001Okay, couple housekeeping points before we begin the continuation of the public hearing. Um, number one, once the public hearing is open, I'm going to turn it over to Colleen to give a quick update upon emails because we have received some more emails. Um, additionally, I'll just note that at the end of this public hearing, we do have budget deliberation. So, in the interest of time, I would encourage those who did not get a chance to speak to come up and speak first. And if you do speak, um, because the acoustics in this room, as I demonstrated, are not the best. Um, please come up to the great podium up in the front so the owl can pick you up. Um, so with that, yes, Brian, can you hear us? There we go. Brian is in
002the uh town hall along with our finance director as they are needed to run potential budget scenarios that council may ask for uh later on tonight. Loud and clear, Jacob. All set. I can hear you. Um, so with that, I'll entertain a motion to uh reopen the public hearing. So moved. Second. Any discussion? No discussion? I believe we are all in person. I know councelor Shay will be uh joining us later. So that um all in favor? Any opposed? All right. Public hearing is open. I'll go to the room first. Oh yes, so thank you. Thank you again for everybody coming tonight. It's great to see so many people active. Um these are just additions since Tuesday as I think as of probably 5:30 today. So additional um one letter to fund suggestions 12 more
003letters to support the BOE proposal um 14 plus more letters that do not support the BOE proposal. Two letters um regarding the acoustics in the library. three letters regarding a frustration from the April 1st meeting. One letter regarding exit question of ballot. Um, one letter regarding board of line items. And then we have a total of three people that are not voter registration list. That came to a total of 113 emails today. We are still getting them in. So, but of course everyone's um letters and emails and obviously the people that speak will be in the minute when they come up. Thank you. All right. With that, we'll go to the room first. Please state your name and address. Yes. Uh yeah, actually I saw the the podium. Yeah. if you could come up to
004the podium so that the owl can pick you up. Good evening. My name is Heather McCann and I live at 62 Crossen Drive. I'm a parent of two students in the district, a parent leader of a special education advisory council, a volunteer on a town grant funding committee, the organizer of a monthly food pantry donation program, and an active school volunteer, including offering pizza and snack donations for dances. Um, and I also provided refreshments for all tonight because civic engagement is hard and these meetings can be long and tiring. Like many in this town, we own one modest home with a crumbling foundation, drive modest cars, and work hard to the necessities. I understand sacrifice. I sympathize with those on fixed income, and I believe our town must provide more truly affordable housing for seniors,
005empty nesters, fixed income, and first-time home buyers. But tonight, I'm here to say one thing clearly. Our children must come first. We all benefited from free public education and as adults we give back through taxes. But this isn't just about paying back. It's about investing forward. A well-funded school system doesn't just support students. It strengthens our entire community by preparing future productive citizens. Take our transition program for students with disabilities. It equips them with real world skills so they can live independently and contribute meaningfully to the community rather than struggle financially. Consider the clubs, programs, and activities in our schools. These aren't just extras. They are critical. They teach teamwork, resilience, financial literacy, and leadership. They provide safe spaces, creative outlets, and real life skills that resume that like resume building and job interviewing. Cutting
006corners on education today means paying the price tomorrow and lost opportunities for our children and long-term damage to our town's economy. A well-unded school system protects property values, attracts families, and builds a stronger community. So tonight, I urge you support the current BOE budget requests before you and the utilizations of the funds and the that are available. Last night, Dr. Wlet and the BOE offered four offered a couple of solutions offered two solutions to achieve what we need to achieve without raising additional taxes. There is a solution before you. Please use it. Thank you. We'll go online. Do we have anyone online who'd like to speak? Okay, we'll go to It's a little hard to read from Miss Ang Juliet Kerry, I think. Hi, good evening. My name is Juliet Kerry. I live at 38
007Nedweed Road and I'm the senior class president at Talent High School. Tonight, I want to talk about how important clubs and sports are and also just how crucial it is for students to have academic support. I'm a strong believer in keeping extracurriculars at the school. Although I do understand how they are considered extra. However, these clubs and sports offer Talin schools a competitive edge, making well-rounded students, which is crucial, especially since Talin doesn't offer nearly enough AP and ECE courses. As well as that, extracurriculars offer students an opportunity to bond with peers they wouldn't normally see or get to know in their day-to-day lives. Students are able to be connected with like-minded individuals who make them feel welcomed, supported, heard, and invalued. Most importantly though, I am an advocate in keeping support throughout the schools.
008Birch Grove and TIS have a social worker split between their schools due to the amount of IEPs and 504s. However, social workers should be throughout all of our schools. Social workers are critical in supporting students academic, social, and emotional well-beings. They help address possible learning barriers, intervene in crisis, and ultimately promote a positive and inclusive school environment. As well as social workers, academic support in the schools is very important. I could talk about my own struggles, but I am graduating this year. And to me, it's more important to talk about the future generation that this budget cut will immensely impact. My youngest brother is in first grade and needed reading support, but wasn't able to get it until fairly recently. There are so many students like my brother who need help and haven't even gotten
009it yet. The main priority should be providing students with the necessary help they need to grow in their academic environments. Overall, I truly understand the frustration coming from all sides. However, I believe there can be at least a somewhat happy medium for all. So, I would encourage you to reinstate the requested board of education budget proposal. Every student deserves a chance to learn and grow. Thank you. Thank you. We'll get back to the room. Hi. Uh, I'm Rita Melenic. I live at 56 Brandon Way. Um, I am professor of English and director of the writing program at Eastern Connecticut State University. I have held that position for 30 years. I am also the parent of three kids who went through the talent school system. We live moved here in 2020. My kids graduated from ths
010in 2013, 2015, and 2017. All three did very well academically. All three participated in extracurriculars including sports. You may think that because I direct a writing program, I'm going to advocate a back to basics thing. I am not going to do that because writing is a basics is not a basic skill. Writing takes a lot of experience from all sorts of different venues. Okay. Um teamwork for example that's taught in business club, that's taught in sports, that's taught in any number of clubs is often required of writing in the business world. Okay. The understanding of how to relate to people is taught in clubs and it also it also affects writing because writing is about appealing to an audience. Um courses you know upper level courses courses in history teach critical thinking. All right. Many
011many of my students said that they knew how to they learned how to write in their AP government classes. Right? Social studies classes teach a lot. And to argue for a back to basics and cut everything else approach is really really shortsighted. Um, also education is a public good. And I think enough people don't see it that way. I know some pe I have heard some people say, "Well, my kids aren't in the schools anymore and I don't care." Well, okay, fine. That's fine. But you ought to care because an educated populace makes for intelligent and compassionate decisions in a society. That's all. Thank you. Mark Frell on Zoom. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? We can hear you, Mark. Thank you. Mark Frell, 112 Sugar Hill Road. I'll
012be short and quick. We moved here because of the reputation of the schools in Taland for the last 10 years. I have witnessed this governing body squeeze the school system dry. I find it disgusting how much less our students have today compared to what they've had 10 years ago. I'm a bit numb to the difficulty of the time we're all dealing with it and we all hear from it every day from everywhere. If we aren't trying to improve, not hold the status quo, but improve the opportunities for the coming generations, what are we even doing? I'm willing to pay a little more for your kids, for mine, for others to come. We'll make it work. Thank you. Thank you. I'll go back to the room. Hi, my name is Patrick Doyle. I live at 8
013drive extension. Uh, and I come here tonight to to share my thoughts. Just to give you a little bit of background on myself, I currently run a nonprofit in Hartford with $2 million annual budget and I serve as vice chair of the board of education here at Tal. I have some sense of um the budgeting challenges that you all have to manage in these difficult times. I also probably Yeah, she messed up that throne. Thank you. I also I also um sent an email last night that I'm going to pull from and add to a little bit. But as you consider your final budget, uh, I'm asking that you take a few specific and reasonable actions that I believe can help preserve some meaningful investments that have been made by residents and leaders of Taland,
014the Talon public school staff and many students who have gone through the system, including my son. Um, specifically, I'd like to ask the town council um to make the following updates to the budget. to adopt the superintendent's proposal to utilize $380,000 from the US to offset the cost of power of the board of education. I was chair of the board of education's finance and facilities committee when that fund was created and that project was done. This is the exact purpose that that fund was created for. I'm also asking you to adapt the superintendent's proposal to reallocate $188,000 of capital funds initially set for the replacement of seats in the TMS auditorium and instead move that to the replacement of cycle hardware for the education technology initiative. I'm also asking that you make the budget assumption
015which la in last night's meeting was described as the most likely scenario regarding ECS funding from the state that we would be level funding which would be an increased assumption of $300,000. In additional in addition I'm asking you to assume a tax collection rate from the town based on a three-year average of actual collections. I'd actually propose that as a standing standard practice. Um, this would the first three of those four things would result in revenue savings or offsets of $868,000. Then you would also have the additional revenue from from adjusting to tax collected. I would request you use those actions to create a net positive to the board of education budget from what the town manager proposed of at least $800,000 with additional with the other revenue offsets going to support lowering the tax
016burden for Taland city for Taland residents. We have built over the years a fund balance of over 12 million. One of the way that has been happened by is by making overly conservative budget assumptions that forces the folks who are in these chairs to make decisions that are more difficult than they need to be. as a business owner, someone who's running a business, I can tell you the idea of trying to put together budgets, not based on what you believe to be the mo most realistic assumption and not taking inflation into account, simply pretending it out of existence is is a a bad place to be. We have some really tough decisions that you all have to grapple with and that then we as voters will have have to grapple with. Let's not make it
017any harder than it needs to be. Let let's make sure we make the very best assumptions that we can in doing this. We've built that fund balance up. The good news of that is it means we can be more to the real on what our budget assumptions is are because we can mitigate that risk um with that funding. So, I'm I'm asking you to do that. I'm happy to answer, you know, additional questions. I know you all have had a lot of information thrown before you. So, I thank you. I would also like to say before I moved to Connecticut, I used to have to travel a lot for work. A lot for work. So, I would just like to thank personally you, Jacob, for putting in the extra hours to make that meeting work
018last night. I'm sure I don't know all the details, but I'm sure it was difficult. So, just um thank you to all of you and and thank you specifically, Jacob, for making that accommodation. Thank you. All right, we'll go back online. I don't see any hands raised at the moment, so I'll go back to the room. I I think I see a hand on the left. You'd like to come up. Uh hello. Uh my name is Abby Davidson and I live at 304 Babcock. Um, I graduated from Taland High in 2019, so I'm a bit of a semi-reent graduate. Um, a lot of people have already been over why cutting all of the extracurriculars is a bad idea, so I don't have too much to say on that. Aside from the fact that I actually
019did not get the best grades in high school, I was not on honor role. Uh, I was not particularly academically inclined. However, I had a lot of extracurriculars. I did a lot of things outside of school and I was very dedicated to the classes that made more sense to me and and worked for my brain. And I do believe that that is a major reason why I was able to apply and be accepted to several colleges and was offered scholarships there. And I think that for a lot of the kids who even the ones that are academically inclined, giving them options outside of the classroom is extremely important for their future success and as a well-round well-rounded individual. Um, however, this proposed budget is also affecting the schools on a much wider level. It's cutting
020or at least proposing to cut several teacher positions, nursing positions, a custodial position, and secretarial positions. And these are already positions that there are not a lot of because they have been cut so thoroughly already. These are people who are already very stretched thin and have either had their jobs cut out from underneath them or have had their jobs made much harder because of the greater responsibilities pushed upon them. And even just from a logistical standpoint, if you want more people to work here, if you want people to continue to work here, you need to make it appealing. Cutting things and making it less desirable is only negative for that situation. If you want people to be attracted to the district, you need to make it appealing. I also know from my time at the
021high school that several of the classes that were cut also had equipment that was used in them. The childhood development classes used robotic infants for their students that are still usable to this day. The home economics class used sewing machines that are still in working condition. These are still in the school and at the very least could be sold off to other schools to this high school or just the school system in general. Right now, they're sitting there collecting dust because we don't have enough people to teach these classes. So, at the very least, this equipment should go to good use for someone and should be good use for the town to get more funding for these schools. I also understand that creating and passing budgets is a very difficult process and I understand that
022last year was especially difficult. However, this is the responsibility of the town council. Referendums are a part of that. It is your responsibility to ensure a budget that can benefit the town as much as possible. And I'm not idealistic enough to think that you're going to be able to make everybody happy or to give everybody everything that they want. But this is a job that you signed up to do, that you got elected for, that you volunteered to do. This is part of your responsibility. This town, I've grown up here since I was a small child, and I will say it is very stubborn. And it is very attached to the idea of being a quaint small town, which is fair, but we are also on a major highway and also have an opportunity for
023more major businesses. opportunities that we are not and have not been taking. We had a Dunkin Donuts that had a drive-thru built in and couldn't use it for years because of a town ordinance that said you couldn't have food served to people in their cars. And I don't see a reason for things like this in today's day and age. Introducing more major businesses is not going to ruin a small town. It is going to help keep the town alive. We're not going to say that we're putting a strip mall on the town green, but we need more of these businesses to revitalize the town and bring in more money so that we can think about bringing in more revenue and not what else do we have to cut just to stay alive. I also think
024that while the board of ed gets the biggest part of the budget, it also seems like they are the first body on the chopping block. And why exactly is that? Why is that the one getting cut? Because this isn't just students and schooling at this point. It is also major life skills, child care. It is prepping students for the future and is also attracting families and parents into the district. And again, if we don't make this appealing, people aren't going to come here. They're going to leave. People have said that they've been doing that. And if they don't have a reason to come here, how can we expect them to do any different? I grew up here and I graduated a few years ago and I may not have kids, but I very much understand
025what it was like to be one in this town and how frustrating it was to have a lot of thoughts and opinions about what the town was doing and not being able to vote on them. And I understand that that is a completely separate matter and I'm very very proud of all the students who have and will stand up and speak for themselves, but they need people to advocate for them. They rely on the adults to be able to ensure their future and we need to be there for them and I understood what that was like and I want to be there for them even if I'm not as connected to them as I was when I was and when I was in high school the subject that I did the best in was history.
026I had the teachers Mr. Chahaskki, Mrs. Sterling, Mrs. Manning, and Mr. Lee. All of these people helped shape my future. Those were the classes that I enjoyed the most, that I thrived in. And half of those people are gone. Some of those positions are gone. And I'm currently enrolled and just got accepted into a graduate program for a masters in library and information science. A large part of the reason why I even pursued that and thought that I could was because of Miss Fontaine who ran this library. Because I got to do a seminar with her. Because I worked with her. Because on the day of my senior prom, I was weeding books and she came up to me and said, "Hey, don't you have to go home and get ready for prom?" And I
027said, "Yeah, I guess I do." And my mom had to drag me out to go get dressed for prom. And now her position is just on. And a librarian isn't just someone who checks books in and out. There's a reason why it's library and information sciences. Miss Fontaine taught media literacy. She ran the computer lab. She maintains the entire library and also created a welcoming and quiet space for anybody who needed it and was willing to respect that. Without all of these people, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. I would not have been nearly as successful. I would have just been someone with halfdeent grades who maybe got into college and maybe had an okay time. And I understand that this is a difficult process, but this is a lot bigger than any
028one thing. And it seems like this is a pattern of behavior that has been happening for years. And I understand it can be hard to break that, but this is not beneficial for the town in any way. We're just cutting off pieces of our own body, and soon there's not going to be much left. So, thank you. Thank you. to Miss. Hello everyone. Thanks to all of you for your commitment to the work of the town. I'd like to express uh my support for the budget request that the board of education put forth last evening and to encourage each of you as town counselors and the town manager to first work diligently to generate more revenue for our town. It's the missing part of our equations discussed over the last several weeks. Supporting education is
029supporting the future of our town. A strong educational system is not only an investment in the well-being and growth of our children, but it's also a critical factor in making our town a desirable, excuse me, desirable place to live. When families consider moving here or staying here, the quality of our schools plays a pivotal role in that decision. Ensuring adequate funding for education contributes to the pro maintaining our property values, excuse me, and attracting new residents when others outgrow their homes or move on. I remain deeply concerned about last year's cuts, let alone this year's resulting in loss of nine teachers. Reducing staff impacts our students ability to explore their own future endeavors and limits the opportunities available to them. Investing in our schools means investing in their potential, their creativity, and their development. I
030hope you will take into consideration the experiences and perspectives of the students, the families, the teachers, the staff, and the administrators of our school system. Many of those individuals are your neighbors and your friends, and they're invested deeply in the success of our community. Please support the recommendations that the board of education discussed last evening. Thank you again for your dedication to our town and service you provide. Again, thank you. Liz Costa, 54 island. We go back to the room. Do we have anyone in the room who'd like to speak? I see a hand on the podium side. Evening everyone. My name is Amanda Velman. I'm live at 52 Williams. spoken Tuesday in support of fully funding the board of education's budget because education is so very critical for our children's futures. After listening to
031last night's joint meetings, I'm encouraged that the board of ed and the town council have identified potential funds to help close the gap. I want to recognize the students who spoke so passionately. I wish them the confidence to never stop speaking to power and the grace and the eloquence to do so effectively. I'm grateful to the parents who champion champion their kids and I respect those who spoke in opposition because a strong community values all perspectives not just the ones we agree with. In my opinion, our children should be our top priority. They will shape the future and they need a strong education to do so. DNC found a way to support them in the budget and if that stands, we need to find a balance between the budget within the budget to help those
032in need. the mention of the last meeting. I grew up in a workingclass family in Texas. We didn't have a lot, but always felt like that. My mom always made sure to share whatever we could. So, if you know anything about Texas, you know going to church is as popular a pastime as watching football. Every week, I found myself in the pew listening to our teacher extol the virtues of helping the poor, feeding the hungry, and caring for the sick. But it was a lesson that often left at the door. And yet outside those church doors, those lessons faded fast and people got caught up in their own lives, their own struggles, and those in need became an afterthought. We are lucky to have very little actual poverty in our town. Most of us have
033a roof over our heads and food on the table, but we have folks living paycheck to paycheck. folks with one illness or job loss away from not affording basic needs. Folks who are nervous about a recession around the corner and how they will weather it. Though it's easy to forget life moves fast and we all have so much at our plates. When we talk about our town budget, let's not forget the lessons that were learned at church. Let's remember our duty to each other, especially to those who need help the most. Whatever your faith, philosophy, or guiding principles, compassion should always lead the way. But that said, let's talk about the folks struggling with the tax increase. I propose a progressive null rate, a lower tax rate in the first portion of a property value,
034and a slightly higher rate on anything above that. Where these brackets are is set up set up as debate, but there are a lot of good ways to determine that. This doesn't eliminate tax increases. You just can't escape that, but it shifts more of the burden to those who can better afford it. If that's not an option or if we can't find funds squirreled away somewhere else, then definitely have tough choices ahead. We need teachers. We need paras, support staff, and maintenance staff. So, we must find a way to maintain those positions. Parents and community members will need to step up and volunteer for the rest. I help with the PTO and I can tell you it's the same small group of parents doing all the work. So if you're fighting for your kids tonight,
035just remember you should be in the school year round lifting them up. If we can't adjust tax rates, we need to increase a most long-term and I'll reiterate this again. We need to diversify revenue. This town needs businesses to move or to keep money here instead of sending it to neighboring communities. We need tall and owned. We need tall and made. We should be taxing log vacant commercial properties and encouraging smaller or shared spaces to lower barriers for startup. We should be pursuing every available public and private grant we can find. We are fortunate to have experienced entrepreneurs and business experts right here in our community. Should actively seek their input and work collaboratively to attract and sustain businesses that strengthen our local economy. As mentioned before, we have an interstate running through our town.
