001Our budget cycle is all determined by state uh by well it's state statute on what we can do but our town charter on how we roll it out and what we can do and there's not a lot of opportunity for us to have inter thank you there's not a lot of opportunity for us this is for WHCI so you're not going to hear my amplification Um there's not a lot of opportunity for us to have an exchange with the public about budgets. You we do receive emails. We receive comments. I I do meet with people, but we have public hearings that we just receive the comments and we can't really answer questions. So, we really wanted to have a put in some interactive times. And with our all of our schedules and all that, we
002we scheduled three. We had one um a couple of weeks ago at the Bishop's Corner um senior center uh and we're doing actually two today. The board of ed votes on their budget tomorrow. So, it's a very tight time frame for us and we vote the town council votes on our budget on April 22nd at our meeting. Again, all by charter. Uh so, we just wanted to h open up and and try to have an interactive do a we're going to do a short presentation. our our town manager and our superintendent will do a a short presentation on how the budget works and and what goes into it. Uh and then we'll open it up for questions and input from you guys and um probably you know we'll you know 10:00 10:30 depending on how
003things go we'll wind up. So um thank you so much again for being here for caring. It's a very very special community and it's because of residents like you that are engaged that we are we are outstanding in the state and nationally. So, thank you. Thank you. Sure. You guys want to sit? Well, I want to make sure we introduce. Okay. So, I I'll start. We'll just do introductions and then we'll sit down and and go through our presentation. I'm Paul Venus, superintendent of schools. I'm going to pass to my left and to my right. Rick Ledwith, town manager. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. Good morning. Laura Thomas Ferguson, chair of the board of education. Ethan Goldman. I'm on the board of education. Uh Ben Wenrad, deputy mayor. Okay. Ready? So sit. Are
004you guys going to stand or you No, we can. I can stand. Actually, you guys can sit. Can you see me behind the All right. I'm going to come out in front. Um, and I want to echo the mayor's uh welcome and uh a thanks for your engagement in this process. Um, let's see here. Um, we're going to I'm going to try to give a stay condensed. I have a short presentation, a couple of slides and then and then my colleague, Mr. Ledwith, will will do the same just to give you an overview of the big parts of the budget and and really to talk through budget drivers with you. Um so as you may know um 81% of the board of education budget um really is comprised of salary and benefits at the end
005of the day. Um I would say it's probably true for both the town and for the board of education. We're a people business. We don't we don't make things. We don't have a dramatic uh overhead. Um and uh really our money goes into people. So, um, when we when we add to the budget, we're typically, uh, adding people. And if we take away from the budget, we're typically taking away people. Um, this year, in terms of the drivers themselves, uh, in terms of what what's a driver on the budget, we're contending with a 5.2% increase in salaries based on a market settled contract negotiation. Uh, but the real hit comes from a 9.9% increase in our health insurance premiums. Um it's in light of those increases that we've really had to look and try to
006tighten um positions wherever we can. So I have recommended to the board of education um the equivalent of 8.2 two fewer positions from this current year's funding uh with some tightening and some reductions in enrollment uh while preserving at the same time all of the programming and all of the educational services um that the uh residents would expect. This positions us 40 positions previous uh 40 positions fewer from two previous years ago when we were when we had the benefit of the ESSER funding. And in terms of uh you know what that return on investment means for for the community. Um West Harford was again voted the number one place to live. Uh multiple years running based in large part um on the A+ rating of our schools. Um and we're also boasting several as
007you can read up on the slide uh music educator of the year, outstanding arts administrator of the year. every year uh someone from within our within our teaching ranks or administration is uh being recognized on a state or national scale and we're very very proud of that. Um the real significant budget driver that you've likely uh heard me talk about has to do with outof district tuition and associated transportation. Um, and this pertains specifically to students um, in our special education program who require services that we're unable to provide directly to the school. And and I say that with absolutely no uh, no slight on um on that investment that that is that is a critical investment for us as a district. Um, I say that really, you know, in recognition of the flat state
008funding that exists. Um, what I can tell you is it's the most significant increase that exists within our budget, the tuition line. It's an increase of 39.6% from the current funding. That's roughly $3.7 million. Transportation for uh transportation overall, just the entire transportation budget, adds about 1.3 million uh based on their increases for the coming year. But uh that's a 12.2 increase. It's also based on some increased number of routes necessary. In the face of these increases, we're adjusting to an anticipated $100 million statewide shortfall in the excess cost reimbursement. Um, our state legislature legislators and specifically the West Harford delegation uh recently worked with the governor to partially fund the current shortfall that exists for this year. Uh, and they they came up with $40 million for us this year. and there's a promise
