09/10 Town budget - the likely numbers
There was a budget meeting tonight. And there's a number out there for comment during the public hearing scheduled for Thursday, April 2 at 7pm in Town Hall.
The key numbers begin with a zero increase in spending from the current year's $94 million budget. And to get there, the Council will reduce spending by about $1.1 million. That budget cut consists of:
$605k schools
$248k town
$270k capital non-recurring
As for the line item reductions to the town budget, that's not yet known. As usual, the Council is coming up with the tax rate, then determining the spending.
I asked what will happen when if the state further reduces funding. The answer was that the CNR account, along with holds on spending, would be used to cover budget shortfalls. I then asked the TM and Sptd to provide the Council with a list of projects that will likely incur expenditures early in the fiscal year... as compared to end-of-year expenditures which could be delayed indefinitely and lend themselves to acting as a reserve fund for the other parts of the operating budget.
Please consider attending the public hearing and sharing your thoughts.
Tim White
4 comments:
No detail on the specific items to be reduced from capital non-recurring. Another example of inability to decide or inability to provide information. The Supt has hid the smart boards in the capital non-recurring and the Town Manger has asked for sidewalk money and sewer expansion. At least list what was mentioned to be removed. Why should the resident show up, the town council does not want to hear what we have to say.
Don't cut out the bulky waste pick up. It's already been reduced to once every two years. Whatever the cost is for bulky waste pick up, reduce the travel/conferences account and eliminate some of these cars given to employees to make up for it. If you ask a resident what is the one town service you use, they'll likely say weekly trash and bulky waste pick up.
Mr Florio says,
Mr. Milone’s budget recommendation would increase the tax burden to the average Cheshire property owner (house and two cars) by $153.00 per year. The median increase would be about $115 per year.
What Mr Florio doesn't tell us is how much taxes will go up next year and the following year with the 4.3% annual increases for the teachers. We should be told what to expect in the future.
Mr Florio says he is worried about a reduced quality of education that cuts to staff will have, but the teachers don't give a rat's tail, they are willing to see new teachers laid off as long as they don't have to give up anything. The teachers simply want the money, aren't willing to give up anything and will tell the laid off teachers, parents and school children how bad it makes them feel to see the layoffs.
The only thing that the teachers are willing to do is to blame the school board and the town council and fire up the parents.
You don't have to go to Detroit to find overpaid people and if the teachers and unionized government employees were dependent on the same type of revenue source as car manufacturers, they would be facing bankruptcy.
The bulky waste pickup should have been included as a line item in the trash contract, what part of common sense did I miss?
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