036Let's capitalize on it. More food and lodging options can draw travelers in while storefronts, events, and attractions can bring our neighbors here to spend money. In the short term, let's do what we can to help as many people as possible with this budget. Let's make sure our children can succeed in school and beyond. And let's make sure our neighbors can meet their basic needs. In the long term, let's be bold. Let's be creative. And let's find way let's find ways to make our town thrive. Thank you. online. I'm not seeing anyone online. I'll go back to the room. Um, gentlemen, did you want your hand? Yes. Yeah. Hey everyone, my name is Aaron Richley on Three Mountain Spring Road. I'm currently a sophomore at Talon High School and I've lived in Talon my whole life.
037I was told something earlier today that really stuck with me and it's something that I believed for years. I was told that us, the students, are the future of this country. I was told that we are incredibly ingenious, resourceful, and strong when we get our education every single day. Every word I just said was were words that I have believed for as long as I can remember. Every single day, I see that me and my fellow students are capable of greatness. We are capable of triumphing over obstacles that many would deem impossible. We are capable of creating, capable of innovating. We are all seeking an education so that we can push forward and make this world a stronger and better place. I see it every day in school. Every single student is capable of remarkable
038achievements. We just need the tools to do so. to be able to accomplish success, to be able to make this world better, to be able to lead this nation. Us students need that competitive edge, the drive for success that we get from clubs and sports. It's true that we are the future leaders of this nation. It's true that we are the ones who will move this nation forward. And it's true that we all require a strong, sustainable education to do so. Whether you do DECA theater or any club for school to every student we are important. We can and will become the strongest versions of oursel with a strong education. And that is why we need the best possible because we are the future. The future of this nation, the future of this world. We
039all are. Thank you. Not seeing any hands on Zoom. I'll go back to the room. If I may, I don't know how to raise my hand on here, but do you mind if I speak, please? Sorry. Yes, we'll go. We'll continue to order uh with Zoom, so you may Thank you. My name is Michael Wiggins. I live on 486 Tall on stage and um there are quite a few things I could say here at this moment in time but there aren't enough words to express how I feel about this and how I think it can affect our community as a whole. Now I'm going to ask you a question which I will go back to later in my advocate and this question is what is the talent community? Are we friends? Are we family? Are
040we something more than that? Are we just random strangers saying hi? No, we are closer than that. As I've been in Talin for about 6 years now, moving from middle school, I've met a lot of people who have helped me throughout my time here, especially in Matalan High School where I finally opened up and started to talk to new people. And this really affected me in a multitude of ways that I can't even begin to describe. I met some best friends like Aaron. I've had amazing partners, friends, and people who supported me throughout the way. The clubs I've joined and I plan on joining. I am in two-year DECA member, and the people in there are amazing. I can't even begin to describe the support they've showed me throughout my time being there and how
041much that it has affected me as a person and how it can help me later down the road. Half of this what I'm saying now, you may not even remember by the end of what I'm saying, but I will say that these teachers, they are amazing at what they do. I've learned so much in these past two years than I think I ever will. There's not been a time where I haven't felt alone due to my teachers supporting me through and through. Even if it's just on small assignments that I find struggling, they will be there to help me. And even if my teachers aren't there to support me, I still have my friends. And those connections, I think, are what's make me who I am today. A sophomore who's 16 and I'm still trying
042to discover myself. Now, let me ask you again. What is the Talon community? Are we friends? Are we family? Are we passer by? Who knows? But I believe we're all a community. And you may have a different definition, but here's mine. We all are a family. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The point is we have all have something in common. We want to succeed in life. We want to have security. And what better way to do that than to help the education systems today. This budget is cutting teachers, books, and even more things that I can't even describe because it'll take a little too long. But if we want to continue down this path, I cannot I don't think I can even state what how this will affect every student
043I have known cuz half of the people I know are in clubs and they love doing what they're doing. Smith for example, they do community service projects. They go down help some seniors. Sorry, DECA does that. and overall it benefits the community. Now, you may have different reasons on this budget and different opinions and I know for a fact multiple people have different says in this, but here's mine. This high school has changed the way that I have an look on Taland. This high school has given me more hope than I can ever imagine for my future due to the education that I've been given by multiple teachers that I have found supportive and have taught me something that I don't think I'll ever learn anywhere else. That is all. Thank you. Back to the
044room. I believe there is a gentleman in the front who'd like to speak. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Mark Mitchell. I'm at 45 Shores Drive here in town. Um, well, the first thing I want to um note is that I really applaud the students who are here, the young people who are here who have been speaking up for the uh school budget. Um, and I certainly applaud that. I thought that uh comments made earlier by others um I don't know if the person was a teacher or not but uh certainly complimentary and there's and clearly people uh love the town school district in fact anecdotally um I have relatives who moved here so their kids would grow up in town school district I've met people who recently moved here because the town
045school district has such a good reputation um the other thing though I would want to say so certainly we want the best education for our children but that's only one attribute and what I learned when I went through after going through high school budgeting and stuff is that it's it's not enough to look at one attribute. Of course we all want better education for our students but the other attribute to consider is what is the cost of that education and is that cost reasonable or not? Is the school district run in a manner that is efficient and effective or not? I have heard anecdotally uh well, I've heard a couple of things. One thing, one gentleman tonight mentioned a uh $12 million bond balance surplus. I'm shocked at how high that number is. And the
046reason why is that in the state of Connecticut, if you wanted to reduce the school budget, you cannot by law reduce the school budget. So the only effective mechanism you have for doing for uh making sure that we don't have excess fund. So why do we need a $12 million fund balance? That makes no sense to me whatsoever because by law, you can't reduce the budget. So numbers are going to go up. uh numbers of uh students will go up, it will go down. I don't have those comparative numbers with me tonight, but I would ask you to take these other attributes into consideration. And the other thing I would say is that because it's such a significant portion of the budget that u my concern is that there are town services that are being
047denied the people of the town because there's not enough money um available to the town because a huge proportion of the budget is for the school budget. So, the other thing that I'm confused about and not not for me to answer but for you to consider is I find it confusing that people have twice here tonight mentioned that there are going to be cuts because the proposal that I read says that the 2526 manager budget proposes to increase the budget by more than $1.7 million and that um and that's a 3.35% % uh increase. I based on my conversations with these people who live in town and my own observations, I think that if you start from the top and you and by the way, that's 3.35 uh for the property taxes. But what I've
048heard, people think that it would be more reasonable to have a property tax increase more along 1.25%. So if you if you instead of $1.7 million increases in costs of of total property taxes, my proposal would be to increase property taxes by 638,212, which would be a 1.25% increase. Now the question is where does that come from? So since the bulk of the funding goes to the school district, you would take the school district's um proportion of 2.99% and you could you could reduce it by that and and reduce their increase to 1.53%. To bring them more in line, here's the other thing that concerns me thinking about this financially. And again, you know, I had a good education, too. And what my good education taught me is this. You've got a school district with
049a a $42 million budget. You've got a town that has a much smaller budget. Why would why would the school budget have a larger increase than the town? The school district has economies and efficiencies, economies of scale and efficiencies. So, I actually think you should reduce the school budget. I would uh I would I would increase it by I would reduce the proposed uh the proposal of increasing it so that you increase the school budget 1.53% which is $673,000. And as far as what do you do with that? You could take a 100,000 of that and pay a consultant to tell you where the efficiencies could be gained within the school district and you'd still have $573,000 more than you had the year before. So my proposal again is to at to limit the increase
050to the school budget to 2%. Um uh well excuse me it was 2% before to 1.53%. And that would give you a school budget of 44 million535,9285. Um, and so, uh, and that is that I think that that would be reasonable. And I think with $12 million, uh, available in fund balance that the school district could could manage that size budget just fine and it would be something that would be fair and appropriate to the taxpayers. Thank you for your time. We'll go back to the Zoom if there's anybody who some raise their hand would like to speak to say right. Uh we'll go to Mr. Register. Good evening everybody. I'll be quick. Jaden Register 68 Old Stafford Road. Um I I I've heard a quite a few things over the last week. I'm not
051going to take up anyone's time. I want to make sure the focus is on everybody who's been speaking from the public. Um the first thing is just to just to comment on a 1.5% or anything like that. I just want to remind folks that the contractual obligations that the board of ed has uh as it stands right now is is is already at 2.2%. So um a 1.5% increase doesn't even necessarily cover the cost of of the contractual obligations that we are uh insisted upon to to cover. So that's number one. Number two, um I've heard a lot of talk, a lot of the talk over the last couple nights has been uh about our co-curricular programs, and they've been referred to as um extracurriculars, and that's not necessarily wrong. Um the reason I refer
052to them as co-curriculars, and I think I actually started referring to them when I started serving on the board of education is because they sort of coincide with with uh with academics nowadays, co-curric co-curriculars. And I've talked about them a ton. The students have talked about them a ton. The parents, uh, everybody's talked about them a ton. They coincide with academics nowadays. These are these are these are programs that, you know, students go to school for. You know, a lot of students go to school for what they get to experience uh uh at uh after school at their after school program. And so I just wanted to mention that uh extracurriculars are also called co-curriculars. So, if anyone's, you know, deeming them as extra or this and that and everyone is entitled to their own
053opinion, um, I just wanted to make sure that, uh, you know, it got across that a lot of us view these as co-curriculars and and and sometimes it is just a matter of, you know, verbiage and whatnot, but um, I just wanted to get that across. So, I appreciate everyone uh, being there tonight. Best of luck to you. I'll be watching all night long. Thank you. back to the room. Is there anybody in the room near the blue on the podium side? Hello, I'm Diana Rodriguez, a sophomore at Talent High School, and I would like to talk a bit about some statistics based off the 2023 2024 adopted budget. 71% of our town are family households and 74% are married couples. Of the total members of the town, the main age ranges are 45 to
05454 and 25 to 34, which statistically speaking means people that have children or may be here to build a family, further supported by the percentage of married couples. Also, children up to the age of 19 made up 25.7% of our town last year and 26% this year. These school budget cuts affect just over 1/4 of the population, not to mention the effects it would have on their parents, further increasing that percentage. Looking at the population further, it can be seen that less people want to move here as our education system becomes worse. In 2021, in comparison to 2020, we lost.3% of the population. And in 2023, another2%. And in this year, we only gained4% meaning we still have less than before 2020. And over the past 30 years, our town population has increased by less
055and less and is now decreasing. When we look at the number of students enrolled in talent schools from 2019 to 2022, the number of students enrolled in the district was decreasing. And even with less students, our class sizes were still too big for teachers to manage and have proper resources and time for all. We continue to lose students in our school and teachers, meaning families are leaving this town and we are losing taxpayers. Now, I've talked a bit about some of the issues and I would like to make some suggestions for things to do in this current budget. There are a few things I and many others believe are unnecessary. The two new basketball courts and a softball field should not be placed above properly funded education. This is using $595,000 of money that could
056be used for paying teachers, getting special education needs, clubs, and other activities. If the plan is to cut TMS sports, why do we need to redo their softball fields? We need to focus on the truly important issues in this town rather than the superficial ones. Furthermore, why spend $737,980 on brand new capital equipment when buying something used can still provide good resources we need without spending that excessive amount. Also, we can try to add more industry to our town. I understand that there being too much industry is a concern, but commercial and industrial land only makes up 2.4% of land use, and that has not changed over the years. Our industry is stagnant and if we want to make more money, we need to start increasing it. These are our main employers and industry makes
057up the top 10 taxpayers according to the 2023 2024 budget and this year's proposed one. Adding to the argument, the more industry would greatly help our budget, bringing not only more jobs, but more tax money as well. We still have 251 unemployed community members and a large portion of the employed population work out of town. Bringing local jobs can add so much more to Talent. The property taxes, licenses, and permits, including building permits, made up 82.06% of the 2023 2024 budget. And if we allow more businesses and infrastructure, the amount we could get from these areas would be even more significant. Thank you for your time, attention, and consideration. Seeing anyone online? I'll go back to the room. Uh, yes, you're at the front. Hello. My name is Becca Murray. I live in this land.
058I'm here to talk to each and every one of you on town council. I am a part of a lot of clubs. I am the president of GSA club. I take a strong leadership role in ATS. I am also in model UN botney PHS news and media and more. Why are you taking this away from me? Many of my peers are unable to attend today. They are downstairs in the auditorium performing concert. Unfortunately, I can't be there right now supporting them. I want to be. I have um a presentation finished, eight pages of math homework, I have to study for test, I have to write stuff for English. All of that's due tomorrow, but I am standing here in front of you to fight for my needs. Extracurriculars is not an option. It's not optional.
059It's important. I'm relying on that to get a scholarship and to get into college. I don't have the best grades, but I have very like I'm in a lot of extracurriculars. Most of the people in the school are in extracurriculars. This is the future, the nation, state, town. So, it's in your hands. It's your choice if I'm going to be walking to school crying tomorrow or not. So, please don't disappoint me. Thank you. We'll go live to Sarah. Sarah. Hello. Um, I just want to recommend that all residents are are thought about when thinking about this budget. I absolutely support the board of ed increase that's needed to retain the teachers, provide the required services, the supplies, we we need books, we need electricity, we need insurance, all that. Great. Let's do that. What I
060don't support is increases where it's not required andor not able to be supported through other means. clubs, extracurriculars, whatever we want to call it for semantics are very important to children and adults. No one's arguing that. What is up for debate is who should fund it. A college doesn't care if a child was part of theater at a high school or theater during a town play. College doesn't care if a child is on a travel team or a school team or even a regionalized team. Furthermore, we heard that many of these current clubs are self- sustaining. I'm willing to bet that many clubs don't go away no matter what budget is passed. We also have a recreation department that used to have a robust sports program, art activities, and even more. Bringing those programs back,
061allowing the people that want to utilize them can pay for them. And taking the cost of items off the ones that don't partake would be one of the possibilities. The recck department option would also allow for homeschoolers in town, of which there are many, to participate. Currently, they go to private schools for sports andor recreation departments in other towns for less competitive sports and other activities. So, we're giving other towns our money. As for the rest of the budget, I would ask the town council to re-evaluate. I'm not an expert on mowers or sports fields. What is the return on those? Um, I I would like the town council to think very critically on each line item. Is it necessary? Is there another option? I also want to point out that while we're looking to
062put so much money into the board of ed, town services like our library that serve everyone in town are grossly underfunded every year because the board of ed keeps asking for more and more. Did you know that Miss Megan has one of the smallest budgets for kids books in the entire state? There's some books that children are typically exposed to that are so worn out or not even available because she has to make decisions on what to get. As a family that takes out close to 200 books a month, a majority of our books are from other towns. And every time a talent book is checked out, a little money is given to the library. So, we're giving other towns our money. Lastly, with the new evaluations and the predicted economy, many people will not
063be able to afford to live here. People are losing their jobs daily. People are going to be forced to move. It's unsustainable with all the other increasing prices. So, we will be giving other towns our money. I don't envy the position of anyone there. There's no way to make everyone happy. I just ask that you think of the most benefit for the most residents and consider our current and predicted economic climate. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go back to the room. Um, if you guys saw the second throw on side purse. Hi, I'm Colbo. Um, my address is 160 Anthony Road. Um, I'm a sophomore high school. I would like to start with all these thoughts are my own. Um, I want to have what's best for the homeowners and the education system. I believe
064this is achievable. I understand how living in this town is hard, but I also believe that education and school safety is also important. Schools truly do pave the way for students, for successful students. Students are future taxpayers and seniors. We can make the budget work. This can be achieved with some of the money from the UISF fund, internal utility internal service fund. You can also use capital funds to replace hardware for education technology for the education technology initiative instead of replacing the middle school auditorium seats. This was brought up by superintendent Willlet at the meeting Wednesday night. I believe education should be placed highly above the replacements of the basketball court and the softball field. The council is responsible for how the town runs. Investing in schools is crucial to the town's success. Your decisions
065decisions you make at this meeting are immensely important. I hope you use the time after this public hearing to find a way to make it work. While you are talking amongst each other, please think of the students and staff in your school system. Thank you. Thank you. I'll go to Evelet on Zoom. Hello. Uh my name's Evelet Berdine. I live at 43 Dearwood Road. Uh I just wanted to say that I don't think you should go through with this budget cut. As has been said before, my family and I moved here because the schools were amazing. In middle school, I was in many clubs there, including GSA, Jasmine, and a few others. There are so many kids that have learned from these clubs. Like so many students have joined clubs because they want to be
066a part of their school community. And so many students have also joined clubs because these clubs give them the skills that they need for the future whenever they leave school. I want each of you council members to think back to when you were in elementary, middle, or high school. I bet each one of you were in a club or sport that you loved a lot. Now, I want you to imagine that those clubs and sports got taken away from you. What would your life be like in school if you didn't have those clubs or sports? I bet you'd be feeling sad, stressed, angry, lonely, and maybe even a bit scared. A lot of students here have felt at least one of these emotions whenever they heard about the budget cut. Sports and clubs allow students
067not only to learn about whatever they're interested in pursuing in the future, but they also give them life skills, plus social interactions. Clubs are also a great way for people unwind and get away from a stressful day of testing or school. So, please don't take these clubs and sports away. Cuz in the end, if it's taken away, we won't have a big community. We'll have a small one. I know this is a hard decision, but in the end, is it really a decision? Thank you. Go back to the room. I in the front. Hello, my name is Cunningham. I reside at 42 Lane. I am currently a senior in high school and have been actively involved in our school's amazing curriculum. I have been involved in the National Honor Society, National Business Honor Society. Um
068I served as the second state president this second state officer this year. Captain Galt and I have contributed morning announcements. These experiences experiences have profoundly shaped my character and have showed the importance of um keeping the BOE budget for our school. During recent discussion about the budget, I voted my concerns as a criticism. Being labeled as selfish, ignorant, and my favorite upon. So, I want to preface this by saying these reflections are entirely my own and no teacher, advisor, or parent has influenced me to speak tonight. It has been highlighted that when programs are they often do not come that they often do not return. Imagine our community de devoid of business leaders, middle school athletics, robotics teams, or drama clubs. These programs are instrumental in fostering a well-rounded and vibrant community that we can
069call Holland. We discussed last night the impact of incredible teachers. I could not imagine a school without the English teacher who gave me a 69 the first essay I ever gave her and still saw the potential in me. Or the business teacher who pushed me to compete in DECA. Brothers in myself could not imagine the teacher who teaches about why we do what we do, how we can keep community safe. The teacher who teaches history from numerous perspectives. the business teachers who encouraged stock trading and taught law in exciting new ways and the teacher who advocated for all mental health and helped us understand the way we we will go through life as we get older and I couldn't imagine my brothers not experiencing this which is why I talk here today now as an
070older sister I have four younger siblings two of whom are in the school system and I worry about the future of their education as families leave due due to budget cuts it it not only affects current students but also the town's reputation People want to move to communities with strong school systems. And if they continue to lose resources, it makes town less attractive to families looking to move here. That's less revenue and higher taxes now for our senior citizens. Good school ratings drive family incentive, business interest, and community engagement. And if we lose families, we lose funding. And this cycle just continues. That said, I also believe this is an important opportunity to take a step back and ask if we need to examine our system itself. If we find ourselves in this situation year
071after year, maybe it's time to evaluate how we budget and allocate resources to ensure we are protecting what matters most, our students, our seniors, our families, and our educators and the strength most importantly of our community. Let's not just cut. Let's make smart, sustainable changes that keep Taland place where families want to stay and invest in their future. Thank you. I'll go to Zoom. See any hands in Zoom? Is there anyone else in the room? Um, yes, in the back there's the paper. Good evening. I'm Sarah Dan Goldwin and I live at 163 Old Coast Road. Good evening, chair, vice chair, and counselors. Thank you for continuing the public hearing tonight. um holding a public hearing and referendum is as close to direct democracy as we can get and a vital part of good policy
072makeup. I am a parent of children in the town public schools, an educator and an active member of the community. Often volunteering for mileage club book fairs or mystery readers. It is clear that the board of ed budget has been underfunded for the last 10 plus years, especially the last budget cycle which saw the board of ed budget further cut by 649,000 after a failed referendum only 27 votes in which multiple voices responded that the budget was too low and they could not support that budget an underfunded budget anymore. The schools are a lifeline of the town and many come to town to start families because the town has a great school system. We are not hearing that many are coming to town for a wonderful bond rating. Although important, we should focus on funding
