North Haven Public Hearing 04/13/2026

001[clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. My name is Stacy Yarbro. I am your town clerk. I am also your tax collector. I'm also your registrar of vital records. I'm also your unofficial decorator of town hall at Christmas time. I pretty much do whatever you need. If I can get everyone settled, we'll start the meeting. Yeah, my name is Stacy Yarbro. And we're here to present this evening the tentative town budget. This is our town budget public hearing for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, also known as the 2025 grand list tax year, which is brought pursuant to section 705 of the town charter and Connecticut General Statute section 7-344. First and foremost, give yourself a round of applause because you're participating. >> [applause] >> And that's important. There are numerous forms of government in the state of

002Connecticut, and we have the best as far as I'm concerned because it's the town meeting form of government. It's the public hearing form of government where you get to come out and you get to participate. That's democracy in action as far as I'm concerned. So, I'm going to give you quickly a history of the budget. I do it every year in case you're not familiar with it. And then we'll get to the meat of the hearing. Uh around November and December every year, budgets are being made by each department in town, including the Board of Education. In every new year, workshops are held for each department head, goes before the Board of Finance to defend their budgets. The Board of Finance this comes together with a preliminary budget. And it has three major parts. It's

003the grand levy, uh creation of the grand list, and the uh prospective uh mill rate. Tonight is a public hearing, and it's just a public hearing for both the town government, which will go first, and then the Board of Education, which will follow up after. There's no voting tonight. This is not a um town meeting. This is a public hearing. Now, the next step will be that the Board of Finance will meet on um Wednesday, April 15th, in a few days to finalize hopefully finalize the budget. Then there's the annual town budget meeting on May 11th here at 7:00 p.m. There will be voting that night on certain aspects of the prospective budget, but not all of items because the next step is the budget referendum, which is Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. And so, for

004the budget referendum, it's a paper ballot, and you go to uh we just have one voting district for budget referendum, and that is the at the Mildred Wakeley Recreation Center on 7 Linsley. And it's one question, yes or no. Also, if you're interested, I will have absentee ballots available in my office for the budget referendum. If you can't make it on the day of, I'll have those absentee ballots available April 30th in my office. Now, I'm going to turn over the proceedings, and we're going to go in order of town meeting or excuse me, town budget, and then the Board of Education. And to give us a presentation and uh some information with regard to the town's budget, I would like to invite Mr. Freda, our first selectman. >> [applause] >> Well, thank you very

005much for the applause. Perhaps at the end of this presentation, I won't you won't be getting applause, but I thank you in advance anyway. I appreciate that. What I want to make sure we're hearing that the NHTV the sound is not on for those that are watching on TV. Can we just double-check that, please? Sound's not on. It's on. Yep. You're set. It's on. All right, very good. Thank you very much, Victor. Thank you, NHTV. So, we at tonight's meeting, I'll be presenting where we are right now on the town side of the budget. Patrick Sterk, our superintendent, will be reporting on and presenting the Board of Ed side. So, without further ado, let me take you through this. So, if we look at the total 2026-2027 fiscal year budget that starts on July 1st,

006and we look at the current budget, which is 2025-2026, we see a 3.4% change on the town side, and that dollar change is 2,277,554. On the capital, the capital, you see a big spike there. I'm going to take you through that department by department a little bit later on here. But that represents a dollar change of 1,184,036. The contingency remains the same at $300, $300,000. And by the way, going back several years ago, that used to be $1,000,000. We cut that back to 300,000. We haven't used more than 300,000, although sometimes it gets very close, but that is the number right now. On the Board of Ed side, this shows a 6.35% increase. That represents an incremental amount of 4,349,487. So, the total budget represents a 5.7% increase, and the total dollar increase is 7,811,077.

007Now, when we look at just the town side, the 2.2 million in terms of incremental spending, putting aside the capital, I'd like to take you through what that is comprised of. Out of that 2,247,000, 318,469 is for pension and social security contributions, payroll taxes, and pension obligations. The employee medical insurance on the town side increased to 1,144,778. When we look at the average wages for the town employees at 2.5%, that represents another 562,000. So, when we take the 2,277,554, 2,277,554, and we look at the employee wage increase, the medical insurance increase, and the social security and pension increase, the 252,281 represents the miscellaneous increases across all the departments. Largely, you see the non-discretionary, what we have no control over, that we have to be obligated to, is the 1 million 144, the 562,046 dollars, and

008the 318,461. That's on the town side. When we look at the debt service in the town, we're still paying off firehouses, police department, the middle school, and perhaps even one more year in this high school. >> [clears throat] >> But, I wanted to share with you some any good news on the debt service, that we actually decreased the debt service in this budget by 2.5%. Because as this is going on with um with the scale of debt, we're approaching a time when the debt service will be decreasing over the next couple of years. We see a small amount of decrease with the 2.5% and uh short of any other bonding that we may have to do in the future for roadways or other buildings, um that's where it's at right now. And 6.3 million of

009that, we talk about this all the time, that's carried on the town side. The middle school is 6.3 million in debt versus the 10 million 250. So, on the pie chart here, it's now a 50/50 split. The town side includes 2 million 117,000 capital, 300,000 in contingency, and 10 million 250,000 in debt, of which 6.3 is on the town side. On the town side for the middle school. Now, I've had this question asked and this is the first time you're going to see me or that I've shown this chart, but uh I wanted to respond to some of the people who were watching that asked me this question. When we look at the employees on the Board of Ed and the town side, Board of Ed uh now looking at this current fiscal year, 568.

010On the town side, it's about 300 and 33. It's a little bit deceiving because we see the fiscal year on both sides, so just to repeat this, okay? 568 in this fiscal year, 333 on the town side. Those are the total employees including part-timers between the two portions of this town government, the town and the Board of Education. Let's take a look at this grand list growth, which I was very optimistic about in January, but there were appeals. And I wanted to share this with you because I've talked about this at the town Board of Finance meeting. So, originally, the grand list growth, 2.7%, which is considered very strong in municipal government. There are other cities and towns that would love to have a 2.7% grand list growth. That yielded 3.3 million dollars in incremental

011revenue. But, because it was a reval year now, there was an appeal process like we have every March with the Board of Assessment Appeals. The revised grand list growth after the adjudication of the appeals was 1.3%, which is still pretty good. That yielded 1.6 million dollars in incremental revenue. So, we lost 1.7 million versus the original projection. Now, look, I'll tell you what I'm not happy about is that we're yielding 1.6 million in incremental revenue, but we're spending 7.3 or 7.5 million in expenses. Normally, what you want to see is you want to see equalization. What we want to see as municipal leaders and all my colleagues, mayors and first selectmen across the state are going through the same thing. What we want to see is an equal distribution of incremental incremental revenue and incremental

012expenses to marginalize tax increases. Let's take a look at the mill rate history here. If we go back to 2017 and we project here 2026, this budget is projecting to be a 1.5 mill increase. Now, there were reval years in here, there were some decreases, there was no changes, but that's what what this budget will propose tonight. Before we get to the Board of Finance meeting Wednesday night and before we get to the May meeting, the May town budget hearing, and before we get to the referendum. So, that is a look back of the last 10 years in terms of what the mill rate has been here in North Haven. So, let's take a look because I know I get this question all the time. And you have to understand, folks, that I'm out there

013everywhere. At events, nights, entertainment that I get invited to, and I hear it a lot. Mike, Mr. Freda, what does this budget look like in terms of tax increases coming? So, the average home value in North Haven is 448,747. The average assessment, of course, is the 70%, which yields an average assessment of 314,000 123 dollars. Average home. But, I took it a little bit further and I started this last year. Let's take a look at what the tax means in tax dollars on various style homes. For a cape in North Haven, the appraisal is 360,000 761. You see the assessment at 252,533. The current taxes on that type of house here in North Haven is 7,440 dollars. At the proposed mill rate, that would mean a annual tax increase for the average cape at 401

014dollars for that type of home. On a ranch, the appraisal is 368,331. The assessment is 257,832. So, the current taxes on that type of house in North Haven is 7,596 dollars. The proposed mill rate of a 31.04 yields a tax increase of 410 dollars on the average ranch in North Haven. A split level, that appraised value is 394,337. The assessment is 276 36. Current taxes, 8,132 dollars. Proposed taxes, 8,571. So, on a split, it's 439 dollars. A raised ranch, the appraisal is 416,083. The assessment, 291,258. Current taxes, 8,580 dollars. Proposed mill rate at 31.04, 9,044 dollars, which is a 464 dollar tax increase. On a colonial, the appraised value as you see is 550,000 480. The assessed value, 385,336. Current taxes, 11,352. Proposed mill rate 31.05, 11,965, and that represents a tax increase at this

015rate of 613 dollars annual tax increase. We get a lot of questions, ladies and gentlemen, about how do you determine the taxes? Well, the simple mathematical formula is you multiply the assessed value, which is 70% of your appraised value, by the proposed mill rate, in this case 31.05, and then you divide it by 1,000. So, if anyone needs to get this sent to you, you let me know, let us know. That is how it's calculated. The average house appraised value at 448,000, this is the average tax increase I should say at the average house appraised value. We see that on an average, when you blend in all of those different home styles that I just mentioned, it's about 500 dollars, 499 dollars. I know there's been a lot of a lot of questions about capital

016in this budget, so let me take you through what the town side of the budget is proposing on capital. This is a department by department. In the fire department, it's three trucks, engine number two, 2024. Engine number seven, 2024. These are pumpers, okay? And the amount that you see is the least that we had that we're doing. We we're leasing to buy eventually. Each one of those represents 150,000 on engine two, 150,000 on engine seven. We see extrication equipment at 40,000. And then on the new truck, the quint, uh that is the engine ladder. That truck releases That truck lease is 216,113. Or 111, I'm sorry. So, on the fire department, total capital is about 556,000. However, after discussions this week with our fire chief and with our deputy chief, although we can't make the

017change now, we're going to be restoring back the fire marshal and the OSHA equipment and taking out this extrication [clears throat] equipment and spend that on another day. So, we'll see that come to the Board of Finance tomorrow. After feedback that I received from uh Chief Janiszewski and Deputy Chief Jeff Naples. On the police side, this budget includes uh includes four PD cruisers for a total of 200,000. Body armor for the police at 8,800. And then the emergency light bar and siren package, that's 116,000. That is mandatory when new cruisers come in to our police department. They have have to be retrofitted for the emergency light bar and bar and siren package. And then there's this VertiMed UPS system at 7,500. So, on the police side, the capital request is 376,300. Now, the Department of

018Public Works, you see 884,500. The Plan of Conservation Development has nothing to do with the Public Works Department, but categorically, we have to put it into the Public Works budget. As does some of these other things like microfiche machine at 12,000 and the Building Department EO scanner. The real infrastructure that Public Works is asking for, even though it's This is budgeted for 884,500, is this rescue truck, the 33-yard, and also this hot box, 134,000, and this Ford F350 rack and body at 72,000. And also, you see 50,000 in there. That really has very little to do with Public Works in terms of streets and roads. But it has a lot to do with our engineering department and the Andy Bevilacqua who oversees engineering and building and land use. So, a lot of these are in

019the Public Works Department, but they're generally needed as an example. For the Plan of Conservation Development, every 10 years, every city and town has to move forward with this. We have We have no choice on this. Hence, you see the 150,000 in the Public Works budget. The Community Service Recreation Department, that's a pool locker room HVAC, that's needed, that's 50,000. The Senior Citizens Center needs to be painted, 11,000. And then this is an annual expense, the pool and maintenance and repairs at 35,000. So, the total request there is 96,000. On the library side, 49,123. And you see the painting of the Children's Department and the building management software. In the Finance Department, we've actually cut this back a little bit. We plan for reevaluation at every five years, much to my chagrin and every other

020mayor and first selectman in the state, we have to plan for another reval in five years. And Information Technology, 100,000. Now, this is something we own some of these buildings, okay? And this 17 Linsley, this is a situation where the the exterior of the building is sort of crumbling. So, we have to figure this out. We put it in there for 35,000 for siding. When I say the exterior, I mean the the the wood on the side. You know, that not so much on the inside, but on the outside, those panels are are are deteriorating and cracking. Now, the total capital in this budget is 2 million, as I mentioned, 117,036. Now, I want to take you through cuz there's been a lot of discussion about how this budget season started and where we ended

021up as far as tonight's concerned. Originally, these were the requests. 11.14 on the Board of Ed side, 5.3 on the town side, and then the the increase in capital from the previous year. If we were to break down, you see the mill rate, it all totals up to an original request of 2.66 mill rate increase. When we add up all the requests from the first iteration and series of requests in terms of that budget. Then, the second iteration came at 9.95% on the BOE, 5.01 on the town, and we see that that total mill rate in the second iteration, that mill rate increase would have been 2.16 mills. When we get to where we are tonight, uh I know it's been very controversial the last Board of Finance meeting, but here's where we are tonight.

