001[music] All right. Good evening, everyone. Uh, thank you for being here. I'd like to call our public hearing on the fiscal year 2027 budget to order. Uh what we're going to do is just uh we did have a presentation Monday night, but this uh going to have the town manager just highlight a couple of the numbers that we heard from Monday night. After that, we will open up the uh podium for comments. Again, please give your name and address. Uh you'll have three minutes to make your comments. The first ring means you have 30 seconds left. The second ring means your three minutes has run out. Uh so with that, I will turn it over to the town manager. You want me to do it? >> Good evening. Um, I just want to point out
002that uh there are documents up at the front here. It's the um letter I prepared along with uh revenues and expenditures. So there's a little summary packet here for uh anyone who is interested. And uh as you see the big budget books that we've prepared uh that entire book uh is online. It's been posted. It's u on our website. So you can go page by page, line item by line item. Everything is is there. Um, but I'll um take you through the same uh presentation that I did Monday night and um hopefully give a I guess a lighter version this evening and try to reserve more time for questions. So with that, I will uh jump in and uh talk about our uh state mandates with the motor vehicle valuation changes uh to the manufactured
003suggested retail price u versus previous values that they had and the cap that we have uh for the mill rate on motor vehicles. Veterans exemptions have also um are unfunded by the state. So, we take the full loss on those exemptions and that believe I reported it was about a $4 million exemptions that that hit the grand list and our manufacturing exemptions um with uh Americ took a very large um deduction as well and um just um you know grandless growth flat only generating uh $37,000. So that's hard for us to make up in terms of loss revenue there. Uh that we you know if we get to 1% which we've have in the past that's pretty good uh for us. Uh I talked about the hiring uh employees retention that's really a reflection of
004the um compensation classification study that we implemented uh to try and retain employees. So our budgets uh in total 80,600,931 uh represents 4,39,9 53 um 55 sorry uh or 5.65% increase. So all uh considered if we uh did nothing, made no changes, uh that would uh result uh in a uh 2.1 mil increase. There's the uh mill rate that um the state has established. That's a 32.46. That does not has not changed. So that's what we plug in. Um but again it would be a um 2.1 mil increase all in. Next slide is how it breaks down. The board of education um at 2.7 million uh the town government uh 983,130 uh debt service increase 322 uh and capital project increase of uh 250,000. That is the $4.3 million figure and a 5.65 65% increase.
005Uh I think that just shows you the breakdown between the uh town percentage and board of ed debt service and capital. That is our um 12-year expenditure uh profile. Next is uh our inflation rate that is coming down. are expenditure changes by function. Uh general government up 185,000 uh mainly town hall uh public safety uh 251,000 essentially salaries and uh and that includes not just police police dispatches as well. uh public works, a lot of that driving that 258,000. Uh utilities, um about 111,000 um in terms of uh u maintenance issues. Uh 60,000 on electric in rate increases, 30,000 in water. Um so we've got some utility issues to to deal with there. Health and human services, fine. civic and cultural um just recreation salaries, not a whole lot there. And really, uh the employee
006fringe benefits uh driving that. Here we have the uh personnel line item. Uh this again is going to be the top line that's going to drive any budget uh either on our side or the board of ed. uh 486,000. Uh police retire uh retirement fund, the pension uh 115,000, municipal retirement 88,000 and health insurance, one of our biggest drivers every year. And uh same this year, 373,000. Um gas, diesel, uh fuel, electricity, 83,000 in total. uh other insuranceances outside of health uh are you know our liability and so forth 6,000 and all the other aligned items combined uh are 139,000 the miscellaneous items um throughout the budget and all departments uh for a total of 983130 that's pretty much the major uh cost centers for uh the general government side so our grand list uh