073our education and less on fiscal conservatism. There is support in town for a vital and robust budget. Please listen to those voices tonight. Thank you. Zoom. All right, we'll go back to the room. Uh, yes. Good evening, Jennifer McInney, 237 Winsley Road. I would like to speak tonight on the postbudget reduction of four PAR positions. I've been a PAR here in town for 13 years. Paris are crucial to the success of our schools. We support staff and students, all students in every school in the district. We are there in the morning when the students get off the bus. We are there in the afternoon at dismissals. We are there for everything in between. supporting special ed, regular ed, math intervention, reading intervention, one-on- ones, lunch, recess, FRC's, clubs. Pairs are essential and pairs equal student
074success. Please do not cut Paris from the budget. Thank you. We'll go online to Aaron. Hi everyone. I won't take up your time cuz I already submitted correspondence via email. Um I did notice that some of the testimony given tonight, which I applaud everybody that has been, especially the students. Um they mentioned wanting to expand on development and increase the revenue to the town. As a planning and zoning commissioner of four years now, we've we've exhausted all all of our resources. I want to say we've updated regulations, but we can't force development to happen. So, I do want to encourage anybody that is listening tonight or is in the room to come to our planning and zoning meetings. We meet twice a month on the second and fourth Monday of every month. And we're lucky
075to get one person if if any. So, please bring your ideas to us because we want to help the town just as much as board of ed and town council. Thank you. Sorry. 211 Charter Road. Thank you. Okay, we'll go back to the room 689 stage road. Um, I was talking to a student uh last night after last night's meeting and she was had thanked me for some comments I made recently in one of the town meetings and I said, "Well, the reason I wasn't uh speaking at any of these sessions was because there was so many individuals here that were doing it." Okay. Unfortunately, um, after the last couple of nights, um, I felt the need to kind of address a couple of things. um that have been bothering me since last year quite
076honestly. Um my recollection is last year everyone went out of their way uh to have a unanimous uh decision for a budget that not many people liked or thought should be it. Okay. Uh my personal view uh I believe in democracy small d uh and I think that everyone should have the opportunity to vote their conscience and vote their mind and just some artificial play nice thing really only accommodates those that have the power base in this council and town hall. So I disagree with that and hopefully if that happens this year all of you won't be here next time around. Um this budget that has been proposed uh in my view is unconscionable. Okay, for lots of reasons. Um when I when I sucked here, conversations I'd have with students is that uh looking
077into the future, okay, um and I I've never said this to them and I'm afraid to say it tonight. If I was in high school right now, I would probably be paralyzed, okay? with what I see in this world, what I see the direction things going when I see what's going to be needed from every single young person today, okay, is beyond anything any of us can even conceive. So the only way we can prepare them quite honestly is to give them as many opportunities, not just classroom opportunities, but the opportunities that have been expressed over the last couple of nights and all the things that have been cut from that budget. So I I I you know I and part of it too really I find it almost gling that people have to get
078up here and plead really plead with you guys. Okay, for what actually they deserve. Third item uh which uh council member um BB brought up last night. Okay, was the fact that you're sitting on a reserve that's in Texas. Okay, the numbers I recall, if my mind's thinking properly, was somewhere around it's at 18.7% based on the projection that I saw on a piece of paper last night. Um the other night, um the town manager mentioned that to keep our triple rate bond rating that it's important that we keep 10 to 15% somewhere in that range. Well, at 18.7, we're well above that. in just a rough math without actually going into specifics tells me that could be roughly $3 million that we're sitting on that we don't need to sit on. I'm not suggesting
079you take all three million, but when you have a change in cost like you did with insurance that's presumed to be okay presumed to be a one-time hit that won't be necessarily reoccurring year after year because of the way you fund your insurance, which makes a lot of sense to help a self-funded program. Um, so you're not paying for another company's profits by having it buying it from someone else. So clearly if in my view and if it was a business I was running, I would I would naturally look for a million dollars from that fund to just carve that out and that's done. Okay, then we look at the rest of the equation. Um and I find it um also unconscionable quite honestly that no one has come up with the thought process that
080we have those funds available. On top of that I believe from memory going back a number of months that the return the investment returns that this town has received this past year I believe was around a million dollars. I don't remember what the budget was, but that it was, I believe, a million dollars. So, what we've done is we've grown this reserve substantially last year and we benefited from interest rates, right? So, why don't we take that benefit, which also equates to the million dollars we need in insurance costs, and plug it right in and then start looking at everything else. Okay? But but the fact that we are looking to chop and decimate this school system is just ludicrous. Okay, I'm an old guy, right? I don't have kids in this school. Okay, my
081children are in their mid30s. I have grandkids in another state. Okay, so none of this is going to directly benefit me other than as a community member, I think it's critical. Let me close because I know there's a lot of conversation around uh we think government should be more like a business. Okay. So I guess I'm going to give an analogy that I thought of earlier today as far as a business analogy. Okay. This town, its franchise value, its brand value is the school system. Okay, that's it. Yes, safety comes in, other things come into play, but the reality is, and we've heard from a lot of people, and we've seen the growth in this town, it represents young families. And the vitality of this community is dictated by that. And the fact is those
082are the individuals that need to be supported. And so if if I was running this business and my CFO came to me and chopped and decimated a budget the way this was done, okay, they would be shown the door that day. I wouldn't even give them notice. Okay, so if you're going to get rid of your brand value, get rid of your franchise value, you might as well close up. Okay, thank you for listening. Not seeing anyone online. We'll go back to the real quick. Yes, in the back. Thanks. Good evening. My name is Joe Baldman. I live at 163 Old Post Road. Um I'm a social studies teacher um in a neighboring district. And uh first I just want to start by saying I really appreciate the time um that you have all put
083into this process. Um I've just been listening online and that alone has been sort of tiring and you guys have paid careful attention to a long uh process and you've given a lot of opportunity to people to speak. So um uh I appreciate that. So I think a lot of credit goes to to you guys uh the board of education and also I think the students have done a really impressive job. So um I think they deserve enormous credit. I think if you think back a couple of years um to the way the discussions have gone um they haven't always been that inviting or or or even polite and I think as a teacher I really appreciate the civic engagement on the part of the students and also the tone they've set um and I
084think that's actually inspired more constructive conversations at this level. So, uh, a lot of encouraging things there. Um, you know, uh, as a teacher, you can probably guess sort of where I stand on, uh, on the budget. I certainly am very supportive of schools, and I think they're incredibly important. Um, I did a little bit of math and I needed some help from the economics teacher in my department, but, um, I thought this might be a little helpful. So, um, we know that the, uh, uh, collectively it sounds like the average, uh, percentage of increase over the last 10 years for the for the education budget was about 1.67% I believe. Um, if that's right, that adds up to about a 16.7% increase in the total budget, I think, if I got that right. Um,
085but inflation has gone up about 28.6%. So, uh, the way I look at this is that the cost of running the school is outpacing inflation. And so, while some of that could be attributed to efficiency, you could look for efficiency in the school system. There's no ultimately there's no way to keep up with that gap. Um, so just as an example, if I just I hope I got the math right, but if in the last 10 years the schools were keeping up with inflation, there'd be about $4.3 million extra dollars in the budget. And I'm not trying to say here that that's necessarily possible because health care costs about outpaced inflation, too. And so there's some built-in costs that are hard to keep up with. But imagine um where we'd be if if we were
086keeping up closer with with that with that mark. The um you know, I listened to the conversation last night and I listened to members of the board say like there really is nowhere left to cut. And as a teacher, I can tell you it would be very very difficult to continue to um cut staff after listening to the discussions that have happened over the last few years without really um terrible pain to the schools. Uh my my two kids are here. I want them to um to go through the system as funded as possible. And um on the bright side, I'm really glad that they could see uh civics in action. I'm glad that they could see democracy um at play here. And and so I wish all of you um genuinely I wish you
087good luck with this process. I appreciate that this is difficult. I know it's easy for me to stand here and give advice and you have to actually uh ultimately make a decision on what the final product looks like. But I thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak. So thank you. Um, not seeing anyone on Zoom, so I'll continue to go to the room. There anyone in the room? Oh, I see. Good evening. Nice to see everybody. My name is Mary Rose Dear, 37 Ryan Road. After thorough deliberation, the town council will finalize a budget balancing both town and educational needs. You have dedicated countless hours to this process. I know that you have. The board of education has spent months negotiating carefully determining what is essential to support our students, making necessary
088compromises along. Now, once the budget is set, it must be actively promoted within our community. We elected you to do this work, and we trust you've done it to come to where we're going to come to, but your responsibility doesn't end there. Make sure the budget passes on the first time. I unfortunately and everybody has seen posts and comments that sabotage the hard work that goes into the budget that you're developing. We deserve to have the work that you've done promoted. So, we're not here again and again and again. And it costs more money to do that again. And it costs more cuts and more heartache. So once you've decided what it is, we've elected you. You're our voice. You make the tough decisions. Please promote it to our community. And if you can look
089us in the eye, then we think you you've done the job that you that you honestly feel your best job. We appreciate that. not gonna all like it. There's going to be things that we all miss out on. And I I fully support the education budget as proposed. But we're looking at you to represent us when the time comes for referendum. And these kids deserve it. We deserve not to have things thrown on social media and rotten things to say about each other and our community. And that's what I'm asking. So, I appreciate it. I appreciate all your time and effort, but please work together to get this budget passed. I'm hoping it looks better than some of the things I've seen, but once you've decided, be the adults. Thank you. Ton. Hi, I'm Luke
090Broadick. I'm from 11 Justin Way. I'm a junior at Ton High School. I take AP and honors classes. I serve as a vice president of the student managed investment fund. I actively participate in ski club and the health science club. And I stand before you guys today to argue against the proposed budget cuts to our town's clubs. An issue that threatens not only our extracurricular opportunities, but also the future of our community. Clubs are not just optional pastimes. So they are vital to the development of students and the well-being of our town. Take for example the student manage investment fund. We don't just learn about stocks and trading. We learn about financial literacy, a skill that shapes our futures. But more than that, we raise over a thousand dollars annually for the local food shelter
091Cornerstone, proving that clubs have a direct and meaningful impact on our community. If funding is slashed, programs like this will struggle to continue, and our town loses not only educated students, but also crucial charitable contributions. The argument for budget cuts often revolves around cost-saving measures. But what is the cost of limiting students opportunities? Research consistently shows that students involved in extracurricular activities per perform better academically, developing leadership skills, and contribute more to society as adults. Cutting funding now is not a savings, it's an investment loss. Beyond academics, clubs provide a sense of belonging. Whether it's skiing down the slopes in ski club, conducting experiments in a health and science club, or working with peers to organize charity events, these activities shape who we are. They help students find their passion, building friendships and learn responsibility.
092By taking these opportunities away, we risk disengaging students who might otherwise thrive in these environments. Let's stand together and fight for the opportunities that shape our students, strengthen our town, and secure our future. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, yes. I see you again. Good evening. My name is Erica Wells. I live at 350 Old Coast Road. Um, we moved here in 2011. Um, at the time we had two toddlers and a sixth grader. And in large part, we moved here because of the school system. Um, in 2011, uh, Money Magazine had Taland as the ninth best small town in the country in large part because of the education and the high medium income that Taland had. Um, I don't know where we rank now because we're not even listed. Okay. Um, since we've lived here,
093every year that the budget comes up, the education gets less, costs go up. I mean, my my household costs have gone up, and I got to make cuts to afford it, and I understand that the education has to make certain cuts to afford their budget, but it shouldn't be at the expense of our children. I have one child who no longer goes to schools. Why? Because Talin didn't offer what he needed. And I actually hate that. I I I love that he's thriving where he is, but I hate we had to look elsewhere for that. I've had one graduate and from what she was offered in her middle school to senior year to what my boys have been offered is vastly different. in a 14-year period. That's insane to me. We always want better for
094our kids than what we have. And what I was offered as a high school student to what they're offered is drastically different and not for the best. It's less and less and less. When we moved here, everybody actually laughed at us because they're like, "Oh my god, you're moving to Talland. Their taxes are high." That was 2011. And that was the narrative then, that Talland had high taxes. But guess what? I believe you get what you pay for. I wanted a better education for my children, so I was willing to pay more in taxes. Do I want to pay more in taxes? No. But what I want more than not paying more in taxes is my child to have a really good education and offered more than I was. my incoming senior, now junior, I
095would say he largely gets up and goes to school every day because he wants to play football. And while I know high school sports aren't on the chopping block, it's still an extracurricular activity. And him going to school to play football is no different than the kid that's going to school so they can perform on stage for drama club. One is not greater than the other. That's I think the joy of public school is you're supposed to be able to accommodate all walks of life. And yep, the argument from people who don't support the education budget is well send your kid to private school. Well, guess what? A $1,000 tax increase is a lot cheaper than a 6,500 private tuition. So, I'm willing to pay it. And I know there's people on fixed incomes that
096it's going to drastically hurt. And I know nobody in the education system in our town is getting rich. To say that the education part is just taking and increasing like they're just taking this money and pocketing it is absurd. And to push that narrative is absurd. They're pushing for basic needs for our most vulnerable constituents in this town and it's the children who can't get up and speak. I commend these ones for getting up and speaking. But the Birch Grove, the TIS students, and the middle school students, they don't have that voice yet. And let's not take it away from them now before they ever get that opportunity. So that's all I'm going to say. Thank you. On Zoom, we'll go back to the room. Go back to online or I think you're good. There's
097nothing else. My name is Ken Upling, Summerwood Bridge in Taho. I think you people have your uh priorities a little messed up. You want to spend over $100,000 for a new dump truck because the bed is a little rotten. Did anybody do any research on that and see how much at Hartford Equipment it cost to put a new body on that truck? Maybe 25 $30,000. You want to spend $500,000 plus dollars to put a sidewalk down the green when there's one on each side now. And it's been that way for over 300 years. You have these baseball fields, South River Road, Depot Road over by Willington. I've never seen anybody using them. You know, you have all these fields at the schools and Crannle Park and so forth and yes, people use them, but those
098things maintaining them cost the taxpayers a lot of money. Also, I um I just can't believe the way the world is right now in this country, people can't afford tax increases. You know, I've lived here for three years and I've never seen my taxes in 70 something years go up like they are in this town. And I think that again, your priorities are kind of messed up. And someone should do s should do some research on these things you want to spend money on. Thank you. Seeing no hands on Zoom, I'll go back to the room. Um, yes, you in the blue. Good evening. My name is Wily's honor, 142 Kosley Road. Mr. Foley, earlier this week, I had the pleasure of meeting you at our bianual interview day for my personal finance class. For
099those unaware, interview day is an activity where students participate in several mock interviews with industry professionals, preparing us for the competitive job market. I was able to speak with you for a few minutes during which time you asked me about which extracurriculars I'm involved in. I told you I was defense attorney for the mock trial team and president of DECA. You then asked me what is DECA. For those of you not familiar with DECA, I would like to provide you with more information. After all, before you cut a program, I believe you should fully understand the impact. DECA is one of the largest clubs at Taller High School. We meet Thursdays after school. DECA stands for Distributive Educational Clubs of America, and our chapter was established 13 years ago. In those 13 years, we've had
10015 international medalists, 11 international finalists, and six international champions, placing top 10 in the world in their competitive events. But our impact is far from limited to our success in competition. I believe the impact can be found in our alumni. In fact, I've conducted a survey to qualify this impact. If anyone is interested in following along, I have emailed a copy of this document to you earlier this evening. And I am also happy to present my findings if you're willing to pass. Thank you so much. Out of 28 Tall and DECA respondents with graduation years ranging from 2014 to 2024, every reply indicated that DECA supported their college admissions or career process. When asked how valuable DECA was in shaping their college and career outcomes, respondents ranked DECA at an average of 9.2 out of
10110. And while all respondents had their participation in DECA in common, their paths post high school varied greatly. Some respondents went into economics, some in marketing, some in engineering, physics, healthcare, mathematics, hospitality, performance, visual arts, finance, psychology, and public policy. Our respondents attended universities such as Northeastern, Maryland, Penn State, Bentley, Ohio State, and Brown University, marking the only Talling graduate in 15 years to attend an Ivy League school. To further demonstrate DECA's value, I'd like to make you aware that many school districts across the country offer DECA as a class, a businesscurricular offering. Taland DECA's program is facilitated as an extracurricular program. In Talland, we are bringing business education beyond the classroom with a minimal cost of a teacher stipent. So comparing those numbers, instead of providing DECA curriculum through a teacher salary, which I'm
102assuming would be around 15 to $20,000 considering one block of a teacher's full salary, we are providing DECA instruction through the cost of a $5,000 stipent. This small investment yields a return rate many times its value by contributing to elite college acceptance, merit scholarships, and instilling valuable 21st century skills that position our graduates to become critical thinkers and professionals of the next generation. This return on investment is proven by the survey results I have presented to you. Mr. Foley, at the end of our conversation on interview day, you asked my peers and I what we look for in a leader. I can confidently answer that I look for someone that truly represents the best interests of their community. Someone who can recognize the power that falls to them and do good with it. Someone who
103sees what it means to be a leader and fund the programs that support the next generation to do the same. Thank you. Go back to the room. Go back online. Go to the row. Uh, see the white. I'm not going to be as articulate as some of our younger people. Hold on because I wasn't planning on speaking, but I kept getting a nudge from my neighbor literal table. So, um, I'm Cheryl Puland, 24, Stacy Lane. Um, those on the board of ed know my daughter, Sarah Puland, um, was the board of ed rep for the last couple of, uh, years. As a town resident, I've been frustrated the last few years because of low community engagement, right? When we pass a budget and it barely passes or it passes with a 30%, you know, take
104rate, I'll call it, right? Where only 30% of the voters even show up. That's not passing in my mind. That there there's a whole lot of just mades. Well, if you wanted community engagement and community excitement about a budget, you have it, right? And most of these students cannot even vote, right? So, here's an opportunity. I'm not going to come up and talk about the importance of education, etc., etc., etc., but I'm going to piggyback on what Mary Rose was suggesting. I think there's a huge opportunity to do two things. One is to engage our community, our community of voters, but our community of non- voters who've got a stake in this game, right? We don't want we want them to come back to Connecticut when they're done with their school their schooling, right? We
105want them to settle here. We want them to settle here in Taland. So, what I would say is engage your community. Don't let the budget process be the end. Don't be the passing of the referendum, right? Be the end, but be the beginning, right? I kick myself for not getting involved in the budget process sooner than the last couple of days. I will tell you, I've spent the last two days pouring over every line in this budget. Every single line. And I have so many questions that will probably go unanswered, right, for tonight's meeting. But I'm hoping between tonight and when we go to a vote that there is more there's more transparency. What is being paid for and what is not going to be paid for by this budget. Right? I went through the
106BOE budget and I had to pour through go page 46 to page 43 to page to understand like how all of this comes together and at the end of the day what is on the table to be paid for and what is not right so I think there's a whole lot of communication that can happen it's also like how do you get a budget passed like how do you get your constituents engaged in the process and then to vote yes right it shows the priorities that the research has been done, right? I was in my prior career, my cost center was about the same budget size as the talent. It was roughly $50 million. And then my entire budget was people. And I'm surprised more people haven't come as a resident base to say, "No,
107you need to cut your expenses because I just I just had a 9% increase in my tax rate essentially. I'm surprised they're not coming up and more people haven't come to say no, you need to decrease from last year. Well, we're still seeing what's on the table is still an increase. In my job, I had to decrease my budget the last two years I was employed by 10% every year. That equated to roughly 20 people a year that I had to say goodbye to. That is a tough tough cell that required I went through every single line of my budget and I had to get creative. Absolutely every line. Is this absolutely what's needed? Is this a priority? But I think there's an opportunity to bring this to the crowd, to the masses, to the
108community to say, is this really important? Bet you're going to hear a lot of feedback, right? On Yeah, you heard a lot of it over the last couple days. No ball, no ball fields, yes clubs, no this, no that, right? Get everybody involved. Have more of those workshops. Increase the transparency. Sell that. Right? If people understand and see value, they may be okay with a tax increase, right? if they understand what they're paying for and they agree with its value. That's running a business. And granted, government is not a business, but you guys are in the business of getting this budget passed and right and sustaining this community. So, I'm not here just, you know, to talk about one, you know, I'm not going to advocate for how we spend the money, but I challenge
109you to look and assess those priorities and look under every single rock and get really creative and be thoughtful and, you know, what are some of our options here? And then take it out on the road and get some feedback, right? and get this budget passed, like do the right steps to get it passed on that first try and if not on the second try. But I think community engagement and that transparency is how you're going to get there. Thank you. Keep going with the room. Uh yes, well 350 Old Coast Road. Try to make this short as I've already spoken Tuesday evening. I think and I want to appreciate everybody's time here. Each and every one of you have a heavy burden in this budget. I'm going to take a little bit different lens.