022The Board of Ed at 6.35, the town at 3.35, capital, the increase the increase to get to 2,277,000 is 0.27 mills. So, tonight we're at like 1.58. That's the mill rate as we stand and sit here tonight. The what the increase would be, and I took you through all the different styles and homes there. So, to recap this proposed budget as we are sitting tonight, 6.35 on the Board of Ed, 3.4 on the town. The 3.4, we can make an argument that it supports the existing public service model, public safety, but it doesn't support the requests. And you always remember this, ladies and gentlemen. And I said it at the last meeting. We don't cut budgets in terms of dollars. We give more money every year. What it gets cut, unfortunately, is the request for

023more money. So, we know we need more here. I wish we can do a lot more here in terms of infrastructure and more programs and everything we need, but that's where we stand tonight. Now, on the town side, it covers the inflationary increase in the existing services. I mentioned it before. Paving a road, paving a million road, it was once $200,000. Now, it's $330,000 per mile. When we have to outsource outsource drainage, those costs have gone up tremendously. And sometimes, I'm being really candid with you all, but sometimes I sit back and I talk to our people in turn internally and I say, sometimes I think that people think that government's the golden goose, that we can continue to spend money and try It's difficult to manage and marginalize the inflationary aspect of the town

024and the Board of Education. It's a painful reminder to me that government is like our own homes. Everything is going up. UI bills are going up. There'll be other increases in in other things that we see. The prices are going up. And if government is no different, and I wanted to share that that this budget covers the inflationary increase in some of the existing services, not the requested services, the existing services. And it provides 1 2.1 million in capital expenditures. 2026, 2027. Here is the remainder of the meetings. Wednesday night, this Wednesday, Board of Finance, 6:30, we'll be back here at the high school. I think we booked that. I think we booked the high school. The annual budget meeting from that point goes to May 11th at 7:00 p.m. here at the high school.

025The budget referendum is Tuesday, Tuesday, May 19th. And all the voting will be done at the Mildred Wekley Rec Center. I'm going to share something with each and every one of you. I don't know if we can do this. Cuz I get a lot of feedback from all the people I see during the week, on the weekends, every week, every month. People say, can we change the ballot and see is it too high or too low? Well, the attorneys had weighed in and the answer is no. But, somewhere I hope, and please do not consider this a commitment. This is a work in progress what I'm about to tell you. Somewhere along the line, I'd like to see if we can do a Gallup poll, Quinnipiac poll, or something even putting on our website, at

026least to frame the questions differently before the referendum on May 19th. I'm not sure where that's going to end up, ladies and gentlemen. It's very complicated. But, that is something I'm hearing a lot. Some people want it less, some people want it more, and our form of government and [clears throat] what we're told by the attorneys, it's a standard question, yes or no. And even from the feedback that we got here when we sat here, you know, a couple of weeks ago, people want they want to know whether it's more or less. I'm not sure if we can do it. I can't do it. We can't do it on the referendum question, but maybe there's a way around it to see if what I just mentioned can be done. And that's the presentation, ladies and

027gentlemen. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Fried. At this time, Mr. Shirk will come up with the Board of Education's budget. Good evening, everyone. I will be presenting the Board of Education's budget for the 2026-2027 school year. Provided through this budget are resources to provide instruction for over 3,000 students, mental health, nutrition, and medical care to allow students to access instruction, specialized services required for all students to achieve their potential, diverse opportunities for students to engage in activities outside of their curriculum pursuits, and safe and reliable transportation to and from school. The following couple of slides will highlight the district's return on the town of North Haven's investment. The average DRG per pupil expenditure is $22,782. North Haven's current PPE is $20,381, which ranks us

02820th out of 24 districts in our DRG. And please note that North Haven has dropped from 15th to 20th over the past 2 years. As I say each year, North Haven spends less than most, but our return is exceptional. This year, Green Acres Elementary School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School. This recognition is similar to winning an Oscar or the Super Bowl in the world of education. However, it is much more exceptional than these awards because Green Acres needed to demonstrate excellence over the better part of a decade to be awarded Blue Ribbon status. THE DISTRICT CONTINUES >> [applause] >> THE DISTRICT CONTINUES TO EXCEL IN THE state standardized assessments. We are ranked in the top five of 24 DRG districts DRG districts in math, English language arts, and science. And congratulations to our

029students and teachers on these remarkable accomplishments. >> [applause] >> Annually, the Connecticut State Department of Education releases accountability reports for each school and each district I'm sorry, for each district and each of their schools. And within these reports, they identify schools of distinction based on certain growth and other standards. This past year, Ridge Road Elementary, Montowese Elementary, and Green Acres Elementary were each recognized as schools of distinction. >> [applause] >> Now, I'll be moving on to the Board of Education's budget for the 2026-2027 school year. This slide demonstrates the four areas that drive the board's budget increase for the 2026-2027 school year. Three of these four areas totaled just about $4 million $4 million additional to the budget with medical and dental insurance carrying the bulk of the increase at just over $3 million. As

030you can see, the five new special education positions were removed from the original proposal. These five positions would have cost the district approximately $350,000. Although removed from the 6.35% increase, I believe it is it is important to expand on the proposed special education positions. The district is in need of three additional special education teachers for three of our specialized programs. An additional speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist are also included. These positions are necessary for the following reasons. To remain compliant with the students' individualized education plan or IEPs, to ensure that necessary staff is in place in order to keep students safe and meet their goals and objec- goals and objectives of their IEPs, to ensure that caseloads for our special education and support staff members are manageable so they can meet the needs

031of students and remain compliant with their IEPs. In short, prevent our teachers from burning out. The district currently invests $5.6 million in eight different special education programs. Without these programs, the district would be spending an approximate $21 million to educate students at out-of-district programs. This is an annual savings of $15.5 million. With this being said, these programs continue to grow, and our students require additional and necessary services to meet their potential. This is why the board and the district continues to support these exemplary programs. In regards to the request for a new speech and language pathologist, we currently contract to an outside provider to supplement the district's mandated speech and language services. For a full-time SLP, a provider costs the district $157,000. If we hire our own, the cost will be approximately half that amount.

032The overall increase to the medical and dental insurance line for 2026-2027 school year is just over $3 million. This increase is determined by our actuaries from Brown and Brown. The overall increase for the workers' compensation insurance line for the 2026-2027 school year is just over $530,000. This increase is reflective of the actuarial recommendation increase provided to the Board of Education by the town. And our excess cost reimbursement is projected to be just over $1 million, and it's always wise to be conservative with in this projection as we're never quite sure how much the state of Connecticut will actually reimburse each district. The Board of Education The Board of Education budget has numerous forms this budget season. It began with the Board of Education approved 11.14% increase. This increase included the five special education positions I

033mentioned earlier in the presentation. On March 2nd, the board revisited the budget to make additional adjustments and cut their increase to 9.95%. This cut eliminated the five new special education positions. However, it included an early retirement incentive plan for our certified teaching staff. And on April 2nd, the board held their fourth budget workshop and reduced the budget to 6.35%. This final declination was based on information received from the Board of Finance. I will go into more detail about what the district lost at a 6.35% increase. And just for clarity, the Board of Education budget for the 2026-2027 school year is $72,845,345, [clears throat] which equals a 6.35% increase over this year's current operating budget. So, what remains in the 6.35% increase? All student center programming stays. Creative Learning Program, Future Problem Solvers, musicals, choir, clubs,

034all that is in place this year will continue to be in place next year. All athletic programming, all teams at the middle school and the high school will remain in place. All world language programming at the middle and high school will stay, and all instructional supplies will remain at the 2025-2026 funding level. So, what is lost in the 6.35% budget increase? Five proposed certified special education positions that I mentioned earlier. Eight current certified positions. Four current non-certified positions. $366,000 in supplies. Curriculum writing, summer intervention and enrichment programs. And now more than ever we we are becoming more reliant on grants to support the district expenses. In regards to capital expenditures. There was no funding for capital projects in the original 11.14% increase and there continues to be no funding for capital projects in the 6.35%

035increase. So this slide is a representation of what makes up the 6.35% increase in dollars. So just over $3 million is dedicated to medical and dental insurance. Just over $1 million and I apologize it's so small. Just over $1 million is dedicated to salary increases and benefits. And $433,000 is dedicated to purchase services, professional services and transportation. So these areas total $4,467,604. Or 6.22% of the 6.35% increase. Which leaves the district $1,903 left of that increase for operations, supplies and equipment. The following are the district priority capital projects. Again, there is no funding for these projects, but we still provide a list uh for the Board of Education and the town. These next three slides list the current priority projects for the district. The projects total just over a million dollars with the largest pro-

036project being the replacement of the gym floor here at the high school. It's a rough cost about $650,000. In closing. Mr. Mayor. I just would like to reiterate the information from one of the previous slides. It's $3 million dedicated to medical and dental insurance as part of the 6.35% increase. A million dollars dedicated to salary and benefits. And $433,000 dedicated to purchase services, professional services and transportation. That's 6.22% of 6.35% we're receiving as the Board of Education. That leaves under $2,000 of the increase left to the operations, supplies and equipment with no capital funding. Thank you for your time this evening. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, now that we've heard both presentations, both the town's budget and the Board of Education budget, we are going to open this um up

037to public questions, um requests for information, whatever you'd like. And so there are just a few ground rules. Number one, when you come up and I I need you to go to this right here, this microphone up front. I need you to state your name and your address. I need you to be nice to me, to everyone, to each other. We need to have civility and I don't want us to to have this turn into a fighting match. Also, uh there's a 5-minute per speaker limit, which I will keep track of. That doesn't mean you can't come back later, but everybody who comes up, their first go around until everyone has a chance, you have a 5-minute limit. Who would like to speak? Come on up. Hello. Uh my name is Scott Friedman. I'm at

03817 Cooper Road. I feel like I need to give an addendum to the Board of Ed presentation and simply state that we're talking about losing 12 educators and not gaining five that are required to run programming that our district has promised to students in the classroom. >> [applause] >> I also want to point out that on the town side, there are four firefighters that have been requested now at least two, three, four years in a row. Um we had a a major and tragic fire last year on George Street, this year on George Street. We need our firefighters to be able to get to and and battle the fires that happen in our town. We have over the course of the decade plus I've been here and it's more like 12 or 13 years now.