007comparison There it is. That number in the right uh bottom corner there. Uh 37,000 unfortunately. Um again, personal property um real estate uh you know developments happening uh for sure. Uh but it's not picked up uh with current values. It's 21 values. So we've all seen and heard about the u you know market values climbing since 21. Uh just not captured in in real estate development at this point. subject to uh when we go back out for rebal, we'll pick that up. But at this point in time, uh it's flat 37,000. [clears throat] >> So again, uh just recapping uh much of what I've said. Um, you know, the values are 2021 values, uh, statemandated exemptions, um, such as the veterans exemptions. Um, that's 100% of their assessed value. So, in total this year was
0084.4 million. U personal property, uh, down 559,000. Um, you know, obviously we've got some court settlements in personal property and, uh, you know, we litigate those and we do the best we can. um motor vehicle um changes and uh again the fixed cap on that mill rate. So, uh, direct revenues, um, license and permits 75,000, other taxes 75,000, fines and fees 92, uh, use of money investments 50,000, intergovernmental 378,000, uh, other revenues 15, and uh, our inter fund transfers um, 434 and I mentioned as I did Monday, uh, that bottom uh, that transfer in number as um, larger uh, Well, do in large part this year, we're able to to um take some from the uh landfill um closure fund and offset as a one-time revenue. So, that's um that helps in the place of
009the lack of grandless growth. So, uh that's why that number is a little bit higher and use of fund balance uh remains the same uh 1.4 And our budget summary in terms of expenditures uh again 4.3 direct revenue of 1.1 leaves a difference of 3,189,220 to raise uh our debt services next talk about that at uh 17,320,000 8,800,000 from the town government side, board of education uh projects, 8,520,000. And that uh will be going back out into the market for the um middle school. That'll be this spring of 2026. And we'll uh we've anticipated for that, but that will add more uh debt. So, uh, our debt service at 4.4 million. Um, town government 889, uh, sorry, excuse me, 898,125. Board of Education 1.6. The estimated 21 million principal and interest will be just over
0102 million. So, our gross debt service will be uh 4.6. And we'll need to pull uh 172,413 from our uh debt management fund to make those numbers work. Capital improvement um town 711,393 board of education 475,000 for a total of 1,186 393. uh general fund uh mill rate uh we're coming up with a million dollars this year. Uh so that was an increase of the capital. That's been the trend that we've done for couple years. State uh of Connecticut LOS grant will close the gap at 186 uh to cover those capital improvement plan items. And here's a uh kind of breakdown of the items that major items that we have um with uh from board of ed and town side. In total uh there will be 28 projects, 20 from the town and eight from
011the board of education. And that's it for my side and I'm happy to turn it over to uh Brian Greece, superintendent of schools. Good evening. It seems like we were just here. >> Yes. >> Good evening. >> And so I'll just say that if I uh you know if anybody's been wishing for snow, if you could please stop. Be great. Ice cold. Um anyway, so thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I really appreciate it. I would just try to run through quickly and allow for questions later as we just went through this. Um, we are strategically focused on moving the district forward. We're really excited about a lot of the work going on in our both our mastery, our achievement, our community connections, our systems, and making sure we're really efficient
012and operating and our social emotional learning. And we've spelled that out and have a a plan moving forward. We have a lot of momentum going on. There's a lot of work uh that we're seeing results we want in terms of rising up in the accountability index which is the state's way of measuring us on a holistic measure. Um expanding our opportunities for our students um that are interested in the trades. Um modeling implement or having an implementmentation model in our classroom uh for every classroom for every teacher. um our curriculum is at a place where a great place to start growing and it's really just started to take off um to renew it. Um and we're really moving forward um pretty much on every on every line we can and we're really excited about that.