110I'm not going to bore you with the importance of education. And I think you all know how I personally feel and how a majority of the community that has spoken on public record feels about education. This budget has a high increase in tax that's going to affect a wide range of citizens, especially the two on the most vulnerable sides of the spectrum, our seniors and obviously our children. and as as our civic duty to lift up the most vulnerable and hold them high, right? Um, we have a hard decision here. Many of us facing a 10% tax increase in the budget that's currently proposed have a lot of hard choices to make, right? There's a lot of income choices that a lot of us have to make. Wants versus needs. I think the town and
111in this budget process has the same responsibility that we are all going to have with a 10% increase in our taxes. Wants versus needs. What you can afford, what you can fund, what is fiscally irresponsible. I've heard that word a lot thrown around. Fiscally irresponsibility. So, I'm going to simplify this for everybody, right? I'm going to make it real clear. baby, 10% taxes. You ain't getting no new car and I ain't buying no new tractor. All right, it's that simple. So, let's not be hypocritical about the process. Legit, if we're going to be forced to make these hard cuts and these hard decisions as families, seniors, middle class, I don't care what spectrum you are, you guys got to do the same in the town and in this budget. You're facing the same objective we
112are as residents because once you create this budget, you pass it upon us. We have to eat it. We have to live it. We have to work it. So regardless of your narrative, regardless of your ideologies, at the end of the day, this decision tonight, you're passing it upon all of us. Every one of us have to eat it. So please work the process. Be fiscally responsible. Light item by line item. what is needed, what is not, because we all have to do that when you pass this upon us. Thank you for your time and I appreciate all your work. Thank you. Reminder, if you want to speak on Zoom, just raise your hand. Um, anyone else in the room? Go back online. Go to the room. Yes. Hello again, Savannah Davis 363 Garing. I
113was here Tuesday if you remember and spoke briefly and I have showed up again to show my support for myself and my peers. The communities I have been introduced to through high school clubs have increased my confidence along with my peers giving me enough support to speak today. Majority of students throughout high school and middle school have or are currently participating in after school activities. And that's not to speak on the upcoming students. By removing clubs, you strip personality from these children who want to further pursu pursue specific studies after high school but don't have the space to show their talent. I truthfully believe that kids education and communication skills should come before replacing the fields and areas that might not be around for them in the future. The children that want to or are
114currently participating in clubs will be missing out. These kids are waiting on you guys to make a decision, including those who are currently doing after school activities and couldn't be in attendance today. Before I close out, I want to speak on I want to speak something from one of my friends behalf who couldn't attend tonight. We need textbooks and all of the special education aid to help prepare students of Ton High School for college. Getting rid of these would also make our school look really bad and no one is going to want to send their children here. So, as long as you're trying to save money on things, you're also going to lose it if no one wants to send their kids here. The future depends on everyone that is in the school right now.
115How are we going to have a stable community if no one is getting proper education? Thank you. We'll go to Julie on Zoom. Hi, good evening. Um, Julie Brennan, 127 Ellington Road. I spoke the other night, so I'll keep this short, but I just wanted to clarify a little bit on the softball field. I've heard it brought up a couple times now. Um, I am the secretary of Talin Little League and we have been asking for years for the middle school softball field to um, have some work done. it is um unsafe and I know even if there wasn't a middle school sports we would still be using that field. So we've worked with the town and Dr. Willlet and finally got approval for the field. Um just a few things about the field. There
116is in the outfield the grass is um all coming undone. Um and you can literally kick the grass around and also the there's about a foot to two feet um lip in the outfield which is unsafe if you were to go catch a fly ball and you could trip, hurt your the girls could hurt their ankles, you know, fall and all that. So that has to be fixed. the dugouts are unsafe. Um the one beam holding one of the dugouts up has been loose for years. It and the fencing it just it all needs work. So I just wanted to kind of clarify that um that you know with Tomlin Little League and um the town and and um Dr. Willlet, we've you know came to the conclusion that you know we'd be able to
117get that um fixed this year. So, I just, you know, I've heard this brought up a few times and I just wanted to kind of give a little input and insight into where that came from. So, and thank you all for holding this um you know, public meeting and we appreciate all that you guys do. Thank you. In the room. Yes, in the back. keep my glasses off. Um Andy Powell, 21 Third Road Drive. I'd like to state that these are um my comments only and do not reflect my role as an elected official in this town. These are my personal comments on that. Um, we've only lived in Colin for 22 years and I find of all the things that are in Colin, the thing I hate most the the most is the budget
118process. Quite honestly, if we look at this town and I will admit we had children in Manchester and I was bit to be tied if we're going to have our kids in Manchester schools and we were looking and Katie found Tom and it's got a really good school system and we moved here because of the school system. But over those 22 years we've realized how amazing all the other services that we have. I trust no one more than Chief Lyel and his staff when it comes to public safety. Taking advantage of it twice. Still here. Fantastic. The school district fantastic. All three boys going through the programs in band, in theater, varsity letter, having all the opportunities, gotten to their schools of choice and are moving forward. The thing that the budget system does to
119us is it drives us apart. For the last 22 years, the same comments happened. The same comments happen. We can't afford it. We're going to lose kids. We can't do this. We can't do that. And it drives us apart as a community. In the 22 years that I've been here, this building was not here. In the 22 years that I've been here, we went from being one of the fastest growing communities in Connecticut to now having smaller growth and actually losing people. We've gone through those traumatic situations. the folks that voted against doing this building even though we had four or five uh individual storage not storage but temporary classrooms stuffing out to the side. The folks who voted against this building were also the same people that were up on the roof when we
120had a uh 4ft snow drift or sixoot snow drift that was causing those dri drifts to go and and destroy the building. We fortunately it was built correctly. We spent our money well because the engineering worked. Talent has done amazing things in those in those years. We have been innovators for a long time. Talent High School, well, excuse me, it's Talent Middle School now, but Talent High School was one of the first fully electric buildings, public schools that was built in the United States because back in the 60s, the promise of nuclear power was going to make it cheap and we could do it with electricity. didn't turn out that way, but Talent perseveres. We were one of the first cities that will often do a net metering solar farm. So, that South River Road
121area was actually one of the first ones that was done to use net metering because then it's not tied to the building that was here, the building that you're pulling the uh the energy from. We were one of the first communities to do a combined health care and prescription program for both our town and our school district so that we could do economies of scale. We have done innovative things to drive value to the sh to the to the taxpayers for as long as I've been here. How many towns that are our size that are AAA bond rigid? And that's huge. We continually pass the audits. Has anybody in Colin been arrested for abuse of funds, for taking money? We hire professionals. I had to talk. Hello. Dr. Willlet and town manager Foley are fantastic
122leaders of their organizations. We as citizens have done a good job in electing our town councils and our board of eds to find the right professionals that know what they're doing. None of us here know exactly what's going on in the different areas that we have, we don't have experience in that because we're while we're in close as as close as we are to actually being involved in that civic component, we don't live it dayto-day. So, we have hired good people and it's this budget process that drives us apart not to get. My anger is with the electorate. We come out every four years and vote at 89% 90%. Yay, I voted for who. And that person, regardless of who they are, is not going to affect you as much as the next two years,
123which are the people that fill these count these seats, and then do the budget. We come out at what, 20%. Embarrassing. We'll go out and vote for presidents and governors or whoever, but we won't come out and vote either for or against the thing that affects us the most. My challenge is to the population to get out and vote because that is democracy. We do not live in a democracy. We live in a in a republic. This voting on referendum is the most democratic thing that we will do. Yet we complain. We pull ourselves apart. We go off and do all this back and forth for 22 years. But only 20% of the people are think it's important enough to come out and vote. Personally, I would support more money for both education and for
124the town. I'm gifted in that sense that I can afford to do that. But I know that folks can't do that and I feel that we have to have that balance. But at the end of the day, your responsibility is not to cut or not to increase too dramatically. You're supposed to supply a fairly educated guess on what we're going to need. The responsibility then is on the population to show up and actually vote for it or against it. That's where the responsibility is. And that's the only time I'm disappointed with to 20% if we're lucky will actually come out and be engaged in the most democratic component of our government, which is deciding as a community what we're going to do. We have an amazing community. We have amazing We have spent the money
125to have more than what the state wants us for open field open space. We've expanded our access to that open space uh for throughout the last 22 years. We have changed our rules for commerce to make it even more we can get more people to the town. We're limited in regards to what we can actually do. My challenge again, let's talk and do what we do, but then let's back up our elected officials and actually come out and vote in the process. That's where the failure is. Thank you very much. I see Evelyn's hand. I know she's spoken before and I'll give her an opportunity to speak again. But before I go to It's actually her mom. Oh, okay then. Yeah, sorry. Um, so this is Stephanie Berdine. I spoke on Tuesday. I'm from 43
126Dearwood as well. Um, I'll make it really quick, but um, I just wanted to say that I went over the budget as well. Um, all the documentation that was provided with the presentation that you did yesterday. I have a master's degree in mathematics and it was challenging for me to go through just because it wasn't transparent and plain. Um I really appreciate all the effort that went into putting that presentation together. So please don't hear me saying that at all. Um, I just wanted to call out the um, inclusivity of the presentation and um, one of the ways I think we can get people to participate more and also to understand where you're coming from as a town council is to present this information in a way that is consumable by everybody. Um, and you
127know, putting line items on there with an explanation as to why. cuz you know when I hear a a baseball field needs to be fixed up, I'm going to probably have the same reaction as a lot of parents, which is, well, that's not important. But to the people who are affected by that, it is important. And having a brief description as to why that was considered in the budget is really important for all of us to be compassionate and empathetic to each other. And so, you know, as a person who works in technology where documentation is extremely important, I just ask that we make our documentation and our presentations more accessible. So that way when you go over this in a town council meeting, everyone's not on edge and we're not all against each other.
128We understand each other and we start from a place of empathy and compassion and then we work from there to to really decide what's best for the city. Um, so that's all I wanted to say was just can we make these presentations and these line items more inclusive for everybody? We'll go back to the room. Yes. Hi, my name is Allison Filipino from 26 Ridge Road. I'm a freshman at Talon High School and although I didn't participate in many extracurricular activities this year, I did participate in DECA for the first quarter. I decided that wasn't the path for me and I left it. And that's the beauty of the extracurriculars at this school. We have the ability to join new ones. Drop them if it's not your path because that's what we do at this
129school. I also happen to be friends and peers with many kids that participate in theater. I'm in theater studies, a class where we look behind the audience perspective of plays and musicals. Another thing we do in this class is construct sets. Me and my peers in this class play roles both in painting and constructing the sets for our most recent school play. So many kids in high school that struggle with their mental health and putting themselves out there seek out extracurriculars as a way of coming out of their shell. I've seen many people flourish and find the things that truly make them happy within theater and other clubs. If there's anything we can't afford, it's to see so many high school kids never fully come out of their shell and never truly find the things
130that make them happy. Extracurriculars help with that, too. as well athletics in middle school, which prepares kids to go into high school athletics and even college sports, possibly even a professional career in athletics. I just ask as a member of this community and a student in their first year at this school, please, if you're going to prioritize something for the good of these kids, don't take away our clubs. Thank you. Anyone else in the room? uh in the red. Hi, James Corbinella track. I spoke on Tuesday and after hearing many other speak on both nights, I just thought of a couple more things. Um it's hard not to repeat ideas though. So many so many spoken of things like sports course that no longer look abandoned but still be abandoned. There's so many contradictory choices
131here that seem to come from two entirely different worlds. People have spoken of getting more business in town. It's a choice that we debated on. Um, but it's it's a solid idea. While good business business, there's a business law and cutting that only digs a deeper hole there. This is a community. Communities always have a factor of loyalty. You've seen that loyalty over the past few days in so many different ways. I think I can say I'm fairly observant and from what I've observed, if you want loyalty, you aren't getting it from a nice tax rate or a shiny new basketball court. You're getting it from people who are happy to be here and happy to see their children be here. you get it from making their lives interesting and that's something you're not going
132to get from just blowing some numbers. Thank you. Thank you. I'll go back to the room. Yes, back. Hello, I'm Katie Bham from 23 Lake Heights. Cutting programs throughout the schools to this degree is unthinkable. Extra extracurriculars serve as a lifeline for several students throughout all of the schools and serve as a way for them to find communities in which they could fully be supported. I'm a senior at Talon High. However, I recently moved to town my freshman year. Without various clubs such as theater and morning announcements, I would not be the person I am today. And I'm sure other students could say the same no matter what club they are part of. The fact that these students who are part of these clubs are the same ones that speak up for themselves at these
133meetings truly represent how clubs are more than just a fun activity. Additionally, cutting all library books and textbooks only fuels the fire. 28% of adults score at a level one or lower reading level. And cutting these crucial resources only sets up our students for the same failure. Finally, reducing special ed services such as outplacement and legal services is incomprehensible for children like my sister who attends the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford. These cuts would force her into a world of silence where she has to attend a school without the resources she needs to thrive. Prioritizing expensive projects such as replacing the seats in the middle school and buying an $80,000 truck over the quality of life of Toll's children is genuinely absurd. Although I'm graduating this year, these issues extend far beyond
134myself and the current students enrolled at Talin. And I hope you take into consideration the damages that these cuts would have not only on the present but also the future of our children. Thank you. Hands on Zoom currently. I'll continue to go to the room. Uh yes. Hello, my name is Maan Doo and I live at 97. I am a freshman here at T High School, but back when I was in eighth grade, I joined the drama club. Before I thought it was just a fun thing to do with my friends, but then I found myself enjoying it even more. I went to the high school to watch the performance of Punchland and I was amazed by the set and all the actors. That's when I knew I also want to join the theater high
135school. Now I in three clubs, one of which is theater. Um during my time I really enjoyed the new people I met and it made me more confident. Uh I still have a lot more clubs I plan to join but if they're not clear I can. How am I supposed to find if I have room talents if I can't join any of the clubs? Well I have the chance I would selected. to go to the room. Go online. Go back to the room. Go online. Go to the room one more time. Yes. Don't see anyone to speak. I guess like to Uh, thank you. I I know I spoke earlier again, Mark Mitchell at 45 Shores Drive. Um, I just wanted to uh comment and put things in perspective a little bit, not only for
136the board, but for the audience as well. Um, I am a numbers person and I like it. I like uh letting the number I like letting the numbers talk and then rather than coming up with a narrative uh and and looking for um justification of that and what the numbers show me or as I said before there's a $12 million uh fund balance um that uh that exists and that's um u and that certainly can be used. But I want to back up from there for just a minute. So, it it's clear to me from the comments tonight that there's some confusion about the way the process works. Um, and my understanding of the process is that the board of education, the superintendent develops a budget, goes to the board of education. That board of
137education passes a budget in this year. They passed a a budget proposing a 7.34% increase, which is a a big number. It's a it's a historically big number. Uh as as uh the professor said earlier, the average here in Thailand uh for in the last five years, budget increases have averaged 1.88%. So for the board of education to propose 7.34% increase is big. And that's sitting on a $12 million surplus. So you have to ask yourself, what is that all about? Um, and what happens is then it comes to the town and I think the town has recognized the fact that over the years uh referendums have been voted down because they're too high and the voters have signaled over the last um 10 year 12 years u on average the budget increases to the
138school has been 1.73%. And that has satisfied the town residents the voting town residents. Now earlier and a couple of people have commented on how um you know we have a relatively low voter turnout. I I see it the other way. A low turnout is a good indication. A low turnout indicates that people are in general happy with the way things have been going in Taland. If they were unhappy, you would have a ginormous turnout. So, it's a little bit unconventional, but if you think about it, it means basically they've been happy with lower averages than 7.34. And certainly, if that were proposed, you would be having a a referendum voted down. I want to commend the town this year for taking that proposal, which you it could be argued that that is that was
139an irresponsible proposal and it wasn't well explained. uh although you can look in their January documents um and and they've proposed something that's uh more conservative and more in line with what voters have said in the past and as I said earlier uh oh yeah here it is pardon me as I said earlier what the town is proposing is um to increase the school budget by 2.99% which again is historically higher than what the town has had. So I I I also see a problem here in that I think either the school board and or the superintendent have somehow persuaded a lot of people tonight to talk about these massive cuts. There are no massive cuts. If you if you look at the adopted budget, every single year it has increased. It's it's increased per
140year after year. the the the cut is to the proposed budget. The cut is to the proposed budget. The actual budget increase that's being proposed is 2.99%. I'm that's what the numbers say to me. And I I've looked them over. I've got the schoolboard documents in front of me and it says right on page one of the schoolboard budget uh that it says right here in black and white they're proposing a 7.34% increase. So I and your people who are shaking their heads know it indicates to me there's confusion around this issue. That's the polite way to put it. Uh to me it's a little disconcerting that the school board hasn't presented these numbers and in a way that have been well understood by the public at large. Uh the other thing that I would
141just add is that um a lot of people here have made a lot of really good and kindhearted comments about ways to address the school budget. A lot of the students have a lot everybody a lot of really good comments tonight and I sincerely mean that. However, the way the process works is although the town uh will pass a budget and there'll be a referendum, it's the school board that implements that. So, all of these great ideas and great conversations need to go to the school board, not to the town. It is the school board's responsibility. It is not your me is not your responsibility as town board members to do this. And I think that needs to be refocused too. And there apparently is confusion over that. The school board is the one that
142makes these decisions. Excuse me. He has the floor. Thank you. So, so I just wanted to remind people that it is the school board that needs to be engaged in these discussions and it's school board that could do a better job of having a genuine uh discussion with the public. Um and and I I looked at the schedule that the school board had. I don't think they do enough in terms of transparency. people have mentioned online and in person that we should have more transparency. Um I think that is on the school board. I I don't think that that I think that the town is doing a fine job of that. Um and so the uh so again the budget is being increased and it's not being decreased. And uh as far as what I
143said before in terms of uh limiting the the increase uh to 1.53% a couple of things. One is that somebody mentioned that inflation over the last 10 years has been 25%. However, teacher salaries I don't believe have have are the which are the bulk of the expenses in the school. Those have not those rates have not been I don't think they're 25% increase. Maybe they maybe they have been but uh they do make up a portion of it but there are a lot of you know supplies have they've seen high inflation but I'm not sure about school salary so I I'm just not you know I just would point out that that's different and again uh you can meet your contractual obligations by using some of the funds and lastly the advice I would give