039We have been trying to keep budgets in check and have zero dollar or zero percent increases and that has happened a number of years. And while that sounds great, what it means is that we're not getting the money we need to do the things we need to do as a town. And I'm not going to be any, you know, I'm just going to say it clearly. If we had raised taxes by cost of living adjustments only, 3% every year for the number of years that we had where we had zero percent increases, we would have had more money in the budget. My taxes would have been exactly what they are this year. And I think that was from 2018 to 2025 or 24. But we have a constant battle to avoid tax increases and we're

040going to do damage to our town. Not not tomorrow. You saw what the superintendent put up on the screen. Let's be clear. We're 20th of 24 in terms of per pupil spending. How long do you think our fifth and fourth out of the 24 rankings are going to stay? We've just cut one of the programs that meant, I would say, a lot to Ridge Road and Green Acres families and it wasn't budgetary, at least not directly. But the problem is we can't have those discussions because we just spent six months cutting 12 teachers that are currently working in our schools. 12 educators. And on top of that, we're not hiring five that are for programs that people have signed up for and need to be educated in our district. We talk about overspending on outsourcing

041special education services. But how do we keep students in district if we don't have the speech and language pathologists, the special ed teachers that are needed? So I urge you, I mean, frankly, I would love to vote this budget down tonight and request that we get the money we need for fire department and for the Board of Education. And I would ask that we look at the fact that the town had zero staff reductions. Zero. There's still $2.1 million in capital expenditures. I would like to see us take some of that money and not get four new police cruisers with light bars and packages. >> [applause] >> I want to see us hire the four firefighters, which is less than $500,000 a year. >> [applause] >> And I want to see us keep our teachers

042in the schools, in the classrooms where they belong. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Who else like to speak? Come on forward, please. Come on, you know you want to talk. Come on, Mrs. White. And just for the record, there are but uh budgetary uh department staff reductions. That's an incorrect assessment on the town side. Then be more transparent. All you got to do is look at the budget packet. I did. Hi, Mrs. White. Mary White, Summer Lane. >> [clears throat] >> So I support public safety, both fire and police. You all know I do. Um I did a little [clears throat] math. So we have the four cruisers, 200,000, the four light bar packages, 160,000 for a total of 360,000. And the cost for the four new firefighters that were removed [clears throat] from the

043budget is 355,292. So, what does that mean? That means if the police department would support their brothers in the fire department and say, "We'll We'll pass on those uh four cruisers. I'm sure the cruisers that they'll be replacing are not 25 years old. Um I'm sure they could go another year, then we could ask the Board of Finance if they would move that money and then put the four new firefighters back in the budget. And I'm wondering if people in this room would support this. >> [applause] >> So, when you come up to the microphone, and I'm sure people are going to be supporting the Board of Education, which I also support the Board of Education, can you please ask the Board of Finance when they meet on Wednesday to make that change? And then

044let's see, what else I want to say. Okay, so my question my next comment has to do with if this budget is voted down, we know that the Board of Finance views that um uh views that voting down as they have to look at the budget again and they have to lower the proposed mill rate increase. So, my question is what would the estimated amount of the Board the Board of Finance would look to cut on each side of the budget if, you know, estimations there. Um if the 1.58 mill rate increase is voted down? Like, what would the Board of Finance look at as far as, okay, we need to lower this mill rate proposal. So, what would you look to be lowering it because we learned that one mill is $4 million. >>

045[clears throat] >> Uh one we we're going to say a couple things even though I'm mayor. We're going to start with Rich, please. Yeah, I just want to clarify the point. Two firemen cost us more than $330,000. Um the number you may be seeing in the fire budget is a fraction of firemen cost without equipment about 165,000 per man. When you add in their medical, the post-employment benefits, you know, their their pension, 457, when it all adds up, they're more like 165 per person. I wanted to just make sure you had that. So, when you when you look at the 330, you're probably closer to half of what it costs for four men. That's really like what two men cost. It's in other lines in the budget. It's in the medical line. It's in the

046pension line. But, I just want to make sure you're clear. Do you understand that um just looking at what the fire may have in his as a line item, that's strictly wages. Doesn't include payroll tax. Doesn't include benefits. And even that doesn't include any of the stipends they get. There's a lot of other things that make it up. So, if as a rule of thumb, if you want to think about what they cost, they're in the 165 range. I wanted to just make sure that was clear. Now, Can I you know respond to that? The 355,292, so you're saying that was just for the wages. So, when you remove that for four firefighters So, when you remove that, did you also remove the We removed it on met. Removed it on medical. the other benefits

047that were in the other line items. >> A bunch of line items get cut along with it. Social Security, payroll taxes, all gets cut. It wasn't just then. We had was four um It was four firemen. There was a policeman. Um There's a person that was eliminated in um finance. There was a person eliminated in public works. There was a person eliminated in the tax office. Those all backed off on multiple lines. But, I mean I'm of the mindset that we all know that we only have 11 volunteer firefighters and we used to have over a hundred. And we know that we haven't uh included any new firefighters in the budget for four years now. So, I'm of the mindset that if we take this need and we spread it out and say do two

048firefighters per year for four years, we will absorb all of the, you know, the medical and all the other, you know, equipment that they need. We will and their salaries, we will absorb it into the budget, thus making it affordable because to me public safety matters the most. If we're if we're not safe, Yeah, no, I >> what I mean? It's like it affects us all. It doesn't matter if we're young, we're middle-aged, we're old. Public safety matters most and we have a severe problem here. So, I'm wondering even with that, can we still utilize the money and then, you know, can we get two in there? Can we do two and not four? Mary Mary, I appreciate Rich's comments and he's got the details down there, but that's actually not Rich's question. More his

049than mine. >> for the Board of Finance. I will answer your other question as best I can. And the answer is I'm only one member of the Board of Finance. There's seven of us. We have different views um on different topics on whether something should go up or down. So, I can't answer you, unfortunately, as to what might happen if the budget were to go down and what kind of cuts the Board might be looking at. Um we make compromises, believe it or not. I mean, so uh unfortunately, I can't give you a hard number or range at this time. So, so in the past um you were on the Board of Finance when a budget was defeated. Um do you recall like is there a um a general uh thought process that Board of

050Finance members have when there's when they say, okay, the the um citizens have voted it down. We've got to lower this proposal. >> I'll give you my own I will give you my own personal view. Okay. And I recognize that we had at least one gentleman get up and suggest that we should move the budget up. But, on the assumption that if the residents vote this down, they're asking for a lower tax increase, my personal view has always been that if a budget gets turned down and uh has to be um voted on a second time, that uh unless you make cuts of at least half a mill, you're you're really you're not making enough cuts, I would think in my personal opinion, that it's going to entice the taxpayers to pass the budget. As

051you know, that's about $2.1 million. So, to me, that's probably the bare minimum. Okay. All right, thank you. Mary, I want to hit you one other thing just so you get my perspective. [clears throat] This is my public comment portion of it. I like the idea of what we did with Montowese in phasing it over time and building an engine company. I think eventually it would be great to have an engine company at Northeast, but it's something that needs to be phased in over time and it has to be at the right time. I mean, this year specifically with Board of Ed is really um has a significant increase and we understand their their problems. But, again, the Board of Finance will weigh in. But, I just gave you my personal opinion. Thank you. Who

052would like to come up next? Hello. Hello. Uh I'm Scott Lehman. I'm 11 Justin Drive. Um So, if I understand this process, you had these budget round table meetings with um the people who decide what they need, what they have to have to maintain services and make things better. Um and they came to the Board of Finance and Board of Finance said, no, that you got to cut that. So, if these people are coming to you and telling you we need this to maintain our services, you know, you hear this talk about maybe phasing in the firefighters. The fire chief said, I I need four. He didn't say he needed two or he needed one. This is what we need. And I understand it costs money, but I tell you one thing, it's going to

053cost more next year. It's going to cost more than the year after that and the more year after that. Everything costs more. So, I just struggle with people who are not experts. I I I mean no disrespect to anyone on the Board of Finance. But, the people who are not experts um in their field, they're not they're not fire chiefs, they're not um police chiefs, they're not uh superintendents of schools, dictating what these people need um when they're telling you what they need. So, um I I'll leave it at that. So, thanks. Thank you, sir. >> [applause] >> Who would like to go? Okay. Good evening. Brandy Mandato, South Ave. Uh I'm a proud North Haven resident, a mom of two North Haven public school kids, and someone who is deeply invested in the future

054of our town. >> [snorts] >> I want to start by naming something about this process that I've experienced. Um every budget conversation that I've been a part of or I've watched uh has been gone not by asking what North Haven needs, but by asking how much we're willing to limit ourselves. We started from a cap instead of a vision. And that matters because when you start with a cap, you don't actually build a budget that reflects the kind of community we want to be. You start from a place of limitation rather than innovation. A strong public education system is a country's greatest asset. You want good customer service? Fund public education. You want reliable health care? Fund public education. You want safer communities? Fund public education. You want people-centered solutions to some of the biggest

055challenges we're facing as a nation in a moment where our future is being shaped by AI and so many unknowns, you fund public education. I want a North Haven that fully funds its schools so every child has an opportunity to pursue their greatest aspirations. I want a North Haven that fully supports its fire department so that we are safe and protected. I want a North Haven that invests in our senior center so there's adequate adequate programming and parking for everyone that wants to attend. And I want a community that people choose not to just live in, but to stay in, to raise families in, to grow old in. That kind of community doesn't happen by accident. It requires investment. It requires intention. And I want to be clear. I understand the pressure on all of

056us taxpayers. My parents are retired here in North Haven and living on fixed incomes. Me, my brother, my sisters, we're raising young families in town. Two of my nephews are those blue ribbon kids. I know what it means when costs go up and incomes do not. And that's exactly why we need to be honest about where our solutions to this problem can be found. At the local level, we are too often asked to do more with less. While the burden continues to fall on working-class taxpayers. That's not sustainable. That's not fair. That is part of a bigger challenge we have to take on in Hartford. We need a tax system that is more equitable so towns like North Haven aren't forced into impossible choices between affordability and adequacy. Because this shouldn't be an either/or. We

057should be able to fully fund our schools, support our public safety, and build a community that people are proud to call home without overburdening the people who can afford it the least. And that's the work ahead of us. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Come on up. Good evening. Thank you. My name is Peter Criscuolo. I live at 54 Fieldstone Court. I'm also a senior citizen and a fire commissioner and very proud of it. I'm proud to live in North Haven. I think it's a great, wonderful town. We have great first selectman. He does an outstanding job. I want to start off with that. I'm not here to knock any other department or take money from any other department. Every department that's asking for money this year, I'm sure it