013And the budget is about in in a nutshell is keeping that momentum um and essentially having the exact same services, not adding people, not adding anything, just trying to deal with the current realities of our budget issues. Um these are the numbers overall. Um and what you see there the the read there is the um the real hit we took for health insurance um at 1.7% of the 6.75 is just health 5.76 is just health insurance. So that brings it down to just over four. If you add the transportation and some loss of revenue that we saw it's it's about a 3.5% budget. um in terms of dealing with salaries and inflation, which if I could take those things away, that'd be a great I'd be very comfortable that in today's uh economy, that'd be
014a great budget. Um this is kind of more detailed on our health insurance. Um you know, a lot of people in town would want to know like where are we? Are we the most expensive deal in town or are we in the middle? Um, and that that red line is where we sit in terms of um our cost per student at 21800. Um, and that that gives you kind of a feel, but we're in the bottom third um of costs per student. Um, so that's not to say it isn't a lot of money, but it that's where we land to just give you that kind of statewide perspective. So, in terms of our increase, our increase um uh this is a great slide from my perspective that Sam put together for us. Um the yellow
015line that is horizontal um gives you the increase we would have if you took just health insurance off. And what it shows you is without health insurance in our increase, we are again in that bottom third, maybe even making it to the bottom 25% in terms of increases because we're dealing with a lot of changing um dynamics. The dotted blue line is where we end up because of health insurance. Um and that just bumps us up into that different realm into the top third. Um, and I think the story of everybody to the left of us, many of those stories are going to tell you, uh, it's health insurance. I've heard of several districts in the 20% increases, which I have no idea how you contend with that because it's painful to deal with 11.
016So, it's kind of where our [clears throat] comparative districts fall. And I can come back to any of these if we need to, but I want to give you kind of the overall. So it is a 5.7% 5.76% increase. Maintains class sizes, maintains the same the same staffing level. Um is a conservative adjustment for inflation. When people said, "Oh, it's 10% more for paper." We said, "Well, let's call it 3%, call it good or less." We really held held the line on that. Um and it's, you know, being very conservative about insurance. Um because one of the conversations we had at the board level was that um the insurance rate is is conservative that the state could come back and say no, we need to find 12. Um so that's one of the places where
017we're a little nervous. Um because we haven't added positions, um it does mean cutting positions to take a significant cut and and that's not the place I like to be in. I like to have lots of options. Um but we are kind of in that position at this point with this budget. Um to give you kind of the way the way it works out really the way I look at this budget is that I take the look at the descriptions and salaries and look at you know when you look at our budget 63.4% is salaries. Um and again that goes to the if you cut it you know that is our place where we can there's where really our most majority of our budget is. And then you see how it kind of works its
018way through. So, um, this was just a slide to appreciate that we did have a referendum that included some capital projects last year. Um, we are very appreciative of those opportunities to get those things fixed. Um, and we want to keep moving forward on that and thank you uh for both your leadership and the town. Um this is about bonding. You don't really want to know about that stuff. Um so um yep everything is online and we were thrilled to answer questions. Um tonight I am joined I was not as good about this last uh we are joined by several board members. Uh Foster White is in the audience our chair Kathy Bugllesi is in the audience as well one of our board members and Crystal St. Florence is in the audience as well. Um,
019and I'm appreciative of their time here. Uh, for hard questions, Sam is here as our business official um, for all those hard numbers questions. So, thank you for your time. >> All right. Thank you. All right. As I said earlier, we'll go ahead and open it up for public comment. Uh, just a reminder, name and address. Three minutes to make your comments. First ring means you have 30 seconds left. Second ring means the three minutes has run out. [clears throat] Uh, anyone wish to address the council regarding the budget this evening? >> Okay, >> I have to start this, I guess. Uh, Gail Denny, 28 Parin Road. Um, so [clears throat] this is not my forte. I sell real estate, but um I'm just and again these are just questions. If uh there's something in
020here I should be looking at and I can find it better, just tell me that. But I just want to focus a little bit on the board of education side. um [clears throat] my real estate background just selling in town. I'm seeing that there aren't as many children coming and and that actually have closed and are here right now in the subdivisions I handle or others that I've sold. And I'm just I'm trying to figure out and I don't know these numbers and I I don't know if you can share this or you're able to talk about it, but I'm trying to figure out do we have too many classrooms? Can we combine classrooms? Um, meaning there's less children in each classroom. So, that's my first question. >> How are we doing this? Are we
021>> Well, I mean, I think the >> I'm used to being >> Yeah, in front of a mic. >> I don't know. Is it something first you can answer? Because I, you know, if you have an answer and it's a quick easy answer, yes, we might as well try to answer what we can. Um, you know, we are meeting with you, I think, scheduled for next Thursday. Is that correct? >> So, so the quick answer is we have we're maintaining class sizes. Our class sizes after uh kindergarten, first grade are in the 17 to 20 all the way up. I there's a there's an occasion that that there's less than that and there's others that are more. >> Um, we really try to keep those K and one in the 15 pl about 15. um
022in terms of combining them um not easily is the is the answer, right? Like it of course you can go up to 30 kids um but that's not ideal for a classroom >> which is a great deal. I I can appreciate that. I'm just I'm trying to figure out though when you're looking at budgets and you have less children now. Um, >> I'm thinking you mentioned about a bad subject and that's cutting, you know, employees. I'm thinking you're talking about >> um and that's a tough subject. You're not hiring. I get that. But has there been a lot of conversation about that? Um and and I don't even know what the percentage is in terms of off the BOE budget that would even do, you know, has there been talk about that? >> So, absolutely.