144to the town and the perspective I would share with you is that I I really like the speaker earlier online who said you know come to the down planning board meetings uh twice a month and we let's build business up. So my proposal would be we take that $12 million cushion and begin to spend that down to hold the taxes down to what the population has voted for historically and indeed build up our economic activity here in the town. bring in commercial businesses uh and and do things to work on that so that that that revenue from those commercial resources can help offset the burden on individuals and I personally would be happy to participate in those discussions and be engaged in trying to figure out ways to bring uh uh to bring commercial development
145to the tarant. So with that I want to thank you for your time and attention and the opportunity to speak through tonight. Thank you. Thank you. the orange orange hat. Rebecca Risley, 103 Mountain Spring Road. I'm going to have a few minutes gathering my thoughts uh for some response here. Um yes, we're sitting on $12 million. That $12 million is under the town council control. town council decision. There's nothing that the board of ed can do with that money without the town council's approval um so to speak. Yes, we have funded the board of education at oneish% average over 10 plus years underfunded the board of education budget year after year after year which in turn becomes a need for asking for a 7% asking for something that's going to keep our services retain our
146services meet our contractual obligations s and keep our sickness full. If we underfund by oneish% year after year after year, then there's going to be a come to Jesus moment where there's going to be a need for a 7%. Or, you know, um, and working out that 7% through other means. When these two boards came together last night to have some interesting, unique conversations together, breaking bread across the aisle, so to speak, which we shouldn't even have to do because we are one town. We are one budget. The board of education does make up the bulk of that budget. But if this town wants to thrive, if this town wants to survive, they will see the need to support the board of education's budget and fund so that we are not losing. Yes, we speak
147about cuts. We speak about cuts. People say, "Oh, we don't make cuts to the board of education budget." No, no, no. You have to fund the board of education budget at the same rate every year. We can't cut your budget. But when your obligations go up every year and you have to meet contractual obligations, where does that other money come from? It comes in the form of cuts, reductions, whatever word you want to use for it. Okay. You know, I I've tried to gather my thoughts. I'm speaking off the cuff. Um, obviously passionate about this. I've been to a lot of these meetings, been to a lot of board of education meetings, and I've been to a lot of town council meetings. What I do want to point out tonight are kids. Okay, I say
148kids, young adults. I am so proud of them. This whole town should be thrilled, thrilled with the fact that they want to be here. They want to be engaged. Okay. No one led them here. No one said you should come and speak up through. They got together on their own. They said we're passionate about this. This is something we believe in. This is something we want to be heard. And they came out here and they were heard. They spoke. And when I see that, you know, things on social media belittling that, um, saying that it that it's a a gambit or a farce. My god, you are belittling what these kids, young adults are accomplishing. And I, for one, I'm really proud of them and everyone here should. Thanks so much. Yes. the back. Uh
149Karen Moran 50 Merllo way. Um thank you all for work you've been doing three meetings in a row I think or online. Anybody um been there done that? Um thank you to Dr. will it for months and months of work on this budget. Um, please don't let uninformed comments, inaccuracies, um, rhetoric on social media, quite frankly, meanness on social media. um deter you from the small inroads that were made last night. Um many of us saw it and were um hopeful for a change, a slight change in the process. Um I think many of you, maybe six out of seven of you, um agreed that the process is broken and we need some improvement. So, please work together like we did last night um for the better of this community. Thank you. Go back to
150the row. Uh yes, good evening again. Mayor Rose Ber 37 Ryan Road. Just one comment the gentleman made um that the board of education has to deal with the responsibility of what's happening. I think the board of education has done that. They've presented to you what they think is necessary for our students. Any cuts to that is now on you. So choose wisely. Thank you. Go back to the room. Go online. Back to the room. Uh, yes. Go. Cindy Davidson, 304 Backtrack Road. I will not speak as eloquently as my daughter. She is very passionate about our town, about politics, and being involved in her community. And she dragged me here tonight because I wanted to be at home on Zoom in my gyms. Uh I will say this is the first year I think
151I have listened to or watched every board of education budget meeting. Um full disclosure, I am a nurse here at the high school. What I am saying is my personal views. It has nothing to do with my employment here. is not the views of any of the other nurses in the town. This is just a parent speaking. I listened to all the board of education meetings. I sometimes stayed up till 11:00 at night watching at night to be up at 5:30 in the morning. The board of education labored over their budget. I listened to the back and courts. Dr. Willlet presented 11% increase and then presented, I believe, three or four renditions after that. And then the board of education kind of liberated but if if we think social workers are important then what can
152we cut over here? If we feel that the paras are important what can we cut over there? They labored over this budget. It was not done quickly. It was not done easily. It was done incredibly thoughtfully and difficult. They did not come to this 7.34 budget with pipe dreams and with rainbows and sunshines and let's get everything we want. They came with what do we think we should provide to our children. And the two things that came out very clearly in the budget meetings that I was able to listen to were that our board of education members are very concerned about the safety of our children in our schools and wanting and needing SRO's to be in our in our schools to make sure our children are safe. They're also very concerned about the health
153and well-being of our students. You've heard many of our students talk about their struggles with anxiety, their struggles with social anxiety. Pre-COVID things were difficult. Postcoid they're much more difficult. I don't think our board of education is trying to put things into our budget that we don't need. And I want to thank every member at the board of education who stayed up till the we hours in the morning trying to come up with this budget. and I listened to your meeting on Tuesday and stayed up till almost 11 o'clock and it's a difficult thing and I want to thank you all for being on the town council and doing what you're doing and thank the board of education members for what they're doing. Um I've heard positive and good things about the conversations that happened
154last night and it gave me hope in this budget this budget process for the first time. I have a vested interest in this town. I've lived here over 30 years. I had four children go through this school system. Um, I have a vested interest in the children in our town. I work here. Um, full disclosure, I have a second job. Almost every nurse in town has a second job. We're not getting rich working there. We almost all have second jobs because we can't live off of what we make in the school system. We stay because we love these kids. We stay because we want to be here for these kids. So, I would ask that as you go into your deliberations, and I apologize that we're starting your meeting way later and you guys are
155probably going to be up way later than you want it to be, that the cooperation that existed last night continue forward and that be respectful that the board of education put together the budget that they believe they need to best meet the needs of our children. Um, and thank you again to both the board of education members and the town council members for all the work that you're doing. And I hope every student this year drag their parents to vote. My daughter dragged me here tonight. So all the students that have come out to speak, all the students that have felt as passionate about this, go home and you make sure your parents know what the referendum vote is. And then you text them, "Have you voted yet?" And if they say no, you can
156text them every hour and say better yet. The more and I hope all you guys that come out, stay involved. Go to town meetings, go to more events, go to planning and zoning meetings, get involved in your town where you're passionate because if you guys get involved and you guys continue like we have been this week, things will get better. So, my last thing is I hope you hear Thank you to all of the board of education members and to all of the town council members who have given hours to try to get this on the table. And I hope in the next week we're going to see positive things come about and positive changes for our community. Thank you. Um, yes. Good evening. No feel. Um I also am a numbers person even though
157I may teach music. Um and I wish the gentleman had stayed to engage in the conversation. Um numbers are fact and you've heard our officials present them. The argument was that one point whatever percent is an increase. However, the state average that has been presented for schools especially of our size, the school classifies every town by a dur other DURS and schools are getting a higher percentage than Solomon. We are not staying in line with Durk's other schools of our classification. 3% was the average 1.7 or whatever it is that year. Zero is below that. We have underfunded the schools. 1.7 is not a positive especially when we consider all the things it takes. The majority of a budget with school tends to be just to keep the lights on at times. My electric bill
158has gone up. I imagine the schools has gone up. It has gone up more than 1.7%. My house has gone up more than 1.7%. The insurance has gone up more than 1.7%. It is very blindsided to look at something just as plainly as that. We need to look more deeply at the budget and the data is an ignorant way to look at the data. Um, I'd like to provide a um thought that I wish our town would do a little bit better at um publicizing the referendums. I feel at times we do not do enough to publicize them. The little sign on the town green is not enough. Other towns I've been a part of um do a much better job at advertising it. Whether is it through a nice mass email system, text messages
159a lot. Towns are more modern than ours with sending out text messages. They let their officials put on social media that the town referendum is there. I don't see a lot of that in our town. The years that I've lived here, it is often just very kind of very like one little post. We don't let all that go out. I think we need to look at a better way to mass communicate. whether it's from us on our platforms of elected officials on social media advertising it, but what about people that are not on social media? How are we reaching those residents? Um, we have to think more clearly about why the board of ed drastically came up with that 7%. It wasn't because they want to give all these wishful things to the students. There
160was considerations. Maybe it was another SRO. Maybe it was for MTSS intervention because our students need intervention because it is a state mandate for students to have intervention and we are not doing it at the high school. We are missing things that other schools in our districts have. There's a reason why they said 7% because we kicked the can down the road too long. And maybe this is the wrong year to bring some of that stuff in. But then we have to continue these conversations because I also last night was very proud to be a tall resident. I tried to come up and kind of communicate with some of you guys. Um it was awesome. last night was a much better representation of our town than the previous joint meeting that we had. The way
161we sat, we were much closer instead of being on opposite sides being enemies. We were intermixed. The conversations were positive and I think being an educator seating arrangements helped with that. Um I hope that we can continue this momentum because I think it has been a positive change in the connection between the community that we find a way to take this no matter how we get through it to continue this for next year. Thank you. Have anyone else in the room? Go back to the room. Yes. Good evening. Uh Joel Lopez, uh 30 Crystal Ridge Drive. Um, I know I spoke here a couple not here, but at the uh town hall a couple of days ago, I'm not going to uh repeat what I said. Um, but oh, by the way, my opinion here
162and my comments here are not anything to do with my position on the planning zone commission. So, they're totally my opinions and my thoughts. Um, the only thing I'm going to talk about here is we had Andy come up here a few minutes ago and talk and said a great made a great point. talked about how this town is being divided whenever we have these discussions and for someone to come up here and say hey Mr. Willlet is a guy that's corelling people come here I never even met Mr. Miller by the way I'm Joan Lopez nice to meet you Mr. Willlet all right and to accuse students here of coming here and being coralled to say something make their opinions why do they do that you know what you're capable of and they know
163you're the future so my hats off to all that's all I have to say thank you Line back to the room. Line back to the room one more time. Line one more time. All right, that I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Right. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. you. All right, that brings us to item five on our agenda, consideration of town council's proposed FY2 2025 2026 budget. Um, I would suggest that I'll have um, account manager um, walk us through what he has for us tonight and then um, I would suggest that we have a brief recess um, for restroom breaks or opportunistic caucus if so desired. So turn that over to uh, manager Brian Fley. I can't hear you, Brian. Sorry, I have a double
164mute feature here. Uh, good evening, everybody. Uh, so we're we're we're back here. Uh, we have um many scenarios uh to go through uh and discuss. Jacob, if you'd like me to to to put any scenarios forward, I'm happy to. We have a scenario that that um matches pretty close to what we discussed last night because I can't even keep track of the nights last night. Um and I'm happy to have uh you to go through that that uh scenario if you'd like. And I believe if she could share her screen uh we can put it back up there. If not, no worries. Uh we stand ready to to to do what you guys deliberate. Yes. I think it would be beneficial if you could share his screen and I'm going to make uh a
165co-host that's Good evening. Let me know if you can hear me and you can see my screen. Yes. And yes. Yes. Yes. Perfect. Can you screen so that we can read the numbers? Sure. That's better. A little better. Okay. So what I've done is um updated some numbers here from the manager's proposed budget. What you what you see right now this is what we proposed. This is what it in the proposed uh manager's budget. Uh 2826 mill rate uh the same amount of amount to be raised by taxation. Few modification has been made in the next um I'm going to scroll down and I'm going to show the other uh piece of information. uh what we did we included 300,000 for um ECS money we did updated collection rate 99.1 in addition to that uh
166assessor provided um the depreciation motor vehicle values which is from 15 million it dropped to 14,271,600 so that slightly went down and this This is what I did. I did go and I updated those numbers. So if you can if you can see it the top of it. So the top information right here it is all related to the grant list in this number the number 14 million it's included all the same deductions and we applied 99 collection rate and by not changing any expenditures neither revenue keeping the same proposed budget number we coming up the 27.85 mil rate which is lower by 0.41. Do you have any questions? I do. Yeah. Go ahead. C. So just uh getting to 27.85 that was done. Now we included 300,000 in ES ECS money. Yeah. That we
167planning to get. We did also in uh change collection rate from 99 to 99.1. In addition to that, in the grant list, we included the depreciation of motor vehicle uh that was approved 14,271,600. That's the only changes has been made here in this screen. So, we kept the same increase for town, the same increase proposed for BOE and CIP. Thank you. Hi, councelor. Did you have a question? Yeah. I was just gonna wonder if when you're done presenting if you can email it to the Yes. Yeah, that that could be done as soon as you can after presentation that would be very helpful. Any other questions? Yes. Uh so Julie, did we were we not able to work in uh anything similar to what we talked about with the board of ed last night? Um
168even if it's not exactly the same, something that we can uh something similar. So we did uh have a conversation this morning and I don't know if the superintendent would like to share. Sure, I can. Can I just ask a question? Can people at home see the county? Well, I can't see it. I can just see the agenda. Let's uh I'm going to just try something here real quick because she she's got the sharing, but I want to make sure you have it. I'm going to stop sharing for a minute and then uh if you could just do it again or share again. I can see it. No, we can see it. We can see it. Just want to make sure that that was able to be seen. Um, yes. And you're asking me, we
169did have I reached out to the town today. Um, and there's an option here that I think would be helpful. You know, we talked about it last night. There's an opportunity and I and I think council members, board members felt good about it. Um there is in fiscal year 28 a large capital project that um could involve the boilers and that's what we talked about and so that capital project um the allocation from the town side potentially using the board of educ1,000. So what could accommodate that capital request in fiscal year 28 but also still provide money to offset the higher electrical costs for next year fiscal year 26 to the board would be to instead of using 380,000 of that money um instead use 300,000 of that money so both things could still be
170accomplished. So the uh potential opportunity here would be using 300k from the UISF fund uh to offset the electrical charges and help offset some of the negative impacts of the insurance increase on the board of ed budget. and then consideration and I'm not sure on the town side if you had decided this was something you were interested in or not or council but that 188 from the TMS auditorium seats allowing ERF in the third quarter of uh this coming year fiscal year 26 to handle that and instead using those funds to offset the educational technology initiative which would also allow the board of ed an offset to balance out that insurance. So uh that is what we had talked briefly about today and and again ultimately what happens here is at the discretion of the
171council and I appreciate uh you thinking about that. Clarify it went from the proposal from last night was 380,000 after discussing with our finance department revising it down to 300,000. Right. I I respect the request to be 300,000 so that funds could be used in fiscal year 28 um for that uh for the potential tal. Thank you. And the potential of um the the money that was going to be used to replace the seats in the auditorium, use that to fund the tech initiative. And then when you are have access to using the ECS money in the third quarter that would then go to funding the seats in the auditorium that were originally budgeted the efational reserves. Sorry. So because ERF funds are not available until the third quarter after to be audited and be
172and if and this isn't if but uh if there were endofear funds which typically you know that range I publish is you know 31% median and about 089 over those years. So if there is an endofear balance that balance can be rolled over to the educational reserve fund that happens after the audit in the third quarter and because that's too late to help offset this budget something that could be done to help would be to swap those. So the ERF is utilized for that but the capital request for fiscal year 26 of 188 is then instead of used for the auditorium seats the DRF full handle is used towards the edtech initiative and so that will help then offset the board of the budget and as spoken about last night could really help make a
173huge difference with respect to staffing and the associated things like clubs which are really connected to the stipens that are paid for them and things like that. Thank you. So, can I clarify? Yes. So, so what we're talking about is making 300 or $488,000 immediately available but not not doing not engaging not doing the seeds and then if the ECS or the ERF funds when they become available then swapping that out and then using that if it's sufficient for the seats the on the board side the ERF would be utilized. So the town wouldn't need to do that wouldn't need to do so allow the to instead be used to offset that multi effect which you know it would avoid the tragic situation of because of a high insurance cost laying off staff and hitting
174things that maybe we wouldn't need to do otherwise. Okay. So you that that won't we have a pretty good record overall of insurance you know in the long span of time that probably won't be something that we face the same way. Okay, thank you. Yeah, I just want to clarify. So, we're not talking about um we're just talking about additional revenue that would have been used for something else is now going to be used for now. We're now rec now recognizing that revenue in the current upcoming fiscal year. Not the current year, but the upcoming fiscal year. We're using revenue that we didn't anticipate having. Is that what I'm understanding? We're using uh revenue that was part of an UISF account that dates back 10 years that was set up under an esco agreement that
175no longer exists. So this is a set aside that had a specific purpose that could be utilized for. So this is used in use of fund a portion of the use of fund that we that $12 million balance we're going to apply some of that now. Well that use of fund was a specially set aside thing. So I don't know, you know, your general fund balance in this are slightly different because you has a special agreement that has conditions that have to do with board and town collaboration on this. So essentially, it's there to use the board of ed side of it that that is the board's funds or you know able to be used in these ways. So it makes sense to use. So you I guess I'm conf is that a different fund
176or is that what we call the use of fund? No, this is a different this is util utility fund internal service fund. So it's not I'm sorry it's the what? And and we do have a two assigned fund balances one for town and one for BOE. And what the superintendent is referring here it's the portion to assign BOE available funds. So those are basically tied up in a fund that we weren't going to use, but now we're going to use a portion of it. The current and so just to clarify, Lisa, if these things um do not increase taxes or the mill rate, these approaches, right, any more than sort of the outside the general fund. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. you to check. Did you have a question or you good? Well, I think
177it's a great idea. Thank you. I should have said thank you earlier to Dr. Thank you guys. Um I was just my question I guess is or maybe it's too early to tell. Does that bring down the number more? Like the mill rate does that help lower it at all? Is that built into this calculation or I guess right or is it an additional addition or is it just this is what the BOE increase it's 2.99 it won't change that number so the funds we using for electricity it's from utility fund internal services the 2.99 is a spending increase right correct so we're not changing that because we're not increasing spending but we are we are increasing ing revenue which then reduces the mill rate. No, we're not making any transfers to the to make
178to move it in general fund. What we correct because we do have a separate fund that we are charge we can charge just electricity bills. So what happens when we set the budget? We do have set um utility expenditures and we transfer it depending what we are estimating we transfer to that fund and when electricity bills are coming we charging to that utility fund. So this is like a separate internal service fund. So can I just one thing you sure the first part of what you talked to us before Dr. spoke the assuming the 99.1% tax collection rate. Um you factored in the the the motor vehicles based on what council had done previously that had the effect of lowering the mill rate. Correct. Correct. Correct. And 300,000 ECS. Oh, right. Okay. Got it. Okay.