058deserves it. They would not ask for it if they didn't need it. They don't just want it, they need it. We have the best police department. You feel safe, you go down the street, you go to movies, you go out to eateries, you go to commercial restaurants, you go anywhere you want to go, commercial shopping, you feel safe with our police department. They're first responders. We have a fantastic Board of Ed. You could see by the chart what we're doing, okay? And the groundskeepers, which I'll mention later, also doing a great job. Our public works department, they work with what they have. They're first responders, also. They need to get the people they want. They're out every day doing it. And of course, our fire department. We haven't had a firefighter put on in 4

059years. The reason why it's $160,000 per firefighter, Mr. Monaco is right. That's what all the fringes in it. They're All your turnout gear is $6,000, okay? But, they save lives. If we didn't kick the can down the road for 4 years and we put on two a year, we'd have eight now and we wouldn't be in trouble. Okay? We've lost all our volunteers. Not because they don't want to work, they can't. They have other obligations, they have families. We're down to 11 from 105. Now, I'm going to have a chart here. I had one last week and I'll probably bring one back next week again. I don't have notes. I just make charts. I have nothing else to do. You see this chart? This chart represents all the green in this chart. All the green

060in this chart. That's all the streets the public works takes care of. Snow removal, trash pick up, okay? Fixing the roads, trees that come down, potholes, they do all that. What do they have? They have a limited 8-hour day, 5 days a week, off on holidays. Our police, they cover the whole town other than the highways. Everything in blue is a state road. They cover everything. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no holidays. Everything in red that you see is private pickups, private trash, private snow removal, private dirt. And everything you see in blue, all the highway mileage and all the train tracks, that's all done by the railroad pickup and all the blue is done by the state of Connecticut public works. Now, state of Connecticut public works, they do this work

0615 days a week, also, off on holidays. Now, our firefighters, they work with a staff of 10 to 11 maximum, four pieces of apparatus only. They cover all the green, they cover all the red, they cover all the blue, and they cover all the white. They do the entire town. Highways, roads everywhere, waterways, the Quinnipiac River, railroad yards, 18 gas stations. That's what we do, the fire department, with a limited staff. We are not safe. We are not safe. Do you want to say that? We cannot maintain that pace. Our firefighters are burned out. And though they make cost $160,000 a year per firefighter, just so you know, we're the lowest-paid fire department in the area. They can walk over the line and go to Hamden and make $9,500 a year more to start, in

062their pocket, not in their benefits. So, before I finish, if everyone in this room agrees that we need four firefighters, please do me a favor. Stand up and say yes when I'm all done. 30, well, let's say 20 years ago, a very wise man with not just a political background, but a business background, very savvy, educated. His name is Michael Friedman. He sat on the finance board. 30 seconds, Mr. Criscuolo. You have 30 seconds. He sat on the finance board and everyone said we couldn't get a rescue truck. We didn't need it. Mike Friedman took the bull by the horns and he had a recession, came back and we had the money for that rescue truck. So, let's do it again, guys. Listen to Mike. Stand up if you think I'm right. Say yes for

063firefighters. >> [applause] >> That's what I want to hear. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening. I'm Nancy DiMauro. I live at 36 Hartley Street. I spoke at an earlier meeting and I first want to thank the decision-makers who decided that it was important and necessary to maintain our creative learning programs, our world language programs, and our athletic programs at the middle and high school level. So, thank you to those decision-makers. As a 30-year resident of North Haven, I'm proud to live in this town. I'm proud of the services that our decision-makers have provided year after year. But, I am most proud of our teachers and our students. As Superintendent Sterk showed us this evening, we have achieved a lot with being 20th in funding for our district. Our students are achieving great things and

064I'm proud of our educators for coming together to find a way to get a budget approved. However, the budget that is presented tonight is not enough for the needs of our teachers, our students, and our families. Those five special education [applause] Those five additional special education positions are absolutely necessary, are absolutely essential to the education of our students. Students who receive special education services are entitled to those services from the age of 3 to the age of 22. An additional transition teacher is someone who would work with our students post high school until the age of 22 to help them to be independent and successful adults who would likely remain in the town of North Haven, working in our town and being members of this community. So, to cut a transition educator would be a

065mistake. Obviously, the position is needed and special education students should not be short shortchanged in this process. The eight certified and four non-certified education positions are absolutely important and necessary as well. So, I would ask members of this town to consider the budget that has been presented by the Board of Education and respectfully decline approving this budget at the referendum in May. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Christie Keat Christie Kehoe, Baldwin I normally stand and talk just like from my heart and I'm a mom and my kids in the schools and and just year after year I'm getting more frustrated. So, while I'm proud to be a resident of North Haven, that's becoming increasingly more difficult. Um, I have listened to Mary White's and Peter Criscuolo now talk about firefighters for

066the last five, six years like at nauseam. And the fact that we are in this position where we need four, right, to function and and we can't hire all four at the same time because it costs money, why were we not like seeing this and hiring one a year over the last four years? I don't understand why we keep settling for just getting by. It doesn't make sense. >> [applause] >> AND NOW MR. STURCKE just presented something where I don't know if any of you realize how much money it costs to outplace a student who has special education needs. That is not a choice by a teacher, by a parent, that is a law that we have to follow in a school system that Mr. Sturcke is responsible for as a superintendent of schools. He

067has no choice. Now, he has wanted to hire these five specialized educators to save the district money. Yet, we are handcuffed again by the Board of Finance and now we will not be putting those positions in the budget. So, what's going to happen next year when the amount of special education students in our beautiful community increases? What's going to happen the year after that? And the year after that? Do you see the problem here? And then let's talk about the capital because I also saw in Mr. Sturcke's presentation that he has zero for capital projects, yet the list of highly needed capital projects is TWO SLIDES LONG. >> [applause] >> I LITERALLY cannot make this make sense from a money mathematical standpoint in living and functioning as a human in my own household, this is

068irresponsible. Yeah. It is it is financially irresponsible. We are digging our wonderful town and community into a hole that I'm not sure we're going to be able to get ourselves out of. And it's just continues to happen. So, somebody, please, on the Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen, please recognize what it sounds like the town residents want, which are definitely firefighters. Okay, you can't do four this year, maybe we do two this year, right, and we do two next year until we get right. We have less than $2,000 in the education budget? Is that what I just heard from Mr. Sturcke after medical and salaries? You're kidding me. You have to look at this from a bigger uh vision because if we keep doing this, the town of North Haven is certainly not going to

069be the town of North Haven that many people who have been here for years and years and years have wanted and I certainly don't want after being here for 18 years. I left West Haven for a reason. Okay? So, I guess what I'm asking, I want to say no on this budget, but I'm afraid that because I've lived here long enough to know, if we vote no, you're going to cut more. So, how and when are you going to listen to the variety of people's voices who want more? >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> HELLO. HI, EVERYBODY. David Cohen, uh 55 Clinton Ave. >> make Pete, that was a spirited visual presentation. I have no visuals tonight. I'm very sorry to everyone. Uh but what I do have is a hope.

070Do not vote this budget down. All right? Please do not do that. I think with a few small changes, this budget can pass and I'm going to suggest a few changes, okay? Uh they're very simple. Mary, I thought you had a great idea. I think two for two. Uh we get two firefighters this year and we reduce the number of cruisers by two. It's not an even Steven split, but what it does is it begins to build back our fire department. I really like the idea and I think it's a good one and I think we should go forward with it. Now, the difference, it's not apples to apples so people understand because what we're doing is we're pulling from capital and putting into the operating budget, which means that every year we will have

071the cost of those two additional firefighters where the capital is a one-time expense, right? So, that's important to understand. So, going forward, that expense will be in there every single year. But I like the idea, Mary, and a lot of other people have the same idea, so I think the two for two is a nice idea. If you ask the police chief, he will tell you he needs those cruisers. So, this is not an easy thing for the police chief, either, okay? But I think the chiefs, both the chiefs in this town, understand that compromise is necessary. In fact, it's mandatory for our town to survive and thrive. That's the first idea. It's not really mine, it's Mary's. Thank you, Mary. The second idea, and I think this budget is actually pretty close. And I

072think what we need to do on the BOE side is very simple. I think if we restore about $400,000 on the BOE side, which brings us up to about 7% and where's Ron and Pat, if you guys could check my numbers to make sure I'm right on this. But if you restore the BOE budget up to about 7%, that's about $400,000 from 6.35, what you get are some very important things back in the budget. Number one, uh we have asked uh some early retirement of some teachers to save some uh some on the on some of the costs that we've had for early retirement. Some of those teachers have have uh accepted those offers of early retirement and that's been saving us that saves us a good chunk of money. But obviously, those positions need

073to be filled so with the 400,000, you can backfill some of those early retirement positions. And I think you get about five new teachers, which I believe are about half as much as the retirees who are leaving, all right? So, that's five new teachers. And then, are my numbers right? Yes, that's five new teachers. And then on the um special ed side, that $400,000 gives us the ability to bring those special ed folks back into play, right? So, you get five new teachers to backfill some of the retirees, plus you get the five spec the four special ed teachers that we need, which by the way, it is very clear that they save us an enormous sum of money. Every single year those special ed teachers that we bring more in so we can educate

074our kids in-house and we don't have to send them out, we have an enormous savings. So, by my calculations, that's $400,000, it brings us to 7%. The mill rate increase is I don't actually have the number, but I think it's negligible. When you add $400,000 to this budget here, I think it's a negligible increase. We should certainly look at the numbers. And then the two for two idea, it's not a perfect split, but it's pretty close. So, I think with these two changes, this budget can pass and I think it gets us very, very close to a very good budget. Now, listen, a budget requires compromise and to be pragmatic and constructive, these are the ideas that I have to get us home. And I I think that I think that has the town support.

075I think you put those two things in, you restore 400,000, you get those teachers back, you do a two for two split, the and then I think you have a budget that is very, very passable and I think folks should not go out and vote this down. You vote this thing down and you risk deeper cuts. I think with these two additions, restoration of this 400K and a two for two, we have a very passable budget. Please do not go out vote this down because you don't like it. Keep working to make changes on this budget. We can do this, we just have to work together to make it happen. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um you were first. Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry, were you waving to her or me? We're here

076all night so you guys line up. Hi, Heather Collisano, Frost Drive. First, I just wanted to apologize for my outburst. That is unlike me about the transparency Okay, everybody's allowed to speak. >> outburst, I do want to say that I did watch all of the budget meetings that I didn't attend. There were several workshops, I think going back to January, and I had conversations with Mr. Frieda and Mr. Cullen, and it's still not entirely clear on some of the lines. I was looking at it tonight as well. Um it's still not entirely clear specifically some of the cuts on the town side, but I did get some some I did see some negatives there that of things that were removed. So, thank you, and Mr. Monaco, I think, answered some of those questions as well.