023So, the board spent quite a bit of time looking at what what the possibility for cuts are and and looking at the uh enrollment numbers per class, like class sizes >> and and discussing whether or not we could change class sizes. Um and so, yes. Um, and there weren't simple solutions. You know, there weren't easy. Um, what it doesn't show in the budget is that, um, where we had a class-siz problem at the high school, we actually moved somebody from the elementary to the high school in terms of positions. Um, so it looks like a net zero ad, >> but it actually deals with a bubble at the high school and a decrease of students at the elementary. Um but it's kind of hidden in you know in the collective >> but it it equals
024zero is what you're saying >> right. >> Um and then how about um I know the I heard the the tone but just one more quick question. How about uh retirements >> has has that been analyzed and so forth? >> Retirements have been included in this process. So when um our contracts especially teachers which is really the only one where we can hope for some uh savings they have a date they have to set which is before our budget process. So, uh, we include those retirements in our collection and so they're added in immediately. So, okay. >> And, uh, chairman, if we have other questions, you know, as we think about this, what's our, as, uh, the public, >> I would suggest whether you email the council, you know, through the council's email address or
025if it's specific to the board. I'm I'm sure I don't know if the superintendent has anyone specific you would like qu, you know, questions sent to. So, so this actually this slide is actually intended to provide the there's actually essentially a form to fill out to say I've got a question about the budget. Um, and it it's the fastest way to get information to the budget people. So, >> okay, >> that's actually what that's there for. >> Um, and that's on our website. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you for asking. >> Kind of skipped over that. >> All right, Mr. >> I could do that. John Kiss 654 Avenue. You know, Chris, it's a public hearing for our budget and you said three minutes. I know you let Gail go over. We probably have
026not even a handful of people are going to speak tonight. Come on. This is important. >> Not that I'm going to even go over three minutes. >> The good news is as chair I I can allow extra time if it's needed. I >> And I appreciate >> I don't mean to put you in a box. >> Yeah. I appreciate that you've been doing that for us a lot. But I mean with a public hearing and with this amount of people, I don't think you should even mention that. But besides that, with this budget um increase of 2.1 mills or whatever, I won't vote on something like that. There's no way. And um the town manager keeps on picking on the car tax. There's actually, from what I read, there's been an increase in income from
027that from last year. But that to me is probably one of the most unfair taxes we have in a state. And if we get another governor, there's a couple of them that are talking about eliminating that. And it's so unfair if you give me a few extra minutes. You you take an example. They the depreciation schedule goes down to 20%. That's that's the least you could ever pay. And I'll give you an example. A car bought in 2001, say $16,000. Now, 25 years later, it still is assessed at $3,200. When just before this was changed, it was only assessed at $500. And this is wrong. In the tax department, there is a form that people who have older cars can fill out. And they have refused to put it out there and let people know
028that they can have. There's a lot of seniors, me included, who have an older car and they can make this benefit. They save almost $100 on some of them, you know. But that's that's one thing. Um, the other thing mentioned Marold. Well, there's a big cut, but where would we be without America in the first place? They still are paying some hefty taxes here. So, you can't say they're a reason why we're hurt. And I don't think they cost the town too much money. And um [clears throat] this goes to the to the board of education for a few things. It's I don't have it on this paperwork and it I brought it up on my computer at home. Future uh bonding. And they had a list that to me is unbelievable. They had like