009of an additional $40 million in the 2627 school year. The difficulty is that there's a gap for next year and currently uh we're not hearing of any plans uh to fulfill that gap. So in light of this uh we're exploring a number of things. We're exploring regional busing routes for out of district placements in order to lower our transportation costs. We're exploring a piloting of a new program um and an alternative to one facet of out of uh district placement. In addition, we have a wealth uh because folks are talking about, hey, why don't you why don't you have some programs like we have a wealth of programs, our learn our early learning center, our intensive academic intensive behavioral programs, our school engagement program, and our strive program. And one thing that we did was
010I asked uh my director of finance to kind of run the total cost of that and then and then take a stab at what that would be um if those students were outplaced as those services, you know, are not something that's universal. Uh it's something that we can provide as a larger district. And and it comes at a cost savings of of roughly $35 million if we had to outplace all those students. So, we're looking at what additional programs we might be able to offer um you know to offset some of this, but that's really the big the big piece. Finally, programming needs. Um there are some programming needs mainly within special education where I'm adding 4.5 positions in the coming year. Um that 4.5 addition is amid a net decrease of 8.2 overall. All
011right. So, I add those four and a half and and it's like a little other more than 12 other cuts to bring us to a net 8.2. Um, the intent there is to preserve all of our existing programming while finding savings through more efficient SCA staffing and scheduling. We do expect to trim some part-time staffing uh with cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, preserving programming in those departments, namely intervention, counseling, a small cut within gifted and talented, and a cut to an instructional coach. Um the return on investment, as you can see, you know, we're extremely proud of the accomplishments of our school. This this most recent year, every year I can put on six or seven sort of accomplishments like this. So, this is for this most recent year. Six named
012schools of distinction. Um, our blue ribbon school, actually that's a couple years ago. Our high school is in the top 3% of all schools nationally. That's a year-over-year accomplishment and and it builds on the foundation of our prek12 programming. Um, we have a realized savings of $2.7 million based on early college experience uh in tuition savings for parents. Um, and hey, our hockey team was our most recent uh sport to take state uh recognition title. Uh, but we have programs that are recognized regionally and nationally for their excellence. Um, I know that that's something that brings people to the district and that's something that I'm trying to uh to do my best to preserve. So, uh, the summary of the overall budget before I turn it over to Mr. led with um we start from
013kind of uh where we are this year at a roughly 200 uh almost $20 million budget uh for the current year and we typically will try to say okay I'm going to roll that forward with next year's prices uh presuming that we preserve everything that we're doing that the town has come to expect. That's that's a roll forward increase of just just over $16 million. Um, we look at the recommended changes uh that I've kind of given a very broadstroke description to here, but much more detail in in uh the meetings that we've had with our board of education uh for a reduction of just a more than 1.5 million to a recommended overall increase to the budget of 14.4 million. Um it's a 7.2% increase. It is it is an above average increase. Um,
014since the time that I first presented to the board, we have had a lot more towns come in with where they are. And while we're still above average, we're in we're in we're in some company and we're in better company than when we first started. But there are a number of districts that are kind of being hit um equivalently by this state shortfall in the excess cost funding, which is really the driver to my budget. Um what I will say about it is uh we're we are um over the course of of my time in the district when I was in when I was personally as a child in elementary school, West Hartford had the second highest um per pupil expenditure in in the state. Now that I'm in my 31st year in the district,
015uh or actually over my 31 years in the district, uh we've gone from 48th position to 100th in per pupil expenditures last and over the last 10 years, we've been in the lowest third um of districts n of districts statewide in terms of per pupil. So my intent with that is to demonstrate um what we do um for the quality that we get is is quite a return on investment. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Ledwith. Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone. And um just to take a moment to echo the the mayor's opening comments. Um we appreciate this opportunity to engage with our community in a different way than we normally do. And as the mayor had pointed out, we have this public hearing process that we go through every year.