077Um I'll put my prop down for a second. Come to my notes. I would just like to say first that [clears throat] I'm terrified to vote no on the budget um because I don't want more cuts, but I don't really want to vote yes the way that it is right now because I don't like the way that it is right now. I was really having a hard time coming up with what even to say right now because I just have so many thoughts. So, I'm probably not even going to get them all out. This is a great town. I love this town. It's why I'm so passionate about this town, but I don't understand how you think we're going to continue to be a great town, how we're going to continue to see the awesome

078return on investment slides that were shown, you know, and how great our outcomes are with our students and how great our outcomes are in other areas if we are choosing to underfund. You're you guys are choosing to underfund. Let's just be clear. The needs are visible and apparent, and I think the data supports what the needs are, but not fully funding all of the needs and going down from the 11 whatever it was to six whatever the numbers are, that's choosing to underfund. So, I just want to be clear on that. Education and public safety, I'm appalled by that. We've seen taxes go down. We've seen them stay the same and then go back up, and we're now essentially where we were in 2017, around there. So, my question is what are we prioritizing? And

079I think every everyone else has pretty much said the same things. I want our schools and I want firefighters. I don't want one side side of the town not covered and the other side of the town is covered. That's that's not right. Our schools are already doing more with less, spending below average per pupil while still achieving strong results. That's not inefficiency, that's a system being stretched, and if we continue down this road, we're just setting the Board of Ed up for failure, and I don't want my kids or your kids to fail. >> [applause] >> Other speakers said it as well, but I have to ask are the true costs being accounted for? When you cut special ed positions, those services don't disappear. They have to be outsourced at significantly higher cost. Is that

080reflected in these numbers? The budget for next year, does that account for the costs? No. So, am I wrong then by if we don't get these five uh special ed teachers that are currently not in the budget, we're going to have to pay to outsource some of these services, is that correct? And that 150,000-ish or whatever the number is per student, how does that impact the budget then because what we're seeing really is not a true budget. If I what's going to I can't even think of an analogy, but that's not a true number then. Okay, so again, my crystal ball or my magic eight ball, I guess, isn't working right now because I don't understand how we can vote on something when we already know that we're providing more with less. And also, I

081really don't like how a lot of this pits parents against seniors or the Board of Ed against firefighters or public safety. We're all one town and one community, and we need to start acting like it. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Come on down. It's okay. That's This is what it's all about. You don't have to apologize. But I just need your name, please. I'm Lisa Lemmon, Justin Drive. Um as I said earlier, I prepared nothing. Sorry. Um but I did just want to say a few things cuz I felt strongly about them. I've lived in North Haven now >> microphone, please? Yeah. We can't hear you. Can't hear you. Can't hear you. I can be really loud, I didn't want to do that after Peter. Anyway, um I've lived in this town since 1999. Um

082my husband grew up in this town. We raised both our daughters in this town. They are both in college and are going to be tremendously even more successful in their future because of the education system in North Haven. I don't want to see that dismantled. I believe that a strong education system has ripple effects beyond the classroom walls. We all know that. And we know that by underfunding our education system, by cutting teachers and cutting things that are desperately needed for the people we say are so important for our future, that that is not going to just sit and go away. It's not going to be someone who's impacted who has kids in this school system. It will flow through our community like a virus. Anybody familiar with one of those? Right? So, first thing

083I have to tell you is that I do finance for a living. At the top of every budget is revenue, and there's a reason it's up there because it's the most important thing. And I will argue, as was heard by a previous speaker tonight, that the lack of foresight and investment in our town over years and years of trying to keep taxes low means that we didn't invest in our town enough, and we have now gotten to the end of the road where that can got kicked. And we are not going to be able to turn back the hands of time and recover. We've gotten to the cliff, and now it's do or die. So, make your choice. You can choose short-term relief and long-term pain because I guarantee you that although our students will

084certainly be the first to feel the pain of this budget, you, me, the senior citizens, and everyone in this town will feel that pain. You'll feel it when there are families moving out, and when there are not new families moving in, you will feel it when businesses start to move to other towns, and that will become a cycle where there's even less revenue coming in, and then the tax problem continues. So, you can have your low taxes, and then spite yourself in the future, or you can look at this as a holistic problem for our whole town, not fire against budget, not fire against education, against police, against sanitation, against bulk pickup. Look at it as a whole situation. And look at it, if you want to stay in this town and you want your

085property values to be worth anything in the future, you have to invest in this town. And if you don't do that at the basic level of education, you won't be doing it anywhere. I want my family, when they decide to come back, to stay here. But I guarantee you that if I had to make that choice looking at this town now, where I was going to raise my family, I don't know that North Haven would have been at the top of my list. Because if we're going to continue to cut the things that make our town awesome, it's not going to make people want to be here, including me. >> [applause] >> Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am. Ma'am. For someone who wasn't prepared, that was really awesome. >> [laughter] >> Good for you. You're next, ma'am.

086Thank you. Melissa D'Amico, 60 Potter Road. Uh I was at a Board of Finance meeting a couple weeks ago when we got moved to the high school because there was so many people that they couldn't fit in the library area, and one of the women on the Board of Finance said, "We want to Not you. Uh No, not you. Um I don't I Diana or something, I don't know. Uh she said, "We need to hear from the people. That's what's going to make this thing come together. We need to hear from the people." Well, guess what? I've now been at like four different meetings, and the people are saying the same thing. Okay? We're saying we need firefighters. We're saying we need education. We're saying we need special ed. Okay? My kid is special ed.

087We need special ed. I need people that are going to help him succeed. Right? We need firefighters to keep us safe. So, when are you going to listen to the people? Just wondering, okay? >> [applause] >> WE'RE HERE. WE'RE SEEING THE SAME PEOPLE AND THE SAME CRAP. OKAY? SO, we're here. We're saying what we want. You need to fix it. And I just did the calculation on my assessment, and if this budget goes through as is, it's $35 a month. I'll just not go out to eat on a Friday night, and guess what? I just made up my money. Okay? So, that means that I can go not go out to eat two Fridays, and you could double the mill rate. Okay? That's all I'm going to say. Thank [applause] you, ma'am. Jenny? Stacey, do

088you mind if I just uh interject for a second, please? >> Absolutely. One moment, Jenny, please. Uh I just I just need one second, please. Just please. So, I just want to mention um um I've heard a couple of comments that we haven't invested in the town and people obviously are identifying needs that they feel we need here in the town. I I just want to point out that if you go back to 2024, the town's budget was $121,500,000. This budget will be $145,000,000. I think it's $400,000. $400,000. So, it's about a $24,000,000 increase. It's about 16% over over the period. So, I I'm happy to hear people's comments and we can disagree and or agree, by the way, on where the investments should be made, but I do want to point out we are

089definitely investing in this town. Um >> [snorts] >> I hear what people are saying. I hear what they're saying about the Board of Ed. I'm hearing about the fire. But, I I just want to dispel the notion that we're not investing in the town. Please, go ahead. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Go ahead, Jenny. Thank you. Um Jenny Caldwell, uh 69 Kimberly Circle. Um and I'm just going to read what I wrote. Uh the budget development process should >> Jenny, just tip the mic down just a smidge. There you go. I think it'll fall over. That's what I'm worried about. Oh, don't worry. I'll I'll fix it. >> people. Okay. Um the budget development process should be an intentional reflection of the values and priorities for public service and for the community. As I've reviewed

090the the proposed budget, I've kept this in mind. It has been said that North Haven has great services, and this is why um taxes need to increase each year. Residents really love these services. I want to make it clear, as a resident of North Haven, having the ability to dump without any cost based on usage, um bulk pickup without any cost based on usage, or leaves picked up curbside, are not services that I value or support. I would like to see the Board of Finance explore options that other um towns currently incorporate. Dumping um based on the cost of of the weight of what you're dumping. Bulk pickup fees based on use and weight. Having leaves maybe bagged and put on the street. Uh or paying for leaf pickup service. This could help reduce the

091tax burden on residents and have people pay for the services they use. If paying taxes should result in receiving the services, here the services I want, but currently don't have access to. A guarantee that when I call 911 due to an emergency, there will be a response within appropriate time frame. As a resident of North Haven, my number one priority is to ensure that we have adequate funding public safety. The fire chief has been asking for additional firefighters for the past 4 years. Even with data showing declining volunteers, overlapping calls, and delays in call times, volunteer firehouses that are closed during the work day, the decision has been made to leave out additional personnel for the fire department year after year. For me, this service should be non-negotiable. I would like to see a library

092that has adequate funding so that our hours can be extended during the evening as well on as well on the weekends. Our surrounding towns have hours that will allow working individuals to still access the library. This is a challenge in North Haven based on the limited budget the library is awarded each year. Um I would like to see a senior center that has enough staff to adequately provide services to the seniors, not only those who are retired, but also those who continue to work, but would like to connect with other seniors in town. I would like to see more cultural arts programs in towns. We currently have the summer concert concerts, but there are many people in town who would like to be able to enjoy performing arts programs, visual arts programs. This can only

093be done if we create a budget that recognizes the needs of the community that has varying interests. Um And then finally, I would like to um I Finally, I I'm not able to support the current proposed budget even with a significant tax increase, the services that I value are not included. It is not just the tax increase, but also where the money is being spent. As we have been told in the past, this budget is bare-bones and only helps us maintain services. If this is the case If this is the case this year, as it has been said in the past, budgetary increases will continue and many people in town will not be able to afford to stay. So, I'm hoping that the Board of Finance, and I've mentioned this on uh many occasions, that

094we can be a little bit more um creative with financing as opposed to sort of following the same format as year after year, um and look at how we can change the way we fund some of these services as opposed to just increasing taxes and cutting from from the increases that the budgets the different departments are requesting. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hello. >> [snorts] >> Evening. So, I'm Jerry Feinberg, 34 Brockett Farm Road. >> Um I've been listening to Speak [clears throat] into the mic, please. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. So, I've been listening to what's been said this evening and a few things stand out. Um Mr. Freda indicated that with the mill rate increase of about 1.6 mills, he's not sure if that increase would fly uh in terms

095of the budget referendum. And I've also heard of folks asking for more money on both the town side and the Board of Education side. So, how how do we How do we square this? I got a proposal that I think might offer a solution. Now, I'm a former member of both the Board of Education and the Board of Finance. I served a while ago with both Mr. Freda and Mr. Doheny on the Board of Board of Finance. The town has what some folks call a rainy day fund or a savings account. Um technically, it's called the unappropriated surplus. Here's the way this works. The town operates on a fiscal fiscal year basis. You heard that before. Runs from July 1st to June 30th. Now, in a year that where the town takes in more money

096than it spends, so there's money left over. Where does it go? It goes into um a It's not It's not unappropriated surplus. I misspoke. It's It's uh un- unappropriated fund balance. Um So, if there's money left over, it goes into the fund balance and a part of that gets marked as unappropriated. I asked Mr. Freda at the Board of Selectmen meeting on Thursday, how much money is sitting in our rainy day fund? It's currently about $12,000,000. Now, how do we get there? You can look on the town's website, go to the Board of Finance's web page, and look for comprehensive annual financial report. The most recent one that's there is for the period that ended June 30th of 2024. And at that time, the unappropriated fund balance was just a little bit less than $10,000,000.