029the school roof, the high school roof, 4.8 million to replace it. Now, that roof has the um solar system integrated in the roofing. I believe I was on that committee that may just because it's 20 years old that may last longer. And my point is there was so many other things they say a boiler at Tofflan come on and pumps. You know, if you if you put a roof on your house and the roofing um was rated for 20 or 25 years, just because it turns 20 years, you're not going to go and rip that roof off if it's perfectly fine. And my point is that the board of ed, I think, is wasting a lot of our money with these things. They they have more ways of being more efficient with these things. You
030know, they they talked about some controls. Replacing 50 controls. You don't never have to replace 50 controls. If they they have our maintenance guys, you have them in stock. One goes or two goes and they have them in this budget for thousands and thousands of dollars. Now, my other thing, and this personal opinion, my father was a teacher at a trade school. In fact, I was a student. And it seems to me that the education profession has become very greedy, especially the administration. You know, how much money do these people want to make? You you got these huge salaries and they're constantly want to compete with this next town and this next town and you try to keep up with the Joneses. Don't they have any compassion for the people? Aren't you happy and glad
031that you have a job in our town? You know that they probably don't realize it, but there's probably hundreds of people that are in line ready to take their job that can do just as good of a job, if not better. Be satisfied that you're working in our town and stop being so greedy. This insurance thing, let them start paying more. You have have to negotiate uh union contracts. I was a re a union member to pay more into the insurance fund negotiated say you let them know we we can't keep going up $2.7 million a year on a board of education we just can't do it the people can't handle it I know we're going to get a tax increase but this is out of line thank you for the extra time >> you're
032welcome um anyone else wish to address the council's council this evening regarding the budget Cindy, did you just raise your hand? [laughter] >> I saw that in the corner of my eye. >> Yes. >> I have a very quick question anyways. >> Okay. >> Hi, I'm Colette Casey, 32 Rosalie Avenue, and um it's about the teacher size classrooms. I've heard that in an elementary school there's 11 kids in the classroom and there may be a pair also. That's very small. I was a teacher in Harford. I had 25 kids. I was a first grade teacher. No parah and lots of issues. And that was the normalsiz classroom. Um we had classroom 17. they closed them right down and they redistricted the teacher somewhere else in our area. So I think the classrooms might be too
033small and um I would ask you to to look at the sizes especially in the elementary classrooms and um that's basically what I have to say. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else wish to address the council this evening? All right, I want to thank everyone for being here. Again, if you have questions on our website, there is a town council email address. You can ask questions. Again, from the board side, there is information how you can submit questions and get answers. Otherwise, we do start our work session meetings on Monday night for the budget 6:30. We're going to meet Monday and Tuesday. Before we leave tonight, I'm going to ask the council if we can move Wednesday's agenda to Thursday. I had something come up. Uh so at least we're going to
034meet Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of next week and then Monday, Tuesday of the following week to wrap up any unfinished business. All the meetings are at 6:30. We are going to record all the meetings as well. Um, so I just before we adjourn, if is everyone okay if we move uh I believe it's capital was scheduled for Wednesday night moving it to Thursday >> and not meeting Wednesday night. >> All right. >> Well, you can come see ask questions. >> Thank you. All right. So, >> looks like we'll be canceling Wednesday's meeting and moving that agenda item on to uh Thursday's list. And with that motion to adjurnn second >> all those in favor. >> We are adjourned. Thank you very much everyone.