016Folks can come out um and they can essentially opine on our budget and but it's not a back and forth. It's not the opportunity to do what we're doing this morning and that's have a conversation about what what we're dealing with this year and it's it's a significant challenge uh as highlighted by Paul right there. Um but we want to take this opportunity to have this back and forth even beyond this morning. We have another session this evening uh at the Noah Webster House. Uh we have a couple public hearings coming up on the town side over the next couple of weeks as well. But if you want to sit down and get into more detail about this budget, it's big. It's, you know, if anyone's looked at the budget overall, it's 480 pages. Um
017but happy to talk about the nuances that are within the budget and how they all kind of fit together to end up where we are and and what we do. Uh our our challenges this year were very similar to the board side. It's a a salary and benefits. Um our salaries are up 3.5 million, benefits up 3.6 million. Uh and that's help that's driving our 5.7% increase on the town side. Um, but we do feel, you know, between the services that we provide on the town side, our exceptional school district, there's a value that we provide in our community. And as uh highlighted by um by the mayor and and and our superintendent Nich just recognized West Harford as being the best town to live in for the eighth straight year. And it's easy and
018I I talked to my staff about this as well. It's like it's year after year we're like the best town to live in. and you kind of set you almost start to take that for granted and it's not anything we ever take for granted. Everything we do every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, we're working to make our community better. Uh both on the school side, on the town side, and that's our goal. We never want to take that for granted. We want to be the best. We want to build on what we're doing and continue to move West Harford forward. And a lot of that is built into our budget this year. We are going to obviously this is this is a budget that was presented by me and then by
019our superintendent, our town council and our board of education are very working very hard with us right now to find opportunities to minimize that tax impact. So the the number that you've seen is not the number that we're we're going to end up. We're going to continue to work with our community um and try to balance as best we can uh what we're providing for our community and where that you know ultimate tax increase comes in and and we understand the challenge there. Um just for a moment back to the benefits actually and and Paul uh highlighted this. We are with the uh state partnership plan. So, we're one of, I'd say, 60 communities around the state who um we did it a few years ago. We did it seven years ago. We moved from
020our own healthcare plan onto the state plan, hoping to take advantage of economies of scale by having a much larger uh pool of employees to draw from. And and it and it has paid off. So, the first year that we moved to the state partnership plan seven years ago, we saved $2 million for our taxpayers. And since then, the following year, we had a 1% increase. The year after that, we had a decrease in our health care costs. So over seven years, we've averaged 4.2% uh as an increase in healthcare. And that's that's below in um healthcare inflation. Um this year was 9.9%. It was driven primarily by inpatient hospital costs as well as prescription drug costs. Um not a number that we're happy with. We don't. Unfortunately, the mayor's had a number of conversations
021with the state controller. That number is not going to change. Uh so it's a it's a higher number this year than it has been in the past, but we're hopeful that uh we'll see that number come down uh long term if if we continue to see challenges and we'll we'll do what we always do and we'll take a closer look at uh that plan that we're with that we're in and constantly look for uh potential savings where possible as we move forward. So, uh, other drivers operating expenses. So, our operating expenses as a town are $31 million. Um, and this year we've maintained we've kept that number flat, which um was not easy. So, last year we increased that number by $1.8 million. So, to keep that number flat in an inflationary time period that
022we're all living in right now is it's difficult. um everything we're doing, you know, whether it's our household expenses, shopping, etc. Uh same thing with us when we're purchasing salt, sand, plows, uh police cars, fire trucks, you name it. Um everything's costing a little bit more. We've kept that number flat. We're working with each of our departments and our directors, and we're managing our budget as if it was our budget at home. And if we if we need something if we need to purchase more salt uh for our roads, then we're going to do something different uh within another portion of that public works uh budget. So um so we're very very lean in that uh operating expense um area. So capital financing again that's a number that's fairly flat as well from year to