179And this is uh Got it. I understand. Thank you. And so these these just to clarify these other adjustments we're talking about here and we're not Dr. Will discussion we're not chang we're not increasing or decreasing expenses but we're reallocating funds has no impact on the mill rate you're showing us here correct I understand okay so we're we're at the yes Jacob yes has a clarification you if we're factoring in the use of the use of funds does that reduce the mill rate further no that's what we just I think that's what the question us. So that is so that's use that's just a completely separate thing. Correct. Okay. Do we have or could we create a view of this scenario without the board of education suggestions? The reason why I want to see that
180is I want to understand like how much of this decrease from the prime from the town manager proposal is from like the 300,000 in ECS. It's all of it. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm trying to understand what the difference like what what what kind of benefit did we get from the board of education? How much of that minus one manager is from what we talked about last night versus some of these other I think it's entirely vehicle just oh okay because that would that plays into that math okay that's I just want to see that broken out have a little trouble understanding that got it so can we take a recess and I can come back to this or because I you want me to do the calculation correct? Yeah, I it's my understanding you wanted
181me to reduce um reduce by 300k BOE budget and also actually that's it. That would be that's the only change. Sorry, say that again. I said the only thing would change if you want me to do recalculation what would look like if we reduce by 300k right the usage of the utility fund that's my understanding or if you can repeat then Jacob sorry yes and the and the ERF transfer or because that that well that that probably would hit here that would that yes that would not happen until following year and we don't know what that it would not affect um this this year I'm sorry so so the year after the whole 188 seat thing I'm sorry 188,000 seat placement that wasn't in this that wasn't in next year's budget at all that was
182a capital adjustment it's a it's a for capital of next year and so since these would also be considered a capital expense because these kinds of things have that in the past that instead of doing it your seats there the auditorium seat on the at peek inative capital as a capital expense and then when the ERF zones get cleared quarter three of next year on the board side those funds would be used on the audit so it's it's completing the auditorium and it's allowing for an offset because ERF funds even if they existed at the end of this year can't be applied until the third quarter so it swaps those So somehow we're pulling in more revenue in third quarter because you weren't considering the ERF fund in third quarter budget but now we're considering
183the ERF always gets whenever there's an end ofear balance it can't be transferred until the audit. So let's say for instance this year 76,000 at the end of this year that 76,000 is not actually available until the audit is complete. So right now is when you make the official requests and then ultimately the response can become but it's too late to use it for anything like you to offset that particular right. So the way offset last year yeah you can't like this fiscal year services couldn't have off offset we were building this year 25 budget we couldn't offset it because this gives us a way of utilizing the ERF funds to make a positive impact on this year 26 budget by having that capital expense instead of the educational technology technology initiative so then the
184board budget doesn't have to to do that next year so it can be used to sustain keep that so then you're getting both projects done. I'm still very confused because first you're telling me you can't use the fund, but now we're going to use the fund and you can't use the fund from last fiscal year because it's not it's not util it's not available until the lot's complete. Right. So when you said I guess that 77,000 was that in the prior fiscal year or in the current fiscal year? So I was using it as an example but let's just for a sake of example sake that at the end of year this year we had um 188,000. Let's just use that. Okay. And let's say end of year balance was end of this current fiscal
185year this fiscal year 25 right um that would be maybe you know that would be set aside and when the audit is complete next year around this time that 188 becomes available when that 188 becomes available and board has that transferred to New York Europe officially that money would then be used for the TMS auditorium secretly and it would be executed on a on the board side in next fiscal years next fiscal year it would probably be sometime in the summer around June something because you know that money would come available probably March April okay and then it would be actionable so again did your budget consider that we're going to get that the the budget because you said there's this other tech uh there's this other tech initiative so the edtech initiative right now
186is in the board's funding and has to be funded because we've skipped Ed now for um probably 18 months and it's creative issues. It's like uh when you had on capital replacing okay I get so let me stop you right there for a second. Um but the seat the seats were also in your so you had the tech initiative which you had which you're going to it's in the current thing we're going to fund that and then you also had the seats replacement of the seats in the current budget but you weren't considering the ER fund current your budget so that money was coming from somewhere else right so the seats are a capital request the ed reserve fun or the edtech initiative was embedded in the operating so you're moving the edtech initiative to
187a capital expense. We are switching. We're saying because of the timing, make the educational technology initiative a capital expense, which there is a history of doing that. If you whenever we bought labs and things like that, those were capital expenses. So, we're taking and making that the capital expense and we're making the um TMS auditorium seat replacement. We're taking that chance that we have some end of year money that we would apply at that point. That's also a capital expense. So moving an operating expense to a capital expense. I mean you're taking additional funding that we weren't considering applying that to other capital expenses. ERF can be used for capital expenses too. It's just that there's never been enough ERF money for huge capital expenses because sometimes capital expenses for instance I get it in
188millions you're never going to get enough. So the ERF always had a category for capital expense. It's just not able to handle large magnitude of capital expenses. this one it has a chance of I I get it but what you see somewhere somewhere there's either some expense disappearing or there's some revenue showing up in your in your modification of what you had originally called I'm trying to understand because we don't have to spend it on tech initiative because spent in capital we will receive those section of technological items for next year that those funds now can be used to not lay all stand okay so it's Those same funds you were going to use in it is now a capital expense, not an operating expense. So that operating expense money goes to fund salaries or
189something. That's right. Right. That's exactly in other words, you weren't planning on using ERF this year to fund either seats or your educational initiative in the budget that was sent over to the port of seats because it was requested of the town's capital, but ERF. No, because we can't always count on that. And the timing of that would make that Yeah. impossible. It would make it move. It would not work because you couldn't buy them until the third quarter and you need them now. Yeah. So that 188 would normally have been in the next fiscal year. You're now pushing it into current and when I say the next fiscal year, not the 2526, it would have normally been 2627 fiscal year, but now we're going to push it into the 2526 fiscal year. It would
190have been in the fiscal year. the ERF funds would be available just the year 26 as of now the third quarter but you can't prior years funds would be available in June 30th right June 30th we ended this right right and let's say we had 188,000 that we had we then wanted to transfer to Europe it can't be transferred until the third quarter so let's say you know I use the wall you're going in circus because we're pretty clear Ness forward. We like he's like like Jacob said before we weren't considering that ERF fund in your budget because normally that's that's not used until the following fiscal year. So it's not available. You're saying it's not available till third quarter, but normally it's not in your budget because it's not available till third quarter. You
191don't really know what it is. But now you're going to anticipate you're going to get this money. Are you really going to use the money in next fiscal year that under normal circumstances we've always fallen fiscal year after it becomes available? I think if it's not clear and I happy to sit and talk to you in another time about it, but the basic premise is that you have a capital expense that reports or the town council is willing to take right that auditorium replacement. If instead it takes these items of technology, we will have them for the beginning of next year. And when that 188 say or whatever the EO funds becomes available, we could then apply that to the project of those chair of the chairs in the auditorium both will get done. But
192because we can't buy those technologies right now with the RF that might have might happen that it makes it impossible for us to have the air in operating if we don't do this. Can I We could talk about it more. I'm not My intention is not to conserve because I apologize if it's not clear. I'm trying to be as clear as I can. You're swapping the two. You're swapping an operational cannot wait until that point in time of making the whole thing worth because the technology needs to be done now. Needs to be done now, which is why Right. And those ERF funds are not available until next year. That until next year, but the seats can wait till next year. the seats of the two. We had to wait until that point in the
193year to work on the seats. We could. That would be Yeah. Because we don't It helps us mitigate the loss of staff right now. Correct. The loss of the clubs, the loss of sports, the loss of the nurses. You prioritize the the tech over the seat as an option. Doing this allows us to avoid reducing some of that stuff that might be most painful. Especially if you think about it because it's tragic that it would happen, right? If there's a high insurance and we don't offset it. And if you don't get the ERF money that you think you're going to get, you don't do the seats, right? You just don't do the seats. You just don't do seats. Sacrifice. Sorry. Try. Yes. Yeah. But it sounds like you're still going to try to do both.
194You might not try to do both because it was in the plan to do both. We tried to do both. And if we didn't have enough people, you're gonna sacrifice the seats. I just want to ask Yeah. So that was ultimarily. Thank you. But u just do you ever So the ERF is it ever is it ever factored in to your budget, right? Like is it ever or is it there as like your rainy day, your savings? Usually it's there as a safety for something that occurs, but right, you know, like I'm not asking about what you're asking. count on it for that budget right in front of us. But any money that's already solidly in there, we can utilize as an offset. Okay. So maybe Yolita could kind of offer her opinion with this
195too. Um well do you see any is there any like inherent risk that would surface for switching these two allocating the money and waiting for this like would something surface that makes you kind of nervous or are you really nervous like that's what I would like the risk and that's the right you know we always take a risk in anything you do but the risk could be that we didn't have enough at the end of this fiscal year to to do the project. Like if we ended up with 76 like the last piece we did, then um we wouldn't have enough to do the project. So then we would have to try to figure it out and come back to the table at that point. But the objective is to try to get through the
196space in time where you know we would have to tragically make more eliminations than otherwise we might have had to do. Okay. You know so it's we're taking that risk but it's worth it. We're not losing staff clubs, you know, have less of an impact. The juice is worth the squeeze and it's a way we could do it without negative impact positive. Yolita, do you agree with that or are you a little more careful or is Dr. Will do you agree with that cautiousness? Yes. So, we spoke today this morning. I asked specific questions because as you know, I just, you know, took this job. So I needed some understanding of past practices and you know how things handled and I think we hashed it out this morning and we on the same page um
197with the proposal with the superintendent. I'm comfortable with that. Thank you. Um do you have an additional question council? Oh, I just was going to say question is okay. Any additional questions on this? If not, I would ask Yolita to send us a copy of this um and then have a recess. What's that? Is she gonna send us just this? Oh, she gonna finish this while she works on the other. Oh. Oh, you want to see everything? There you go. So we have uh all different scenarios that uh Jacob asked before. Um so at the top of it you're going to find all different scenarios and it has a label what that means. Uh these are original ones that Jacob I sended before. on the bottom. If you scroll down, you're going to see the
198scenarios with the change of motor vehicle, right? Uh number and it has um you know, all different overall budget increase, decrease, cuts, and all that. All different scenarios. And what are you going to find I think the most helpful? Um I've been including the impact on all those three levels, right? the low, median, and high on the taxpayers, on the residential and commercial. So, you're going to see all these differences, how much increase or decrease um comparing to 2019 grand list tax bills. And if you go up, you're going to see one, right? These are the the increases and these are differences. But on the bottom, you're going to see how the small change just, you know, in the motor motor vehicle reflected that on the bottom. So, we can walk through this spreadsheet when
199we come back. But I hope this is going to be helpful somewhere to to look at the different scenarios. Is this is helpful, not helpful? Do you want me to stop this all talk about some additional items while we before we go on? Yeah, so that they have time to take a look at it. If if councilors don't have an objection, maybe it would be best if we just have a we look at this and anything that councilors want to propose can be submitted and then recess sense recess after I'm I'm amendable to doing it either way. I just didn't know how whether they needed additional time or I mean I can do I can do anything that you guys want to do with respect to the recess. Well, I'm just kind of thinking maybe
200people want to recess to think of questions to ask. I'm good with that. So, let's I'll I'll entertain a motion to recess. So, move second. Okay. All those in favor of recess. I'm calling back the town council from recess um to continue our discussion of proposed budget. So, I'll open it up to councilors uh things or ask questions. Council check. Yeah. Um, so I'm not very swift with time doing this. So Jacob, you know, Alice and Joey, you can help me along. First of all, again, the student is still here, the family members that are here and everybody that's still online. Sorry if that break took a little longer, but um I know the four of us had a good deliberation downstairs. So this is so Yolissa was presented. I'd like we'd like to cool
201it for all of us. I propose to keep what she presented. Um we also also I don't know if we hold Dr. Willlet's um thing in this. Not sure. Go ahead. Yeah, whatever you want. just read out. Okay. So, so that I think that was a um good thing that I would like to also put in. And then I do my I do also propose 15 the $15,000 for the make the um full-time coordinator take that out of the recreation fund. Um make no changes to the three um overall 3.03% 03% keeping the board at the number of proposed and the town manager um pounds. So believe that was 303. I also would like to propose um you might have to help is using $60,000. Uh we get the pitch study. I know it hasn't
202been seen to the public yet. We got got that and there's a lot of um good information. So, it's just a general $60,000 and reduce some capital out of that and that way it gives the council, the manager and the fire department to figure out how to use that amount just they can use that starting January of next year. So, did I say that right? Yeah, maybe I'll just add a little bit to that. I think the proposal um that I'd like to propose with councelor Gudichek is to we have $226,000 of unassigned fund balance that we're going to use for a one-time capital expenditures. Proposal would be to push out $60,000 worth of items to next year. hold 60,000 as a reserve for potential recommendations um based off of the fire emergency services study
203that was done. Um this is a little bit of an awkward conversation to have because it hasn't been released to the public yet, but I know counselors have seen it. There are some items in there that are a general concern and we'd like to be able to act quickly on it. So, we think having a little bit of money in case it's needed to implement those recommendations would be good to have recommended data. And how how much was that again? 660,000 as a starting point. But to keep the overall amount fund balance the same. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. So that's what I can I just ask a clarifying question for the motion just so I can understand what you So um I just I can tell me if I have it right. So you basically
204um the town manager's proposed budget with like the 99.1% tax collection rate the the 300,000 ECS and then the motor vehicle tax numbers that they they did. Yep. And then the 300,000 from Yousef and the the seats the the ERF money from like the swapping out the seats and the edtech. Yes. Okay. You following me? Great. Plus and then00,000 and then sorry I know there's a lot of then use um what was it? Uh the requisition that I was the position amount 15,000 15,000,000 it might be a give or take. I don't know you L but yeah know I think that's I know probably sorry not the most preferred from the town side but at least again yep I also want to say that I think we're taking a lot of risks on these numbers
205as well and I also asked a lot of questions of the town manager which you forwarded to the um staff person Jacob had that and hopefully your caucuses got it. I know uh you did because I did it. Yeah. So hopefully that information is helpful. I can also include that in the minutes of your life because it touches base on the um bond rated. You know, they're going to have to probably use more next year of that. And just overall I tried to turn it stone over. We talked about found out information if we could um it delay the tax assessment. Step it in. that right that was that was that a comprehensive answer and it was clear that the state didn't intend for people to try to do wasn't super excited. Yeah. So how
206to lose your tax assessment. Yeah. To try it on that and then there's some other options for senior um ordinance that should really look be looked at the next council because it sound like Jason said that would be for more next year that would agree with taxes. So I wish we knew about that sooner. Um, but overall I just want to really say that I tried and I looked at everything. So I really hopefully this uh look is supported because I think it touches on just about every department in our town and we listen to all the emails and we just hope it passes on the first time. Yeah, this is what the council desires. Point of clarification. So what's the null rate then that it's when you went to that calculator we're staying at
207that revised null rate of 2726. Is that what it was? 85 might go down ever so slightly if you direct you. What was what was that revised number that considered the 300 ECF grant and the and the uh 99.1% and the motor vehicle tax adjustment? It was what I presented 27.85. 85 Yolita I just have a question um on the 99 which I agree with using the the 99.1% is that do we arrive at that because that's like an average of the last few years actual collection rate how do we get to the you know the extra 0.1 or yeah so so this qu u then the question came up what I did I looked back in a took the last three years so when you Look at the prop property tax collections overall including
208prior year collections the rate are higher 99.5 90 96 however when we developing the budget and looking at the grant list we really need to focus only on the current tax collection rate when I looked at that it's only 99.0 zero. However, again, because we had a greater collection rate on overall property taxes, we taking this kind of chance, right? And putting 99.1 because Go ahead. I was just going to say, so so basically what you're saying is you felt that like a 99.5 or whatever was too risky. Um but the 99.1 is um you know there's always some level of risk with what we're doing but that's more palatable correct because looking looking just on the actuals and budgeted for the few years prior year collection comes higher and then we have some additional
209collections for uh when um then assessor does review motor vehicle supplements supplemental the vehicle come comes on a list. So we have some additional revenue. So I think taking 99.1 that's the best we can do. I we didn't want to go higher Chris because keep in mind it's going to be a brutal tax year and there is some concern you know that that people are going to be later and slower. So uh we felt safe going to 991. Understood. Thank you. Welcome. Just just to clarify, you made a motion for the for the changes. So there's a motion on the floor, but it needs to be seconded. Is there a second for that motion? Second. Okay, so motion seconded by councelor Newton. Um, so I would open it up for discussion with the changes suggested
210by check. I just have a question. Um, I think I have I have a couple questions. So, just to clarify, so you're so you take 60,000 out of capital, is that what the proposal was? And then add the 60 in anticipation. Okay. And if you guys saw the study, there's a lot of Yep. Yep. Yep. There's Okay. For people that don't know the pitch study, Jacob touched on it. Yeah, hoping that we'll get it in April that people can see what we're talking about or something, you know, like that that's just supposed to come out. So, yeah. Um, but yeah, that's what it is. Okay. The intent would be to be budget neutral essentially with that suggestion started January. You know what I mean? Okay. Um, where are we right now as far as using
211unassigned fund balance? Is it like now my brain's going back? 53 something is that 527. Okay, I was close at least. Um my question is with the changes that we made that we kind of adopted based on the conversation we had at the other joint meeting last night, does that satisfy and if the chair is comfortable with me asking a question to Dr. Willlet, I just want to get that out there first. But um are we satisfying the things that we discussed last night? because I know there was a list that we discussed and there were like teachers clubs and those would be the priorities and then there's like pathway programs and then um the additional SRO was on the list too have what with the changes that we've made now is that satisfying that
212list of things that we were talking about as far as what the board was talking about for reductions because I was thinking it was somewhere around 750,000 I believe you're referring to the figure that Miss Scalia had presented about 750. I think the original one I had presented was 80 higher than than this 488 I think. That sounds about that sounds about right. So, um, we would be able to do less of it, but at least there would be some assistance, some offset. Okay, it's appreciated. Wouldn't be as much as Miss Gallant had stated and it's 80 lower than originally stated, but it's still appreciated as something. And the goal, although I don't want to speak entirely for the board because they're not here, they would have to, you know, decide that, right? But it
213would be, you know, my recommendation would be, you know, staff gloves and then go from there. Okay. Focus on those first because those would be the most impactful negative. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, I think that's it. You're pretty straightforward. Thank you for Jacob. Counc. Uh, yeah. I guess comments question. So, um, uh, I'll start by saying I agree with, uh, what councelor Udichek has put forward. Um, obviously, you know, I, you know, we all come to the table with like different perspectives and different things and I would love for the board of education's budget to be higher and and to receive more. Um, but I also understand that this year is particularly difficult because of the impact of the reval. So, I um you know, I appreciate you know, your willingness to to you