097So, we've gone to 12 million. During that period of time, we got hit with the tax increase due to revaluation, which the administration chose not to phase in, and we also got hit with a substantial increase last year. So, our unappropriated surplus has gone up about 20% 2 million bucks uh in the last couple of years at the same time that we've had these significant increases. So, I think it's time that we take some of the money out of the rainy day fund and apply it toward the current year's budget. We've done that in the past. Um I think 2 years ago it was a half million dollars, the year before that it was a little over a million. This is not something that's unusual. Think about it. What say we took $3,000,000 out of

098that unappropriated fund balance. Reduce it from 12 to 9 million dollars. What do we need that $9,000,000 for? Stuff happens. We've been hit with tornadoes twice uh in recent in recent memory, and it costs money to clean it up. There are bond [snorts] rating agencies that um in- inform the town that there's a certain percentage of our expenditures that they expect the fund balance to equal. Mr. Freda had indicated it's about 15%. Currently, it's a it's a little bit over eight. Just think it What would it take for us to get to that 15% figure? We don't almost have to double what the surplus uh what the unappropriated fund balance is right now, which would be equal to about three or four mills. That's unreasonable. Folks, we pay our bills. I don't know if there's

099anybody here or in town who can remember the last time that the town of North Haven went into default. From my perspective, as far as these bond rating agencies are concerned, if there's no possibility that we're going to miss a payment, and we've got enough money to take care of the typical things that could go wrong, 30 seconds. >> take money out of the surplus, so out of the fund balance. Is my time up? You have 30 seconds. Okay. So, let let me wrap it up. Um if if we take, let's say, 3 mil out, we can cut the tax increase to, I think, less than a mil. The magic number, according to Mr. Dohini, if the budget goes down, would be about a half mil cut. Let's not go through referendum after referendum. We

100had five referenda at one point in the early '50s. Let's do the responsible thing. Let's make this budget saleable, put the money in that people are asking for, use the money from the um from the uh unappropriated fund balance, and hopefully get the budget passed. It's not a magic bullet. We're still going to have to pay the bills, but it's a it's a way around it. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Stacy. Stacy. Yes. Give me 1 second. >> One moment. You can come on up, but we're just going to have him speak. >> to clarify some numbers. Right now, the town's unappropriated fund balance is about 10.8 million, not 12, which represents about 8.45% of our budget, which basically means we have enough extra cash to pay a month's worth of bills. Um I just

101And if we did use surplus, when we do go to rating calls, or we auditors do look at our books, they're basically telling us we're budgeting for a deficit. Thank you, ma'am. Come on up. I'm going to take this off, cuz I won't talk into it unless I do. Chris DeCapua, 14 Governor's Drive. Uh good evening. Uh I'm speaking tonight as a resident, a parent, and as president of the North Haven Education Association, representing educators who serve the students of this community each day. I want to begin by acknowledging the reality that many are in our community are facing. We understand that increases to the mill rate place a real burden on families, and we do not take that lightly. We are members of this community as well. We feel those same pressures, and we

102respect the challenges that come with them. However, I need to be equally clear about the reality of this budget. While the 6.35% increase allocated by the Board of Finance may sound significant under different circumstances, it very well might be. But in this case, as presented here this evening, it is not an expansion of programming or opportunity. This increase largely covers contractual obligations and the dramatic rise in medical and dental insurance costs. It is quite simply the cost of barely maintaining the system we have, not improving it. And even with that increase, this budget still results in reductions. Eight certified positions, four non-certified positions, along with cuts to supplies, programs, and resources. This is not a budget that strengthens our schools. It is one that forces the district to do more with less. It means shifting

103staff across levels. It means fewer supports for students. And it means placing an even greater burden on the educators who show up every day to meet the needs of our children. Our teachers are strong. They are dedicated, and they will persevere, as they always have. But perseverance should not be the expectation in place of proper support. Just because we can make it work does not mean that it's right for our students or sustainable for our schools. I also want to be very direct about what comes next. If this budget does not pass at referendum, further reductions are not hypothetical, they are certain. Those reductions will mean additional staff cuts, fewer programs, and diminished extracurricular and athletic opportunities for our students. The impact will be real, and it will be felt across every school in this

104district. Let me be very clear. We are not satisfied with the level of funding allocated by the Board of Finance, and we believe there was a missed opportunity to allow voters a greater voice in determining the level of funding through the referendum process. But we >> [applause] >> But we must also be realistic about where we are today. This budget cannot withstand further reductions without causing significant harm to the quality of education this town provides, both now and in the future. That is why we are asking for your support. We need this community to come together, to show up, to stay informed, and to speak up. The Board of Finance openly admitted they cannot recall a time they've increased funding following this meeting. Well, we forced a few forces first few first this year already.

105Let's push the envelope a little bit further. >> [applause] >> Flood the board and Mr. Frieda with emails. Flood the phone lines. Request to see an adequate increase for our schools and for our town's first responders. Our students deserve stability. Our firefighters and our officers deserve stability. They deserve opportunity, and they deserve a community that stands behind them. At the end of the day, this is about the kind of town we choose to be. And as Mr. Frieda mentioned today, we have a town meeting form of government. Our system is based on us, the people, and the authority of the Board of Finance is not absolute. They are not supposed to be the final decision-makers. We are. The board is designed to recommend, not decide unilaterally. Lost my place. Um at the end of the

106day, now I said that, this is about us, and it's about whether we are willing to invest in the students sitting in our classrooms, and the men and women who run into danger on our behalf, and about our future of our community. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hello. >> Brian Tista, Maple Avenue. Um I have no comments. I just have questions. I want to turn my back this way, so I'm not looking back at you guys. On the town side, uh at the last Board of Finance meeting, Mr. Halligan said the Amazon tax deal has expired. They're now paying full 100% taxes. The grand list grew from the last portion by 11 million. That doesn't mean we got 11 million dollars in tax revenue. Just the grand list grew 11 million dollars. Is

107that correct? Or is it They grew, but it it was 11 million dollars bigger, and some people were saying, "Wow, we got 11 million dollars to play with." And that's that's not right. 1.6 mil? 1.6 million. Okay. Initially, initially it was over three. After appeals, it came down to 1.6 million. >> But the But the Amazon But Amazon itself That's That's all. Okay. So, wait Okay. Okay. So, It's It's vehicles, it's personal property, it's Right. Okay. Merchant revenue. But now they're paying 100%. The 7-year deal has expired. In reality, the largest part of the Amazon's tax payment is on personal property, which wasn't part of phase in. Um second question on the town side. The pension funds, they're all fully funded? We fund whatever the act is. Most of them right Yeah, most of them

108are in the As a percentage, we're in the upper 80s. But whatever the actuaries tell us to fund, that's what we fund. Third question is You were talking about the fire department contract coming up at the end of this year. Is that in this budget, or is that going to be in next year's budget? The fire department contract, you said? Yes. That doesn't expire till next year. >> Okay. So, it's not So, it'll Technically, we should start negotiation a year from this December. But Brian, just one more thing. We always include in the budget an estimate of the increase for any contract that has yet to be That's the contract that's being negotiated now. Actually, I'm starting it Thursday is public works. That was on my point. >> Yeah, public works is the only one

109that's due right now. The next year is fire. And the last question, and it's more of a Board of Ed thing, but it was on the town side. What is a bonding amount for this Board of Ed athletic bonding at 13.5 million? It's on page 48. It was kind of hard to hear your question. Can you repeat that? Brian, um page 48. Page 48, it's the fiber capital improvement. Yes, the Board of Ed athletic bonding for 13.5 million. Did I read that right? Um yeah, page 49. Or 49, okay. Yeah, the the Board of Finance, just like the town, every department gives a 5-year plan, the Board of Ed gives a 5-year plan. Okay, so that 13.5 million is going to go to some of my Board of Ed questions. That's including the 1.2 million

110every year for the uh middle school roofs. That's part of the 5-year plan? I'm not >> that on page I don't see the 13 I think it's true. I saw that somewhere that that you're It says replace roof Clinton here, bridge. million two 27, 28 Right, and every year, 27, 28, 28, 29, and 29, 30. So, that's part of that 13.5? The 5-year projection? I'm not sure I'm not sure where you're seeing 13. I see 11. Okay, I might I might have written down wrong. I just saw this bonding thing. It's like, why are we bonding now? Um none of this is for bonding. This is just A lot of what's put on this here with those. A lot of what's put on the 5-year plan. And we basically give all departments, including Board of

111Ed, a wide range for whatever your heart can possibly desire. Because a lot of times grants may become available. And one of the conditions is that it's on our 5-year plan. So, we try to cover as many bases as we can. So, if a grant should pop up, we have something we can point to and say, "Yeah, here it is. We have it. Give us the money." All right, I've got Hopefully I have time. Board of Ed questions, and I'll try to do them quick. Why is there a difference What is the difference on the town side when there's unused money, it's called a surplus. But on the Board of Ed side, it's called unappropriated funds or unspent funds. And where does it go? I can answer that. No, base basically what what we did

112years ago was we told the Board of Ed, "If you have a surplus, don't spend it for the sake of spending it." They called it different things at the time. Right now, it's called a non-lapsing fund. And the money was basically put in that fund so they can use it for first future capital request. Um I mean, there were some comments made, and maybe I'm talking a little off side, but there's some comments made about the Board of Ed surpluses. You know, they had a $200,000 surplus. Well, in a $70 million budget or a $69, $67 million budget, two or $300,000 isn't anything. So, for the sake of just not wasting money, put it aside, put it in a non-lapsing account, and we'll make things work. So, that that fund there is a line where

113those funds being >> There is a There is a place those funds go. Unfortunately, um last year, year before, they had some extensive uh expenses, which basically wiped a lot of those funds out. But it's always been town's decision, and I'm kind of speaking for Michael a little bit. Um We wanted to set up a reserve account for them which they could use when they had capital expense or something unforeseen came up. The Board of uh Ed has control over it. The Board of Finance is made aware of it. Uh we work well together. Um unfortunately, it was we was kind of took a hit a year or so ago. Um but the fact that they have these two, three even $400,000 surpluses on the size budget is really not a big dollar item, and

114it's good to let it build up over time. All right, this is >> It's actually by state statute, not so. Oh, that's Yes, the the the the legislation has changed a little bit over time. So, actually by state statute, they have the right to roll it over into the non-lapsing Okay, that's But in reality, we started it before the Right, that's what my other We we started it before state state mandated Sooner or later, the state usually catches up with my freedom, and they kind make things fall in line. For our superintendent, uh How many out of district students come to North Haven and we service? And then the second part of that question is, are we getting paid for those students from other towns coming to school here? Because I saw that we're suing

115New Haven for 500,000, and I know that's going through its court system. So, but are How many students How many different districts are using our our school system, and are we getting paid for it? From the city of New Haven through the open choice program. I have to get to the exact number, but we do get paid for them. We do not get paid for services provided beyond other special ed services and things like that. That's That's where we're not seeing payment from the city of Okay, good. What was that again? I I can't hear. Yeah, it's very Yes. The Sorry. We have students from the open choice program, which is part of the New Haven public schools. I do not do not know the exact number of students that currently come from the city

116of New Haven. However, we do receive payment for each of those students. However, we do not receive payment for services that we provide uh through special education. So, that's part of the uh So, New Haven's the only town right now we're accepting out of district students for? Something caught me at the March Board of Ed meeting about the 13th minute about field trips. There was a comment about a field trip going to Greece. Is that a question? Yeah, uh that seemed a little The optics that we're fighting to pay for that we have so many successful Thank you, Chris. Thank you for that question, but I want to just respond to that. Any field trip that's brought up, we we listen with an open ear to our teachers who are always looking with great vision