023year. Um but we will not uh we we need to maintain our infrastructure and we're committed to um always enhancing on that building on that and continuing as I said earlier making West Harford great. Um we have uh accomplish accomp excuse me accomplished a lot uh over the past year. Um we will continue uh working to make our roads safer. As folks have heard, we've had a a commitment to vision zero and uh we completed about 115 projects over the last year and we'll continue to build on that this year with uh with even more projects uh as well as a commitment to quick build projects to um see some of that impact a lot sooner as well. So um so that's those two drivers. So um overall, as folks know, we are aa rated
024community. Um, so, um, that has a benefit to our residents as we move forward. It allows us to, as I talked about our capital improvement plan and, uh, capital financing. We're able to borrow money at a, uh, lower number, uh, than most communities around the, uh, state. And that allows us to, again, it's a benefit for all of our residents to uh, to keep that those costs down and um, maintain our infrastructure and build on it. Grand list growth. Uh we've had a lot of questions uh about uh the development that's happening happening around town and you know literally and on every corner of uh of our town from north to south you see some form of development happening. Um so a lot of there's a strong commitment to multifamily and mixeduse development. Uh an
025incredible commitment to affordable housing. Uh our council has committed uh $7 million in ARPA funds. Those are funds that we received from the federal government during COVID. Uh we've um invested that $7 million in affordable housing. And we've increased our affordable housing from 7.45% to 8% over this past year. And if you total up all the development that's happening around town and included the affordable uh units that is in that development, that number will grow to 9%. Um folks are asking, all right, with all that development, why are we not seeing a decrease in our taxes um or in our um our mill rate? Everything that you're seeing right now is is in some form of development. A lot lot hasn't even been built yet, but the projects that you are seeing are in some,
026you know, process of the uh construction process uh construction schedule. So, we're not seeing that dollar for-dollar impact on that growth quite yet. So, we're about next year will be a little bit better. Two years out, as we see some of these projects that were recently uh approved by our council, we'll see that number even grow more. But that being said, this year we did have a $61 million increase in our grand list um which helped to to minimize that tax impact a little bit. So, um, we do have in and everything we do, um, when we're back working on our budget, just not now, but throughout the entire year, is working to way for looking for ways to be more efficient and, um, find opportunities for savings where when when available. Uh, one example
027of that is our pension plan. So I talked about our AAA rated status uh um for bond purposes and we went through a uh a long period where we saw diminished returns in our pension plan. Um 3 years ago, uh our mayor and our town council had that vision of taking advantage of our AAA rated status, issuing pension obligation bonds to fund, um our um our funding status within the pension plan and to help reduce costs to our taxpayers long term. So, we did that three years ago. Uh we saved $2 million that year that we did it within our budget. Um, the amount that we contribute to our pension plan, uh, it's called the ADC, the actuarial determined employer contribution was $26 million back in 2022. Today, that number is $10 million. So, that
028number is reduced by $16 million. We do have to pay for those bonds. So the difference in our annual cost is made up in the amount that we um that we fund our um our debt through uh but taking advantage again of that AAA rated status. So um and today our our funding status stands at roughly 94 95%. So um and then you talk about grandless growth again and return on investment and obviously we're all seeing um the impact on our our home values. Um they're up everywhere as we know. Um they're up a little bit more here in West Harford uh with on average a 35% increase in the value of our homes. Any of us who may have looked around at our neighbors who might be selling, you're seeing there's no inventory. Those