214know, work together to try to you know, arrive at doing the best we can for the town, right? None of it is going to be great. Um but I um I appreciate that. Um, I guess the only question I would have, and I I think councelor Buckler maybe touched on it, is um whether we just want to explore using any additional unassigned fund balance to bring down the bill rate. Not to add to the budget, to just bring down the bill rate. It's just I'm just putting it out there. I support what council said, but I'm just talking about not to add to the budget to bring down rate for instance. Maybe that Yes. Can I piggy back off of that quickly? Um, it's it's gonna full circle answer's question. So, I I agree with
215you. I think I would I'm sure Jen would love it, but I'd like to coin it as like the Gallachan goal. If we were working with each other for like the next five years, I would come out and say like, well, what's the Galachan goal? And that's bringing all of us to an equal pie and then narrowing the scope as we go on. And that things don't path, which is not what we want. Um, I had asked that question to Joe and he might be able to as far as using more of the unassigned fund balance to lower the mill rate and Jacob assisted me in that too understanding it a little bit better. Yeah, I'll I'll turn it over to um Ulita if that's all right. And I know you had I think council
216check had submitted a question on fund balance use. I did but it would be great to hear it. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. Um I I think I did provide it and we included a slide um for yes last last night's meeting about the fund balance and uh what we don't want to do and what is important to remember if we do use fund balance let's say we proposing to use uh 527 right or 600,000 what we need to make sure and I know this is very variable, right? Very estimated that the following year we can recoup that money. So what that means we you know uh as we budget we need to make sure that we can we can put that surplus back because with the bond I talked to uh our financial advisor about
217it multiple times and asked multiple questions that was given to me by uh council vice chair by uh council uh udichek and as specific those questions what is the risk and I think primarily concern learn that even though we staying in that in that threshold what our policy dictates but we need to ensure that we can recoup that back to our unassigned fund balance and actually show good financial stability. When we use too much it doesn't show very good picture to the bond ratings and they you know there's no such a template to say they have 10 questions and they're going to rate on those. It's changing everything is changing so but these two things it's been mentioned to me and uh by the our financial advisor and I want to just advise you on
218that but it's your recommendation what you can decide. Sure. And I and I appreciate that Yolita. Um let me just ask this question for my benefit and maybe anyone that is just trying to understand it more. So we have um I I don't I don't have the exact number above the so so based on what we had you had given us um as of June of 24 which was the last audited number we had 12.3 million and that is approximately 18.75% of the fiscal 2526 uh year budget. So the budget's being proposed at $65.6 6 million and I'm rounding up to $65.6 million. It's actually a little bit less than that. So that's 18.75%. Our pol we're using 527 which would get us to 17.95% which is still almost a full percentage point above our
219policy of 17%. Um which is still two points above the recommendation of 10 to 15% that we say the bonding agencies look for to maintain our rating. So if I can interrupt um it's a good observation however the fund balance on assigned fund balance is calculated on the gap basis. So the expenditures that what you're referring that it's the budgetary expenditures our gap expenditures are for FI24 69,936 822. So, and then if you do the calculations, it's a different you're going to get the a percentage 17 I think six that they have in the book. Okay. So, that and and sorry, what is that percentage? 17 17.6. We're still we're still in really good shape then. Correct. But remember this year we using already we're using fund balance unassigned fund balance 300. We're proposing the
220following year to use fund balance again. So if we have a good year this year and we can recoup that 300 back, it's going to show for us as we go bond this year, right? We have a plan to go bond. Just to follow up on what I was saying, um so I appreciate what you're saying. Um, I guess I I just um I want us to be mindful that I feel like in the past we've been really hesitant to use the funds understandably, but we haven't even needed to we didn't even need to use them at all or as much as we were budgeting what last time because there our investments came in higher and things like that. So I just want to make sure um that in a difficult you know an obviously
221difficult year because of the reval we are being as realistic as we can be about what we can do to help taxpayers uh burdens right so I just don't I I just wouldn't want us to be in the situation and I understand that this is you know it's not a crystal ball we can't be sure where we have we where we were overly um conservative about how much money we could use and we could have helped taxpayers more. So I guess my point is just uh it it we've been hesitant before understandably and then it's turned out we didn't need to use what we thought we were going to have to. So can I can I comment? Sure. Um, so I know we had this conversation last year and we went into several meetings with
222this conversation last year and we even brought in the financial group advisor to come in and give us a presentation as to why it's an it's an unwise idea. And I always like to use the example of common, you know, household expenditures. So let's say you go to buy a house and you can afford a $400,000 house with the revenue that you take in, the money that you're making, your salary, but you want a $500,000 house. So your mortgage only allows you to spend $400,000. to say, "Well, I'm going to still take the mortgage off for $500,000 because I want the nicer house, and I'm going to use my savings to cover the extra $100,000 that I have to pay in that mortgage." So, in your first year, you burn through all your savings, which
223is your unassigned fund balance. At the end of the year, you still have that 30-year mortgage that you now still have to pay and continue to have to pay. You don't have that money anymore. It's gone. So, now you have to find another source for that money that you used up that that is no longer there. That's kind of what using the unassigned fund balance for recurring expenses, which is the thing that's going to bring down your mill rate. If you use it for capital expenditures, for example, it's a one-time uh expenditure, then it's okay because you're not going to have that continuing expense year over year. And the financial organizations are going to look at that and say, you spent your money, your unassigned fund balance on money that you have to spend every
224single year. Now you're now you're digging yourself into a hole which makes you look financially unstable as opposed to using it for a capital expenditure which is a oneshot deal or you pay down your debt. So if you wanted to pay down the debt so you don't have future expenses that makes sense too because you're using money wisely to help reduce your overall debt. But to use it just to reduce your mill rate uh on recurring expenses is a financially poor decision even if we have a significant percentage above their recommended cushion. Absolutely. Yes. Then you could use it for a capital expenditure to bring down bring down the recommend bring down a low rate. That makes perfect sense. Recurring expenses is a is a poor financial idea and the bond ratings are going to
225look at that. You're using your money that you're not going to have again for expenses you're going to continue to have. So from what I've read from SM MS R orb, the a a bond rating doesn't like suddenly decrease, right? Like they they look at you, they give you a notification. It's not like we do something one year and the next year our bond is down to double A or our bond rating is is suddenly decreased. from from the literature that I've read and I've scoured the M MSRB website which I didn't even know existed until a few days ago. Um, so it so I just want to make sure that I'm that I'm understanding this because I don't want us to be I understand what you're saying and I agree with it. Um, but
226I also want don't want us to be we've got our citizens, our taxpayers, right? It's this is our rainy day fund. it's pouring on them and we're saying well the umbrellas are really important to hold in reserve so the bond a you know the bond agencies can be made happy. So I want to make sure that we are doing what we need to do to mitigate the reval issue for them which is a huge shift. And so if we were taking some of that fund balance to mitigate something like you know some other capital expenditure that we were saying okay well we wouldn't do this this year unless we could take this from unassigned fund balance. I and I would like to go further. I would like to eliminate some of the capital expenses um
227and or defer them so that we can even do more for the for the taxpayers. I'd really like to I'd really like to reduce the mill rate. Um but would that be if we could find something to say we can we can if we took a little bit more of this but we could put it against this and stay above our 17% goal. Is that something that's acceptable? again only if it's a one time expense. Okay. Can I just Okay. I I So I see you have Yeah. And also if I can add I think um I just want to remind and and thank you very much Council Joe. This is great explanation. It's like you you just continue explained very well. It's a one-time deal. Next year, remember we have tough year. It's going
228to be tough here and I'm going to be working um you know uh working to look like uh next year's what that is going to look like how how the budget how the revenues where we can plan where we can estimate it. I ask uh our assessor to provide like percentages on the growth list on Centini on other properties and just look what that looks like. So I'm I'm just afraid that we're going to be in the same situation next year. just want to remind that very here and it's your recommendation. So, uh can I just follow up on that Julie to just um that was one of my questions was going to be um like we know we don't know when Santini will be done, right? But we know that when they're done or
229at least we anticipate that when they're done that they'll they'll be the highest we'll receive the most property tax from from them, right? So, um, is and and I know, uh, you know, I talked with Brian, you talked to Jason, and I get that these are very rough numbers, but, you know, we're talking about, you know, 900,000 plus that we might anticipate in tax revenue. And I'm not saying that we say we we we project that we can get that right. I get that it's flexible, but is there anything that are we allow does it make sense to consider that at all in terms of the amount of money we're using from unassigned fund balance if we anticipate that our revenue will be higher to help offset that in a future year, next year, the
230year after, something like that? I well, if I can jump in here, um I don't think at this point next year uh that they'll be, you know, fully up and running. Uh nor do nor do I expect the Starbucks either. I hope they're both on their way. Um but again, you saw the round numbers that we were estimating. U but I want to say before they're up and completely up. We're we're at about two years, year and a half, two years from completely up. I do expect some people to be in there within the year. Yep. And and I and I appreciate that. And uh you know, I hear you and I and I won't push it further. Just to be clear, you know, I I'm not suggesting that we anticipate we're going to get
231$900,000 more dollars next year. Um you know, you know, I'm just saying, do we anticipate that it'll be some amount more? And if you're saying that we're accurately projecting um or we're realistically projecting what our revenue will be next year, then then then understood. So I think that's what I hear you're saying. We we are we're we're pretty confident in that and we've done the best we can in uh getting it as close as we can predicting it. But again, these these are unpredictables. We're doing the best not an exact science. Yep. Thank you. Just a quick comment if I could. It's Jason. You guys hear me? Yes, we can. um you know at full value for that the Santinia development um you're still looking at maybe 30 million bump in the grand list and
232with the motor vehicle bump that we just had of 14.3 uh you can see how little that impacted the mill rate. So, even with Santini coming on fullon, it's not a it's not some huge push on that on the overall grand list. Just just so you know, it's not like a huge it's a big number, but at the same time, you could see how little motor vehicle at 14 million moved that mill rate. That's all. Thanks, Jason. That makes sense. Counc Thank you. I just I as far as um the unsigned fund balance not 300 I believe it's 500,000 right because we're shifting 200 $200 change yeah the total total amount I believe and this actually kind of goes council's point it's just $300,000 which I think because it's advisable in small quantities you can
233use a little bit of balance to balance your budget is going to go in and then there's an additional 226,000 manager's proposed budget which will all pay for one time cap expenditures. We're proposing to change that up a little bit with the fish, but still like total 526,000. Yeah. Yeah. There's a capital expenditure in there that was specifically from the I just want to make sure it wasn't just 300. Yeah. Yeah. 300 municipal tax stabilization, you know, right? And that's the max we can use from that. And then 227,000 from on a signed fund, you know, what I'll call fun right now for a total of 527, right? Yeah. Okay. And maybe I'll just jump in here. That's okay. Give my two cents on like motion on the floor. I'll do two things actually because
234just convenient. So I know we had a lot of good residents comment with capital items, you know, which is a good conversation. I think it's it's always good to um look at every part of our budget. Uh but one of the nice things you know that our good and diligent good financial management is we are paying for capital out fund balance this year um or it's being budgeted. So it's it's um and and luckily our interest rate as a proportion of our debt is not overwhelming which is definitely not a good situation you want to be in. So fortunately it's not going to move the needle a whole lot. you could cut it all out and it's not going to like change change everything financially, but at least we are in a situation where we
235don't need to worry about being by our debt as a town. Um, so that was point one. Point two, I'll say I support uh council's plan. I think this is a good uh proposal to put out to voters. I think this is a tough year. We all agree it's a tough year. I think um we're kind of at a point where we need to see what residents say, right? We've got um you know a a challenging year for board of education. Of course um we've come up with some solutions to help mitigate that. Um but at the end of the day, it's still still a decent tax increase for our residents. So, I think I'm willing to push push this out and I'll I'll support it at referendum and, you know, we'll we'll listen to
236what what the voters say at the end of the day. So, I it's good. Um I I would prefer to keep fun balance where it is right now. I think that's that's good. Uh but I I like what has been presented and like a lot of Chris's questions. One of the questions I asked because that's what I was pushing on to Chris refer to the same question like in the same thing that you said is well we didn't use it last you know so that's even though I didn't really articulate that well but those were the like points I was trying hit y so y but yeah there any other questions counselors with comments or thoughts I have I have one um it's related but it's not really about the the numbers per se. I
237know in the past we've talked about adding a question and it's done been done in years past. They added a question to the ballot about if you vote no or I think it was kind of done on the side like it was a separate ballot. Merely seems to remember us doing this around 2007. it was a long time ago that if you both know is it because it's too high or too low. I think this is one of those years that we've got a lot of different opinions and I think what we ran into last year as we're discussing things is you it's everything is just speculative like why did people vote no? It could be a mix of one way or another and we're just sitting here kind of throwing out things blindly to
238see if it stuck. Um, is that something that we could possibly explore doing to kind of help if it does not pass? And I'm hoping it does pass. Could we throw that out there so that the town council would have a little bit more guidance as far as why people voted now? So, I think we could save that to item seven, which is approval of a resolution, which is actually what will be sent to the voters. So, it's a little odd how we do this um because there's a item six approval of a budget resolution which correct me if I'm wrong Sarah but I think that's where we actually approve the numbers of budget and then there is another item agenda item seven where we start talking about the actual language that goes out to
239balance. So, I would recommend talk about it and do that. Correct. Okay, let's do that. And I think you got it hand. Yeah. So, I'm going to throw this out there. I would like to see us even make a little So, I first of all, I'm in favor of everything you said. I'm in favor of what's on the table. I'm in favor of council's um modifications. I would like to know if we can even look at some additional items from the capital budget and um defer um defer an item. Um, and I would suggest the roadside mower because it is a 2010 model. Roadside mowing is important, but it's not as maybe important as providing as removing that from the budget and giving that cushion more cushion to the taxpayers. Um, and then we had
240talked about um, and I understand the the issue of the the basketball courts. Um, and maybe we could maybe we could do like one a year, which would probably give us another couple hundred,000. I'd like to see us try to target another half million dollars in savings for the taxpayers. Um, and maybe that's not 500 now that you've already proposed 60. Um, is that my with the 60 that you said off in the capital budget? 60. It's for it's for it ends up sort of Oh, it's a wash. Okay. So, it's a wash. Okay. Yeah. So, so that would be something that I would like to throw out there and see what you all have to say about that. I think given the whole wonky tariff situation right now, any equipment that we go to
241purchase in the coming year, we're going to blow this budget anyway because the parts don't come from, you know, the the machines and the parts don't come from this country completely and we're going to be subject to some some real weird pricing. So, we some of the things I I agree shouldn't be deferred. Um, I'm as someone who works in the construction industry, I am a huge fan and I nurse along a 1974 John Deere backho. So, I know exactly what it's like to like have to nurse an old machine along. Um, but the so I I'm in favor of keeping our fleet up to date because it's overall less costly in the long run. But if we could if we could defer this expenditure and and for another year, we could basically give the
242taxpayers that relief now and then see what we were looking at next year and prices might even be more stable next year than they will be when they go to purchase this year. So, just can I ask a clarifying question? So, you would recommend that we would just explore if there's other items that we could pay for in cash essentially out of sign balance. Is that No, no, no. I would just say so I would just say for the So, I Oh, defer. I've got a I've got a fiscal year 2026 capital budget highlights and I would say for there's a capital project and it's a capital equipment total of $737980. There's a non-referendum debt funding of uh 582,000 for the replacement of the roadside mower for 300 basically $5,000. And I'm wondering if we
243can delay that and not spend that money in this budget and then further reduce the mill rate, right? Further reduce the budget. I think that's bonded though, right? So it doesn't impact. Yeah, that's accurate. Is that none of that would lower? Okay. Yeah. Can I just add something quickly? Uh, yes. Yeah. So, I agree with you. I was asking that same question, but have not having pushed that needle, I don't think, and I think we've seen this through DPW. I don't think that they're replacing it for a cup holder, like a new leather seat, I think that 15-year age of that mower is it's to the point where it's not going to be a service. And my only apprehension would be like the middle of July. it's gone and it's, you know, it starts looking
244like Jurassic Park out here. That was what my thinking was. And I I I think a plan purchase with a machine like that is better than like a quick emergency purchase. That was my thinking with it, especially once. Keep in mind, please, if I go ahead Yeah. Go ahead, Ryan. So, this is this is it's been a part of the five-year plan and part of our AAA bond rating is having steady plan on what our capital uh projects are and keeping that steady, not pushing things out so things start to bubble up and down. The roadside mowers and non-refer debt, so that will not help us um at all. We did move the the seats, I believe, out and and switched some other things around, but there's there's not a ton there to be found.
245in general fund. That's what you'd have to concentrate on. You know, the other funds like ambulance fund and they're very specific um as to what what we what we need. And keep in mind for those that don't know, we went over this capital plan very publicly. It's available on our website on February 26. I don't want any new equipment. I hate buying equipment as you guys know as uh I hate buying large apparatus uh and and I fight um my directors on it constantly. Uh but at the same time it becomes irresponsible to keep pushing it out uh and a bit reckless. It's not like we just threw this on here. It's been there for 5 years. We have things 5 years out. Sure, things bubble up and then we have to move shuffle it
246around. Uh but it's a fairly steady plan. It's not like uh the big gain. And keep in mind that we have other things we have in buying a truck. We can't just take a used truck uh and and do certain things to it. We have safety standards that we have to meet. Understood. I understand that. I wasn't talking. I'm sorry, Merrily. I was I was trying to address some of the things I'm heard. So, go go go on. I'm sorry. Yeah. No, no, I agree with you. I mean, and and like I I agree with you. I agree with that. And I agree that over the long run, it's more cost effective to purchase something, keep it up, keep it up to working standard, and not have to constantly because you you're paying for downtime,
247too, if something breaks down. So some with some of things like our plow trucks or like you know some of our more major equipment like you have a plow truck breakdown in the middle of winter time that's a that's a then it's all kinds of problems and all kinds of additional expense. So, what I was looking for is are other things that we might be able to to not do at this point specifically because this year is so bad. And that way we could we could show good faith to the taxpayers that we were we were willing to listen to some of what they said and kind of and and re you know reduce that burden on them. And also this was interesting based on Yolita's spreadsheet but correspondingly because the the burden has shifted
248right from commercial to residential. The other thing that this shows which I think is attractive for B that I would see is attractive for business is it shows a fairly decent reduction for the commercial for the business side. Like we're looking at like a 19% reduction right now. Um so that's right. So that was that was illuminating for me. Oh, could you explain that? So because the valuation and this is goes to the this goes to the differential between the value jump for residential property versus the lower value cost for uh the lower value um increase for commercial business. Um and some of it I totally understand like brickandmortar office buildings right are not people are working it from home. So, say you had a property and your property didn't um it stayed the same.