117to provide new learning opportunities for our students. But they do have to be brought before the Board of Education for approval. Quite frankly, that happens before Board approval process. That was just a discussion. That is not in our operating budget at this time. That That is not going to be approved at this time. 30 seconds, Mr. First Selectman. All right, I'll do these last two real quick. Uh why are there three high school assistant principals and two middle school principals at the cost of approximately $766,000 a year? And I didn't know North Haven education had a chief operating officer at $171,000 a year. What does he do or she do, and why? We'll we'll dance with this one a little bit, only because Patrick will take the chief operating one, and I'll speak to you

118in a minute. Okay. I didn't know I have one more question. Is it mandated for these assistant principals? So, currently we have two high school assistant principals, not three. We did reduce after the budget last year. And we do have two at the middle school. They are absolutely vital for making sure the day-to-day operation happens, everything from planning, scheduling to discipline, teacher support. We are commensurate currently with districts of our size with administrators, but I can tell you those uh each one of those individuals is vital to the day-to-day operation of our building. >> [applause] >> This is Patrick. This is the chief operating officer. That's my line. >> [laughter] >> So, don't take it as an insult. I wasn't I'm not picking on you. I've just never I've been in business a long time,

119and I didn't know our education department had a CEO. So, So, prior to the creation of that role, there was a director of everything, transportation, finance, personnel, uh facilities. And when that person departed, uh we revamped to have a finance manager and a chief operating officer, which handles all those uh items that I just mentioned before. Okay, thank you. >> So, it's similar to the town set up of uh Mr. Monaco and uh Mr. Frederickson. That's basically the explanation I was looking for. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Who would like to speak? Okay. Good evening. Hi. Sue Empenudis, 19 Can you come down there and adjust it? You got it. Okay. You got it. Okay. Sue Empenudis, Bassett Road. Wasn't going to speak today, but you all brought me up here. Okay, you went through

120no tax increases for 3 years. Well, we still managed to run our schools and our town. And then we went through 2 years of large tax increases, and we still managed to run the town. And then we went through this great extreme increase last year with the overrated assessments. And here we are again. I don't understand why we keep doing this. I don't understand why if you can keep things at one level, then all of a sudden things are like jumping. You know, the schools have managed to improve with the rating I believe it said in the math at four, and the rating in the reading at five. I mean, I don't know what you're what we're looking for. Okay, I understand whatever this district thing is that you talk about that you went down

121from 15 to down to 20. But if you're still teaching your kids, 6 years worth at least, I've been graduating from here and getting great educations, and now all of a sudden we have issues. Okay, first of all, I'd going to like to note to a couple things. I am in favor of those five special ed positions. I am in favor of the four fire department hires, which I believe we are well overdue in. I don't understand why our schools are not getting the funding from the state that they deserve. I have seen constantly that we're under granted. I don't know what the what the money's coming from, but instead of the 15% we're supposed to get in, we're getting eight. Well, hello. Where are our state representatives? We have two. Are they standing up

122for us? No. Why are we not going for that state money we belong to have? That should be here. I don't understand this. You know, I have no problem. I will pay the tax. All right? When I retired in 2018, my taxes was $5200 a year. Well, guess what? I took a cut in pay. And then last year my taxes were just over $9000. I live in the exact same house with the exact same number of people living there. Hello. I don't want the contracts cut. I don't want what is here for leaf pick up cut. When I was physically able to do the leaves, I did them. And you know what? That was a plus to be able to get them up to the street and that was it. I don't want even the

123bulk pick up cut. We already cut that down. Remember we used to be able to put it out every single week? Now we could put it out twice a year. And that's fine. But curb it. Make sure those people that are putting out building supplies. I mean, I saw Blakeslee Avenue today or and there's windows and there's siding and I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no." But we're not penalizing these people. We have to penalize the people that are doing this. You know, I mean, if this is a service we're going to take away, then why are we taking it away? What What is left for a senior citizen here? I'm sorry. Yeah, I get to go to the senior center. Okay? I play cards, I do exercise, I do all I can do there.

124But you know, we should have more. You know, I I don't think we want to cut those contracts and I don't think you want to cut the leaf pick up or the bulk pick up. And I really would love that special ed those five special ed positions put back and the four firemen. Thank you, [applause] ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Hi, I'm Shayna Hackett, Shawmut Avenue. Um I moved to North Haven 5 years ago for my daughter. She's 6 and at Ridge Road School. We moved here for the schools, but we absolutely fell in love with this community. I've been asked for Mr. Freda, all the people who are up on the stage and in the audience, please, please listen to your constituents. So many people have gotten up in front of this room tonight and told

125you what they want. Stop putting parents against seniors, against firefighters, against public safety. It's enough. Go back to the drawing board, listen to what people of the town are telling you and what we want and what we value. I support public education. I support public safety. Restore the funding to make sure our schools and our fire department are staffed appropriately and let the people of the town of North Haven decide. Thank [applause] you. Thank you. I'm Sally Pleame, uh five Blossom Drive. Uh I just got here, so I couldn't get here earlier, so I don't really know what was said uh before, but I do know that the proposed uh budget increases the mill rate uh by 1.6 mills, which is 5.4%, uh meaning your taxes are going to go up 5.4%. It's the fourth

126significant tax increase in a row. And I don't think uh that uh a lot of people on fixed incomes, senior citizens, working families, it's not seniors versus education. There's a lot of working families that cannot afford these tax increases. Back in February, Mr. Freda had predicted that the mill rate would go up by a third of a mill. Now, a lot has happened since then. And again, this proposed budget, I believe the exact amount is 1.59 mill increase, which is five times what Mr. Freda had originally said was his target. Um I know that it's not possible to get down to that that 1/3 mill that Mr. Freda had talked about, but I do think it's possible to get it closer to a mill and more affordable. I've been a real estate attorney here in

127North Haven for 43 years. I attended countless uh real estate closings and if the closing was in North Haven, I always asked the buyer, "Why did you move to North Haven?" And the the number one answer was always, "Taxes, taxes, taxes. We had low taxes." And uh you can't say that anymore. The second most popular reason was it's near New Haven and I just got a job at Yale. Um so um uh you know, uh nine and ten thousand dollar tax yearly taxes are commonplace now. And for uh a lot of our seniors and people on fixed income, that's 20% of their income. So I respectfully ask the Board of Finance to do their due diligence and try to get that mill rate down to a one mill increase. Thank you very much for your

128time and attention. >> [applause] >> Yes, ma'am. Good evening, everyone. My name is Nancy Barrett. I live at One Prescott Drive. >> [clears throat] >> Uh I am a member of the Board of Finance, but I'm not here in that capacity this evening. Um in response to a recent request, I'm going to try to define some terminology that I hope will provide some additional clarity, dispel some common myths, as well as refute some disinformation that's swirling around our community. Now, Mr. Freda mentioned the misuse of the term cut, as in budget cut. Now, this term refers to a reduction in funding that reduces services. Now, we certainly are seeing that in some communities here in Connecticut. Uh communities that are flat funding or reducing below the current budget dollars, so the same dollar amount two

129years in a row. Uh in some cases, they're even reducing the amount of funding. But Mr. Freda confirmed that every year the town government operating budget and the Board of Ed budget are higher year over year. And all scenarios considered for the 2026-2027 Board of Ed budget included percent increases that exceeded inflation. The proposed 2026-2027 Board of Ed budget is $4.3 million larger than the current BOE budget. And as Mr. Sterk indicated, uh that was achieved that can be achieved without eliminating any of the programs that many of you heard might be on the chopping block. So I'd also like to clarify that reducing one proposed percent increase, such as 9.95, to a lower percentage increase is also not a cut. That is what's referred to as a reduction to the increase. Now, I'd like

130to define vacancy savings. This is a term that refers to realized dollars or savings when a budgeted position is not filled. So for example, we had some trouble actually filling our assistant town engineer position. So that was budgeted, and yet we weren't spending the dollars because we couldn't find someone. Eventually we did, thankfully. Uh we're also struggling to find uh a replacement town assessor. Those are budgeted positions. Until they are filled, those represent savings. Um the North Haven High School uh had uh three assistant principals budgeted in the current fiscal year budget. Uh the third assistant principal resigned his position at the beginning of the fiscal year, and that position was not then filled, but it was still funded. So that represents $150,000 savings, just as an example. I went through the Board of Ed

131meeting minutes and I calculated that there are Board of Ed resignations or retirements thus far this year. It is unclear to me how many of those positions have been filled this year or will be filled next year. There's also this concept of retirement savings. I think this is mentioned earlier. And that's when a position that has been vacated by a retiree is filled by a more junior employee. So, for example, in March, the Board of Ed acknowledged the retirement of the director of facilities. So, first I'd like to publicly thank Mr. Diana for his decades of dedicated service not only to the school system but to this town. But, I'd also like to point out that it's unlikely that his replacement will have his same decades of experience. But, yet the position salary for next

132year is budgeted at 3% higher than what it is this year. So, if a a more junior person is hired into that position, that will again represent a potential for savings. I'd also like to point out that they can see savings can be used at the superintendent's discretion to hire Board of Ed staff and teachers. The term surplus has been something that has been speculated about. So, You have 30 seconds. So, I would encourage you all to check out the December 9th, 2021 Board of Ed meeting in which our town finance manager, Howard Ordlaw, refers to it as unexpended money and he also confirmed the $1 million Board of Ed surplus that was transferred into three reserve accounts but not spent in that year. There's also a myth that the increase in Board of Ed

133budgets will increase teacher salaries. These are dictated by the union contracts and the teachers can confirm that they certainly did not get a 7% increase this year. The takeaway from the April 2nd Board of Ed special meeting >> is that the Board of Ed unanimously approved this particular budget. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Hello. Lindsay Surr, 5 Angel Place. Um before I get to the comments that I was going to say, I just want to refute the last speaker's comments. When a proposed budget cuts 12 current positions from staffing, that is a cut whether the budget increased or not. It's a cut. >> [applause] >> I've now been to four meetings to talk about this budget. The overwhelming support for the Board of Finance to simply listen to constituents is evident. I

134work in government and when just 10 constituents contact politicians, it is a sign of a larger movement. And we in government positions then hear from those politicians to address the issue. The Board of Finance has now heard from hundreds of constituents that they would like to fully support education and public safety. I guess I'm just wondering when you are going to start listening. Increase the budget and let constituents decide. It should not be a decision that is made by just five people in this town. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> ANY MORE COMMENTS? OKAY, WELL WE'RE HERE ALL NIGHT. You you take your time. Well, you take your 5 minutes. Tobias Hollowood, Head Road. We're all dealing with this now. We'll wait and see. You have four more elementary schools, four new ones that they want

135to build soon. Sit tight and watch your dollars. >> [applause] >> Good evening, everyone. Michelle Guillermo, Curtis Court. While I am on the Board of Ed, I am here speaking tonight as a parent and a tax-paying resident. I am here tonight to express my support for restoring funds to the current budget proposal. I'm in support of restoring enough funds to cover the salary of the four firefighters that have been asked for significantly over the past four years and for an additional $500,000 to the Board of Ed budget. I would also be happy with Mr. Cohen's compromise of the two for two and 400,000. I think it's a pretty fair compromise. Um I would be in support of both of these measures either by reducing from other areas to keep the current proposed mill rate as

