schools? It's the teachers and admistrators unions. They know what's best for the poor little children. They know that big raises and increased benefits are really for the little children and if the taxpayers don't like it, then they are to blame if the poor little children can't go to school.
Less "PILOT" money will be received. So this figure is wrong. We will receive less. How much less??
Whatever amount the state decreases the funding to Cheshire by, that amount should be shared by both sides of the "street" - say 60% by the Boe and 40% by the town. Seems only fair to me since those are the approx percentages taken up by each side on the overall total budget.
sz
It'll definitely put The Rubber Stampers into a quandary. They won't know what to do.
FYI - Even though the Herald reports that the BOE is having their meeting this coming Thursday, 2-12, at Town Hall at 7:30 to vote on the BOE budget, the actual meeting is taking place at Highland School at 7:30. Not that it will matter if anyone wants to come to the meeting and speak, but it would be nice if the location was made clear to everyone.
According to the Feb 6 MRJ front page article the following towns will receive the following percent reductions in state money.
Cheshire 7.90% less
Meriden .82% less
Sothington .73% less
Wallingford .37% less
Now, how can that be? Is it because Cheshire has such a high grand list per person and this shows Cheshire is a rich town where all the people, no matter what their income is, can afford to pay more in property taxes than the people in the adjoining towns?
If our TM and Town Council thinks that it make people feel good to think there property values are higher than they really are, didn't think about the down side that we get less of our money back from the state. I don't really think this was a good thing.
Why wasn't the reevaluation of Cheshire's property postponed and based on real information rather than values of days-gone-by? And, everyone knows that property values are still going down, so that when other towns do their evaluations in the future, Cheshire will look even richer.
What have our legislators done to see that Cheshire is treated fairly? Let's hear it from Mary Fritz, Elizabeth Esty, Sam Caliguri, and Vichy Nardello? If these are the people who are suppose to represent us, this is the time to do it. What is wrong with all towns getting cut the same percentage and let's get a roll-back of the reevaluation.
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