249The value of it stayed the same. Under our original proposal, your tax bill would be reduced by like 25%. And so, what we're seeing is that while residential property values increase anywhere from like, you know, 20 to almost 50%. and and correspondingly we have double-digit tax increases. Commercial properties increase a tiny bit with the with a rare exception with rare exceptions. They increase a tiny bit. So you have so big Y is going to pay less taxes next year. Um all of our all Eversource is going to pay less taxes next year. There's a silver lining with that. Pardon me. There's a silver lining with that attracting business. It's it's it's lying for the for me as a taxpayer, right? I don't necessarily like it, but but if I'm looking at it from a commercial
250standpoint, which we talked about making the town, you know, stoleing our commercial advantage, right? That's a that's like we reduced our mill rate, values being what they are, right on the highway and now your tax burden just went way down. Got it. Right. Yeah. Like every property pretty much along 195 with rare exceptions went down significantly. But if I can just jump in, I I I I uh completely agree with what Maril Lee is saying and trying to explore all ways we can get, you know, to to help our residents as best we can in a in a in a year that we all know is difficult, right? Um and I think, you know, I think I think asking these questions and and having these conversations is showing the town that we're doing our due
251diligence to make sure we're trying to uncover all of those stones. Um and I think with you know Colleen's uh motion and her proposal I think um we have tried to explore all of those things. Um and so um so yeah no I think it was a I think it's a good conversation but I also uh understand sort of where we are but I think it was good that you know we I mean we've been doing this budget process for you know months now. Um but I think it's good that we asked these questions because we want to make sure that we're we're um helping out our tactic with best we can. So um I appreciate the conversation. Thank you. Uh, any other discussion from counselors? Right. Um, I guess you can go and and
252do a vote. I think should vote. I'll just go around the board here. Councelor Buckler. Hi. Councelor Nen. Hi. Councelor Gunich. Hi. Uh, councelor Moran. Hi. Councelor Shay. Nay. Councelor Vi. Hi. I'm an I as well. So that motion does pass uh since the one. Um so item six, the agenda has been completed. Now we'll move to item seven, approval of a resolution authorizing the form of a ballot. I'm going to ask sir that a little confused as to how this typically work. Do you need to draft it in with all the numbers and everything or how does this uh so Yolita has a copy of that um resolution and she will fill in the numbers for us. I don't Are you prepared to give those Yolita? Yeah. So I have a question before um
253before you know next item just to confirm. So, we are moving recreation a part-time full-time position 15,000 to be funded through recreational fund wrecked. So, that's going to be from the town manager line item. And I can share my screen if that's helpful. I think maybe we'll do that. Um, uh, just so I I have this straight. Let me see which one. I think this one show the screen. Let me know when you guys when you can see it please. Yes. All right. So on the left side you can see the proposed budget, right? This is what we propo the manager proposed. These are the increases and I highlight this. This is one because I was working on something. And on the this side, what I did, I basically um listened what he was saying
254and I'm saying, okay, so we're going to take 15,000 for the uh part-time moving to full-time position from recreation. We're going to fund through recreational fund, not general fund. And then my understanding was that we would be taking 60,000 from the c project in the capital that's funded through general fund and fund uh the consultant right to support fire department consultant recommendation. So that's going to move to town line item because that's what we're going to charge the expense. Make sense? Any questions? Okay. So, what's going to happen? Because we move this 15 out of the budget, right? It's going to decrease our or your proposed council budget by 15,000. Make sense? Any questions? Yeah. So, that's the bottom line, right? because we taking this out and we're funding through recreation fund the 60 is
255just going to be wash between the line items. So this is what we're looking as the final number to be in a ballot. Could you just walk me through h what the the changes that we did uh that council mentioned that that that the board of ed you know we're talking about the use of money and then the I don't know if swapping the the the um seats for the for the educ the electronics is just sort of a wash but how did that impact okay so if that's a wash about the use of play how did that impact budget so I have prepared the table one And the the left side is the proposed budget that this is what the managers proposed. So where we talked about 30,000 uh use from the utility fund
256from a sign uh BOE fund balance and then we did talk about cap project replacing uh replacing the replacing the the seeds to the technology offset. Right? So the only thing what we need to do or I need to do in a capital plan just change it uh description put the budget in put the paperwork all that so it won't change that part with the utility fund right it won't change our budget and I'll I'll walk you through the mechanics behind it what what happens in financial piece but overall just understand everyone understands by doing these two swaps rate we are kind of increasing their budget right so now instead of giving 2.99 technically we giving 4.1% to education and we're not talking and I'm I'm not talking about I'm just overall saying so the
257proposal was 7.43 43 we're giving 4.1. So it's still reduction what they ask but this is like this is what the overall they getting um to offset their budget make sense I'm going to the mechanics now so I know everybody kind of confused how does it work why we not adding revenues in util for utility fund to offset that 300 like why not we not why it's not the expenditures increase by 300 right the offset because this is a internal utility fund so this is what happened the table two every year that the budget is developed um town in BOE has specific budget for utilities electricity water diesel and we transfer that those funds to utility fund for the scenario that we giving that um giving this 300,000 from to use to utility fund from
258utility fund what's going to happen BOE let's say they have a utility a budget for 600,000 that in their operational budget but what they going to transfer technically to utility fund only 300 and then the other 300 is going to be offsetting by in utility fund sitting assigned balance. So technically they will get paid for all 600,000. The only difference is that they're going to be transferring on the 300,000 from their operating budget in general fund. What's going to happen? um they will have additional $300,000 in operational budget that they can utilize for other areas that superintendent has to mind to offset what we what they were not provided. Any questions? No, but I understand. Thank you, Julita. I'll just add I do think it's obviously an appropriate use of that that money. I think
259that's exactly what's designed for, but I understand what you're saying, the mechanics of how it how it works in the budget. So, thank you. Yes. The only thing what I was going to say and I made this red in deliberations I will need uh council approvals of use of these funds. So, I would need that official, you know, um, voting probably and I'm not very familiar the process, but I would need approval from council to use utility fund to offset 300,000 of BOE um, utility budget and FIS motion. I think that's part of is it you're I think it would be part of the motion or are you saying we need to do a separate motion to just as a formality? Yeah, we don't know. We don't know. So So maybe to be on the
260safe side, a separate motion might be a good idea or you know make sure you somehow get it on record that you approve it. Yes. So, we're just saying it would be a motion to use the 300,000 from the USF, you know, as per the budget or whatever. That's what you're saying. Yes. Yes. It would be from the assigned board of education fund balance in the use of fund. Assigned BOE fund balance. Um starting to wonder like look I think we agreed to it. It's not a like Yeah. No, it's not. I've just heard yet. Yeah, but I don't know agenda technically. I agree. I think to be on the safe side, it should be voted on at some point, but I can also I don't know. I mean procedurally, but proceed. Does it have
261to be done tonight or can we just make a motion? That's that's kind of what I'm trying to get at. My preference is that we would do it tonight because it's intertwined with the budget. You could offer a clarifying motion, right? You could offer a motion to clarify the the details of the but the motion budget we just voted on. Yeah. But pass. Motion's passed. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess I don't think I've heard a clarifying motion. Councelor By, could you We could do an amended motion, but we've already voted now. We've already voted, right? So, you'd have to you'd have to basically then Oh, man, that's messy. Yeah. So, so you could make a a motion to based on the based on the vote that we just took, right? based on the on the
262items that were just discussed and and the the uh dollar amounts that were that were discussed that we want to that we're stipulating that there that of this $300,000 from Yousef will be used from this for that. We can make an addendum to the vote, but we just it would it would have to be a separate motion because we already passed there. We already we already voted. We'd have to undo our vote to and then So, can I just make a motion to use the money? Yeah. In use it for in whatever it in accordance with the budget that we just adopted, right? Yes. So, I'm fine with that. Okay. I got to Sarah, so I think Yeah, she seemed like she was giving me a positive nod. So, um felt like I was moving
263in the right direction. I don't want to over complicate motion. Okay. And also just to add I'm sorry I don't want to interrupt. Just to add also for the project because we just switching the projects. What are we doing for $188,000? I think if you can include that that would be great because now the project title. I amend the mot I amend the motion to use the 300,000 from you and swap out the uh capital improvement projects on board side the seats for the tech initiative as per the adopted budget. Second. All right. Any discussion from council? said, "Do you need clarifying language?" Second. Second. Okay. Sure, I can definitely try. Um, so the motion is to use 300,000 from Yousef utility fund and uh transfer. Make it sound good. Um, transfer. Transfer. um the
264uh auditorium seats project for the uh uh ed tech initiative. With the budget we just adopted. Thanks, Lisa. Okay. All right. Um so let's go back to the bottom before we move forward. We have a vote on it. Sorry. We'll resolve this very quickly. I don't think there's anybody have any discussion about this. No. Great. Councelor Buckler. Hi. Councelor Nunan. Hi. Councelor Unichek. Hi. Uh, councelor Moran. Hi. Councelor Shay. Hi. Councelor BB. Hi. I'm an I as well. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you so much. So just go back to this final like table, right? So again, the only change you will see it's going to be decrease 15,000 on the town line and that will decrease our total budget by 15,000. Is that correct? Right. So we just moving we just we just moving
265that that request that position to be funded through recreation fund and then we just uh yes wrapping these that's accurate I believe so overall increase on the budget is 3.01 versus 3.03 03. Any questions? Um just just clarification. So the 15,000 which is the only impact reduced the percent increase from 3.03 to 3.01. Yeah, it doesn't look right. So is that also because of the motor vehicle change you made? No, no. Let me see. Oh, right. Well, it did 15 decrease, but then we have a 60,000 increase, remember? Because we moved, right? We moved from CAP from capital, right? It's my understanding because we want to do consultant which is would be an expense under fire department. Yeah, correct. Yes. All the these lines swap. This goes out of operating budget, comes out of a
266fund, right? But because 60,000 got moved to the town line. It's going to make the town go up that line go 12. But the 60,000 didn't move from some other fund. It just moved from a capital improvement line to the town. So it doesn't I think what Joe's saying is it it dropped lower than you thought. Yeah, it dropped much lower than I thought. And if you're increasing the town expense by a net of 45, why did it drop down? Why did the percent change drop in total? In total, not the 3.12, but the 3.01. Well, because of the 15, right? Yeah. So 15 had that great of an impact though, which seems odd out of $65 million budget that 65,000. That much, but maybe it does. because it's 03. I guess it's 0.01. Oh,
267Z3. Got it. Okay. So, that's the difference then. 228 versus So, it's okay. $6,500 is 01%. So, yeah. So it doesn't infect it. Yeah, it does. Okay. All right. Thank you. We good. Yeah. Thanks for checking. Perfect. Because I have to prepare that wallet. So I want to make sure there is no questions. Okay. To us, I think it'd be good for reference. But not not right now at some go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I'm not looking anymore. Is she gonna use a clarifying question if I may? So, she's going to run those numbers and then back to us. No, I think she just has to put them into the motion for the the wording of the budget question, right? Yes. Yeah. Yes. You did a great job by the way. Yeah. Thank you. Thank
268you. Appreciate it. Was easy work with you guys. Oh, I'm sure I keep watching. It can surprise me. Thank you. All right. Um, do we want to have a conversation about adding that question also about like But that's the next item. I can't Aren't we on that? Yeah. Yeah. We're on item seven now. U approval of a resolution authorized the form of the ballot. Um, does Ulita need to run that number those numbers first so we can look at it? Is that how it's You can approve the motion or the wording the numbers to be fil. Yes. Yeah. Plug them in accordance with the pass. Yeah. Like we just did with that other you don't need to plug the numbers in to pass that motion. Great. Okay, maybe we could uh know if anybody has
269that handy look at I think that can she Yeah. the resolution authorized file. Yeah, I guess we're still talking about John's question, right? Yeah. Do we have a do we have an image of the ballot that we're voting on? So, um I would have to clarify with Kathy on Monday, our counselor. Um my best understanding is that there's two options. It's been done before that they put an exit poll question on the actual ballot. It's also been done where the voter gets handed a separate piece of paper with an exit poll question. Um, I don't know the rule for a budget referendum. I know for say a presidential election, you're not allowed to put an exit poll question on the ballot. So, I have to clarify with her on Monday. The other issue to consider,
270we're getting these tabulators and they will be up and running in time for this election. Because of that, the printing of the ballots Can I make a suggestion? It's going to have a couple extra steps to share and they're going to take it's going to take a little longer. I don't know if adding a question to that is going to complicate that process. Could I if we we were going to do this, could we make a motion do it and then you know our preference would be to have it on the ballot but in the alternative we do it on the paper like okay so we can do it you can have an alternative if it's not feasible put it on the ballot you can't my my question for that is if there is like
271a definitive question like too high too low there has to be an other right no I think in the past had Because if you don't have your question answered like you know like say if it was um like I don't I'm upset that this wasn't funded but not necessarily that I it's Tuesday and I never vote yes on Tuesdays that kind of thing I we could have other there could be other there has to be though right so you you me saying like other but there's no specific so you have three options yes no other or I'm Hi. Well, you did that before. I think the last time there was a question like that was my first year that I was able to vote for and that was with Romney and there was something in
272the local for like a road. And didn't you get like but didn't you get like as a separate slip of paper? It wasn't I think it was added to the to the ballot but it was yes, no, and then like why not? Okay. Say yes or no. So we could unless I could be wrong, but I think that's fair. it is. You want to be careful with exit poll questions because people also have the option of writing a novel on the piece of paper as to why they're voting whichever way they're voting. That can potentally interfere with the tabulator reading the ballot. So a separate piece of paper may be a more optimal and I think choice maybe that's the motion right it's just like if the recommendation the clerk's office or whoever it is
273right like is to do it that way then we'll follow whatever their recommendation so I think I've got this I'm going to make a motion to have an exit poll if please I'm going to have to paraphrase but if vote No. Then why? Too high, too low, other on the ballot. But in the alternative, if the town clerk, is that the right individual? Town clerk finds that process not to be feasible, then we have an exit poll on paper by paper. That's sufficient. Okay, that's it. That's my motion. Second. We'll just need the exact language you want to say on that poll. You said we get that in the minutes. Okay. I need Oh, thank you. Supreme Court clerk, please help me out here with the language. Um, so you want the exact language of
274the question. If if you voted no, if you voted no, was it because say was the budget was the was How about if you voted no, please state the reason? Voted no. Was it because Poland too high? Yep. I mean, if if you were to put a thin line encouraging other than it's really not a lot of room for a paragraph. I don't know if that would not that we want to dissuade you from knocking but we cut the paper very narrow so that like this like this big Yep. Yes. Not that I'm an expert at that but I believe from 15 years ago that's what I remember. Okay. No, I think Alex here and someone can amend if they think there's that's better option. Um so the exact language for the question would be
275if you voted no comma please indicate the reason colon budget too high budget too low other and then a we're going to have a line a line next to other yeah oh I see like a very short this this other use like a two a little or something like right right [Music] and if those are just so you know if those are paper like we're discussing they'll have to be hand counted which is you know it's not a quick process. Okay. So we might have referendum results on pass fail, but you might not have your exitable results immediately. I think that's well I'll just give my perspective. I think it's okay because that's helpful to if it fails. Hopefully it doesn't, but if it did, we don't need to know that that night, right? Like
276we need to know the next time or that with um Brenda and April and find out how that that will work. Okay. I mean, it can absolutely be done. I just I don't want to speak to it. Um, yeah, I get the logistics without knowing. Um, but it will obviously have to be that's not something that can be read through a tabul, you know, then can volunteers help the register do that? Oh, they will. Okay. She might she might have to call a couple workers in like the next day to do something. I'm just going to have to ask. I'll find out what they're doing. Yeah, understood. But that has to be a vetted that has to be a vetted job. Yeah. They're not like taking people off the street. No, I'm I'm you know,
277we'll have someone in there replied to asking all the questions here. Not on a piece of paper, a significant number of people declined to fill those. That's correct. Right. Last time we did this, it wasn't a one. We had a vote and when we tallied up the slips of paper it certain people just were like I'm not I'm not giving my answer. Sure. Sure. It's like taking a sticker. Not everybody wants it which is fail. So you hope that the majority do decide to give input but it can show you hopefully a trend but it they can't count everybody. It's better than nothing. I agree. I I think that the small thing is it might be misleading. Like I look at as a recipe, right? Like Jen added too much vanilla extract and it's too
278sweet. But it's that's not really what happened. It could have been like too much sugar. That's my only apprehension time because we didn't know. We didn't we really didn't know because there was so much turmoil like which way to go, right? We I was sitting watching meetings and it was like we have to understand what the voters are thinking. You mean last year? Yeah. Okay. Definitely better though. Yeah. I think motion voted no reason. Budget 25 budget 20 other with a middle line as you clerk finds that the process is not usable but the exit will be by yes I think that's accurate. Is that right? Lisa, you're so good. I know. Your amazing always amazing. Wait, so second. Yes, second. I think there was a motion. I think I motion. Yes. You seconded. Yes.
279Okay. Clarifying question. You want to know the length of the line? No, I'm just kidding. Um, are you also motion approve the actual ballot? Yes. Okay, that's insufficient. Thank you for that question. Or I think you made the motion. the motion. You're good with that? Yes. And I good with second. We're full. Okay. Fantastic. Um, any discussion, the additional discussion on this? No, I'll just say I I am a little concerned about, you know, if there's a response race or anything like that, like you mentioned, um, you know, whatever the will of council is, this is, you know, it is what it is. But I am a little concerned about that. Yeah, but I think give it a shot. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. But I think it's at least a step
280in the right direction of having some sort of Yeah. Do you agree with that? Like are you worried? Do you have the experience? I I do because and I think Sarah Beth probably remembers this too. I mean the the worst I mean the the pieces of paper that we filled out were not even a half a sheet, right? It was like a third of a it was really small sheet of paper. And the the worst case scenario is we go and we print these things and and we have 3,000 little sheets of paper that we throw in the garbage or you know they it doesn't it doesn't necessarily work. But it can be illuminating in that it can you can say I think the pe the voters were telling us this but if they're really
281willing to fill this out then we can like we did identify a trend at at one of the last ones because it was it was a case where I think we really didn't know whether we should go up a little bit or keep going down a little bit or what we were doing and it it guided the next decision that we made which eventually ended in in a past referendum. So, okay. You know, keep in mind, too, that you'll get a lot of like, you know, why did I vote no? Because Mickey Mouse wasn't that stupid. You're gonna get might get Yeah. a small percentage of a certain percentage of people that just But you get we get that, you know. Okay. So, throw it out. You just can't count it. Yeah. Certain we haven't
282done it in a long time. It's not exit polling questions can be useful if they're done if they're done right. It's it's come up from the public in the last few repent. So it may you guys might find it really helpful. It just gives us something when we have that's quite a good way of setting it up. Yeah. Right. Well, I think yes, we'll go around and vote. Uh councelor I councelor Nani. Councelor. Hi. Councelor Bryant. Hi. I counc I'm going to abstain but that motion does pass. I think that brings us to our final item tonight which is a German. Is there any um objection to adjournment? No objection. We are adjourned at 11:39. Thank you everybody. It's still Thursday everyone. I know. Nice job. Thanks. Was that public? Thank you guys. About the
283same. Well, last year we went to the next day.