029numbers continue to rise up. Um our grand list today is uh $7.2 billion. Uh met with our assessor last week. um in two years we're projected to see that grand list grow to $10 billion. So um just significant growth that's been occurring that will continue to occur over the next two years and and again I think it's it's a a function of the services that we provide. Our school district and our residents and our businesses are very much an important part of all of that. So this is uh overall our uh summary is a 6.55% increase in expenditures, 5.7 on the town, 7.2 for the education, 5.2 for capital. Uh does right now it's an increase of 2.86 mills uh which brings our mill rate up to 45.21 uh or 6.75% increase. Our motor vehicle
030mill rate uh of 32.46 46 uh does not change. That's a statemanded mandated rate. I just do want to comment on something. There was an article last week that indicated that our motor vehicle taxes were increasing by 5% and I just want to that's not what's happening. I just want to real quickly walk you through that uh change there. So this past year, the state mandated how municipalities, how cities and towns can assess their motor vehicles. And that change resulted in a mandated depreciation schedule that the state said, "All right, apply this uh depreciation schedule to all of your motor vehicles." That dropped our value by $50 million by implementing that um depreciation schedule. That impact was felt across the entire state. Legislation decided to back that change up realizing the impact that it was
031having on the entire state. So the state gave municipalities the option to essentially claw back that decrease in value, which is what we did. So we're going to collect $18 million in motor vehicle taxes this year. It's the exact same number of motor vehicle taxes that we collected last year. So our motor vehicle taxes are not going up. It's the depreciation schedule that uh the state mandated that they're allowing us to add 5% to each level of the depreciation schedule. I can get into the weeds if you wanted to on that, but it's um it is what it is. So, um so that's uh my summary. Um and then we're going to I I guess turn back over to our council and board of education for any final comments. And then what we'd love to
032do is engage in a in a back and forth with uh all of you. So, thank you again for being here this morning. U Thank you. So, I just want to put all of this what you just heard. I know we want to hear from you, but I just want to frame Well, I'm going to put it all in perspective, right? every and some of the emails that I get are indications of where what people are thinking and and maybe you know some some um perspectives and uh and some assumptions. We are a highly residential community. West Harford unlike certain other towns, Windsor, Farmington, other towns that have a more corporate presence uh in their community, it were residential. 10% of our revenues come from the state. It's very small compared to other states in
033the in the country. We a lot falls on the town to provide services. We provide we alone pretty much and it's our residents that provide all the resources for our schools, our police, our fire, our public works, which truly is what defines our community. Those are the highest. Then we have, you know, obviously our human and social services, our libraries and all that. Small small pieces of the budget would wouldn't move the needle much, but it's the schools number one, police number two, fire number three, public works number four. Those are the big items. They make up the majority of the budget. 90% of our revenue comes from property taxes. 90% of that comes from residential property taxes, just shy of that. So it really is our residents that have been shouldering a lot of
034what and again compared to other states we property taxes are are a driver on cost of living on everything. That's the structure that the state you know determined. We don't get a share of sales tax. We don't get a share of any fees that we collect. Every year we get mandates from the state that require us to fund something else. For instance, early voting where they pay less and less for something. So, um I'll give you an example. Our dog licenses. We are required to provide dog license. I think it's $9 a dog license. The town keeps $1. The state takes eight. It costs us more money as a town to administer the dog license than it does for us, too. So when we talk about cuts and we talk about the structure and reducing
035our property taxes, we are going to be reducing teachers, police, fire is a little bit more complicated, public works. We will not see those same response times. We will not see the same results in education because of these outside drivers. Um and it is extremely frustrating from uh as a as a you know an elected official as we look at what we can control and where we can do you know make cuts. The town side is as lean as can be. As lean as can be. There is no other town in the state of Connecticut with a a a town our size that does not have an assistant town manager. We have a town manager that actually his salary is not where it should be. Uh and and is and does not have an assistant.