136it stands at 1.59 or increasing the estimated mill rate by an additional 0.2 mills, which would account for, if my math is correct, the 800 approximately $850,000 needed to do what I just suggested. Just to give some context, I did some math on my own property and I know that everyone's properties are different. I know that Mr. Frieda had given plenty of examples earlier. But, at the 1.58 or 59 mill increase, my taxes go up $371 per year, which is $31 per month. To increase this budget an additional 0.2 mill to fund the firefighters and to add the additional funding back to back to the Board of Ed, it would go up an additional $3.95 per month from the amount that I just listed. Um we have heard over and over that the Board of

137Finance wants to hear from people and we have seen at numerous meetings now that people have come and have spoken over and over again. So, the the people continue to show up and are continuing to request that more funds for our schools and for our firefighters be added to this budget. Um while I while I know there are only a few Board of Finance members here tonight, I think it's important that every person who has spoken here tonight also sends an email possibly tomorrow to the Board of Finance ahead of their meeting on Wednesday because in my opinion, in the time that I've been here in North Haven, um the only way that this budget is going to get more funds added is by doing it now before Wednesday when they vote on the final

138number to go to our referendum. As you heard tonight, a no vote at referendum will likely result in further reductions. Um you heard somebody ask earlier what Mr. Doheny expects that to possibly be and I know that that's up to their board when we get to that point, but by that estimate, it would be a a minimum of $2 million that would have to come off and that would likely be shared between the town and the Board of Ed. And I know for a fact that the Board of Board of Ed cannot endure another million dollars off of where we currently stand. It will be devastating. So, while I'm here to ask for the Board of Finance to restore funds on Wednesday before we go to referendum, I'm also here to ask that if for

139some reason that doesn't happen, that the residents do vote yes on this budget so that we don't endure further reductions. Whatever you want to call them. I know that technically it's an increase, but as you heard the Superintendent of Schools say that it's I think $2,000 besides for what we need in order to cover um the contractual increases and the medical and dental insurance that is causing most of this increase. Um So, yeah. That's that's what I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> You speak? Are you coming to speak? Okay, great. Sheryl Studley, 69 Minuteman Drive. I'm a North Haven resident. I'm also North Haven Middle School World Languages. I'm not going to tell you that my three boys went to North Haven schools, all took Spanish all the way up,

140and already are beginning to see the importance of it in today's world. Not just for traveling, but everywhere they go. Languages are a safe space for many students to be creative and turn into superhumans who can be helpful members of their community and global citizens. I'm also not going to tell you that I finally found the place where I'm supposed to be and I plan for this to be my forever job. I'm also not going to tell you that I'm really good at what I do and Mr. Stark saw that the day he chose me. Uh from the letters that I was advised to request from my administrators and my department coordinator, I am valued and we all are. I'm sending well-prepared Spanish students to the high school and they have also personally contacted me

141to tell me so. Last week, some of them showed up at the workshop to show support. The situation is beyond feelings. It's beyond what's good for kids. I have felt so valued until this. And now I just feel like a number. I have a family to feed and I thank Mr. Stark and the Board of Ed for choosing to save the people. >> [applause] >> Would anyone else like to speak? Mr. Crisco, are you looking to speak again? Yes, I am. Okay. Uno momento. Un momento. Uh anyone else? Because he already spoke, so I have to make sure everybody else has had their first try. Going once. Going twice. Okay, Mr. Crisco. Thank you very much. Five more minutes. Thank you very much. Again, Peter Criscola. Just have a couple of things to add. First,

142I appreciate Mary White and my dear friend Dave Cowan about doing the two for two or the split. I'm not in favor of that. It does not help us. Okay? It does It's putting a band-aid on heart surgery. It does not help us. And I'm not going to go against another union body. Whether it be the police or public works. I'm not going to ask them to give up something, public works, so we can have something. I'm not going to ask the PD to give up something. We have two officers in the back of the room. They got here in a vehicle. They did not walk. So, they need their vehicles. If the chief needs something, he doesn't arbitrarily just say I want it. He needs it for a reason. So does the superintendent of

143schools. So does Department of Public Works superintendent. If he is asking for things, if he asks for it, he needs it. Police need it. Fire chief needs it. You put two firefighters on it. You can't man any piece of apparatus. We go out short now. The engine and the NFPA should have a minimum of four. We go out with three. We should have four. So, putting two firefighters on really doesn't help. It gives us an extra set of hands on two shifts. You can put one on one shift, one on another shift. It's not the cure-all. That's number one. Number two, if we put on the four, and I know Mr. Cowan knows his numbers a lot better than I do. And so does Tim. I don't have all the percentages and everything else. But

144let me ask you a question. It's $160,000 for five fire approximately? Without equipment? Do you want to weigh in on this? No, the men The men and the equipment. No, but 165. The equipment. It's 6,000. It's 6,000. Turnout gear is 6,000. Turnout gear I think is more than six. No, it's $6,000 a year. I don't know what it is this year. Okay, so let's say it's 175 out the door. But that's 600 for four firefighters. How much do we pay in overtime last year? That we have some of our firefighters working three shifts. So, I know they're not getting the extra medical, but they're paying the overtime. They're paying one and a half times. So, if you take some of that money out, and you put that towards hiring new firefighters, we don't need to

145take a reduction of two firefighters. We could go ahead with the four. Take that overtime money and put it back in to new healthy firefighters. Not killing our guys. You're wearing our guys out. I hate to say this, but we lost three firefighters under 55 years old in 36 months. What do you think? Not good. They're overworked. They're overstressed. People say, "Well, you don't have that many fire calls." No, you're right. We have a lot of medical calls. But at 3:00 in the morning when you're sound asleep, have somebody tap you on the shoulder and flick the lights in your bedroom and sound off an alarm. In less than less than 120 seconds, you're in the apparatus rolling off the apron. And then have somebody call up on the radio and say, "Engine one, it

146was a mistake. False alarm. Go back." Your heart rate is still pumping. It doesn't stop pumping for another 3 hours. So, they need their rest, too. Like I said, someone working three shifts. That's a lot of overtime. Financially and deprivation of rest and sleep. And also, we said that you've never seen a budget where it came out higher than we went in before the Board of Finance ruled on it. Well, we're supposed to be a town that tells the Board of Finance what we want. It's open government. And that's not true about not coming out with Like I said earlier, Mike Frieda had the foresight, the business savvy, knowing what to do years ago on the Board of Finance when he called a recess, and everybody said we're not going to have the money to

147put a brand new rescue vehicle for the fire department. Mike Frieda got it passed. 30 seconds, Mr. Criscola. Listen, we need this. It would be a travesty if we do not put the firefighters on, the four firefighters. And again, I will not go after any other department to take from them to give to us. I'm 100% union guy. I'm the only I'm the only commissioner in the state of Connecticut that you union endorsed locally, statewide, and by the international Washington. So, I'm not going against any union guy. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi. Hi, I didn't feel like you could talk about adding back into the budget. But personally, I want to add back in four firefighters. I don't care if it's $800,000. I want them in. I also want the

148five special ed positions. I know if it's 500,000. I thought that was kind of low what they were talking about. But whatever it is, put it in. Okay, so it's 1.56%, 1.58. Okay, bring it up to 2%. Bring your mill up two two mill. If that's what you have to do to make our town safe and to provide for our kids. All right? Because a lot of our kids are very fortunate that they don't need special needs. They're very fortunate. And then there's the kids that need it. Give them what they deserve. They deserve a fair chance. And our firefighters are our lifeline. And [snorts] as Pete was saying, all right, my father was a volunteer fireman for 50 years. So, it takes wear and tear on your body, on your family, on your mind.

149There's so much more into being a firefighter than just hopping onto a truck and going to a call. It's a it's a whole body. It's destroying. You need to get your men here. You need to provide for the guys that are already there. Thank you. Mr. Friedman. Hi, Scott Friedman, Cooper Road. Um I wanted to add a few things. So, first and foremost, um earlier as I was leaving, you talked about uh two Well, positions being cut from the town side. As I understand it, it's two positions where there's been attrition, and they're not being replaced. So, again, no one is being fired from the town side to pass this budget or if you pass this budget. And unless I'm mistaken. >> You are mistaken. I am. Okay. Um from which department? >> I'm I'm

150losing a a position in in my office. Tax collector side. So, yes, there are jobs being deleted. It's happening. Okay. I am going to come back then to the slide that's been up here the whole time is a slide that shows an increase. And there's been talk about this uh continuing to uh you know, support the services that we are giving in our schools. That is not the case. At the moment, we're losing five special ed teachers that are needed to run programs that we already have and we've committed to students for. We are losing eight uh teachers being who are retiring and not being replaced. We are losing an additional what, four um non uh certified teachers. These are teachers These are classrooms that will not have teachers. These are um other teachers who

151are going to be moved around. This is not a a stasis budget. And I want to make a really clear point because I've been at every one of these budget meetings for the last five years. This was a foregone conclusion when you started raiding the medical insurance reserve fund from the teachers. I want to make it really, really, really clear. This increase is not out of nowhere. We talked about it the last 2 years. We had the the the actuarial required amount of funds in a medical insurance reserve fund at the Board of Ed. And for 2 years in a row, or maybe it's two over three years, we raided that fund in order to balance the budget. Once during the budget cycle, and once after the first budget failed. But what happened this past

152year is that parents showed up. They were maligned for months afterwards by Board of Finance and at the time Board of Selectman members. But they were maligned for showing up for a popsicle party. And do you know what I saw when I walked onto the green that day? I saw our community coming together to support our teachers, to to our students. And we need to continue doing that. We cannot take 12 teachers out of these schools, not replacing them or letting them go. And at this point, we need four firefighters. We need the additional firefighters so that we don't have a ton of overtime pay. I've watched this in Hamden. Part of the reason that Hamden is suffering tax-wise is because they're paying overtime to existing employees who are then working, you know, that overtime

153instead of hiring the new people. We need to It's not a matter of not spending money. Everything is more expensive now. There is no doubt about it. I pay more for every service I get. I pay more for my house. I pay more, but we need in this town to support education. Our taxes stay low in part artificially. Brandy Mandato made a great point earlier about how we need vision driving the budget, not caps. And I think somebody else said that we need more money coming in from the state. There is absolutely no doubt that our first selectman has been up in Hartford talking to the state about raising the ECS cost uh amount. They are artificially lowering the amount of money they're sending to towns, and they're putting us in a really bad position.

154But we don't have to do that. 30 seconds. For effectively five to seven dollars per month per per household, we can fund the four firefighters, and we can fund the teachers that we're cutting from these schools. And I urge you to vote yes if we don't see more, but ultimately to push the Board of Finance, and I and I really hope you're listening, to push the Board of Finance, the Director of Finance, and the first selectman to restore the budget requests so that we have good public safety and good public schools. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Would anyone else like to speak? Now is the time. This is your time. If you're here and you want to say something, come on up. Going once. Going twice. Okay, so as a reminder,

155this is the end of the public hearing, and our next the next meeting on the budget will be the Board of Finance, then we will have the annual budget town meeting in Excuse me, May, along with the budget referendum. Thank you very much for coming out tonight and participating. Good evening.