036Nobody works harder. Nobody. And I you know and and I I just want to tell you that there's not fat. These are decisions that need to be made on what we are going to invest in our kids, what we're going to invest in our quality of life, what we're going to how safe our community is going to be. And believe me, our police are busy every single day doing things that are preventative uh and responding. So, um we also municipalities are facing an employee shortage. Um there's not a lot of communities that want to go into um municipal government. It used to be that those benefits were very rich. They would get rich pension plans, defined benefit pension plans, and some other things. We are competing. That's not the case anymore. A lot of people
037want to work remotely. A lot of people, you know, might All of our almost all of our police have uh advanced degrees, undergraduate degrees and advanced degrees as well. We get cream of the crop, but we we have to be competitive on our salaries to to get them. Um, and we are competing and the same thing with education. We're competing with with all of that. And so I know some of the faces here and I know that you understand and support and you probably are here to say we need to invest in our kids and we need to invest in our communities. But I do want you to say to tell you that you know uh the school population uh we have 9,000 students. How what's the percentage of households that have kids in school
038off? Do you remember? Is it 30%. I thought it was about 30 and about 70% don't. Yeah. So 70% of our community doesn't have kids in the schools that are feeling and so we get those emails that say I'm on a fixed income. I can't afford to keep raising th that fixed cost uh you know 6 7%. This is an outlier. Our our past um increases have been more in the 2 three and a half% range sort of in line with inflation. This year we have this special education that the state is flat or actually reducing or and excess cost and we have um a uh insurance costs that are uh exceedingly high uh for this particular year that's pushing our our our rate so high. But anyway, that's just a little soap box and
039uh I don't know if anyone Hello. Uh good morning once again and so glad all of you are here. Thank you so very much for the presentation and summarizing all that has been shared. Um just want to echo what has been shared but also want to encourage for you all to share your thoughts. We are here to hear your thoughts and your concerns and your suggestions. Cannot echo and advocate enough and first of all I want to thank my board colleague Ethan for being here um as well. Cannot echo enough the importance of what we're talking about. uh we're talking about numbers, but more importantly, these numbers relate to people relate to little people that are going to grow up. As uh the mayor just made reference to, we know that of the total town
040budget, the majority of it does reflect um input from the board of education. However, we represent a minority of the town. So, that's an inverse relationship right there. And that's why we're so glad to have this opportunity to engage because it's important for all persons to be aware of what goes into the budget because all hands are on deck with in this regard. We know that for the past several years we have been preparing for this moment in time. We knew that yes come 2020 when we had an influx of funds we knew those were borrowed funds essentially. It was not uh indefinite funds. was time limited funds. And here we are at this time right now of really trying to recognize how we continue allocating funds moving forward. Not just thinking about the here
041and the now, but our time down the road. We are very appreciative of our state delegation who recognizes our concerns and has been advocating on our behalf on the state level. Reference has already been made of the challenges of reimbursement funding that we would like more of, but nonetheless, we're working with what we have. We're here to hear your thoughts, your questions, your suggestions, and thank you again for sharing your time. While you're hanging, I just want to do I do want to also say that we're looking at some very stark uh situation with federal funding coming our way and that is something that's weighing on us very heavily. Um we have a couple grants in limbo. Um, we don't know if we'll get them or not, but I'm just as a as a little
042footnote. Hi, thanks for talking to us. Um, I'm Jason Wang. I live on four mile road. Um, so, uh, Mayor Sherry, you mentioned there's no fat in the budget. Um, I was poking around the budget. Um, one thing that seems like a kind of a financial albatross is, um, parking. Um, looking at the numbers, we expect to bring in $2.2 2 million in fiscal year 2026. We expect to spend or lose basically $3.2 million on the same parking, but that doesn't appear to include capital expenditure of $10 million over the next two years for the parking garages, which is that's that's $10,000 per space. And I went up to the parking garage um this weekend and the top three levels were empty. Um, so when when that that seems like a crazy expenditure when we're
043talking about, you know, I understand that the kids, you know, that our kids may have to deal with a little less because of inflation. Um, but there's there hasn't really been a lot of conversation about these really extraordinary parking expenses. Um, you know, raising the do we're basically subsidizing parking in the center. Um all of us are um business owners outside of um West Harford Center, all residents. Um and it's a huge subsidy. Um it's probably several dollars per hour. So if somebody from Avon comes in um and and goes to our town center, we're as town people, we are subsidizing, you know, people to use our parking. Um, and there there probably is a realistic conversation about, you know, do we subsidize people park on parking so that they spend more money in in
044town? But then when you look at three floors of empty spaces, that's kind of painful because every 10 spaces is a teacher salary. Um, and and that number is crazy. Like $10,000 per space, not to build, but to renovate. Uh I I mean how is how is that how is that figure arrived at? Can it be deferred? And is there a plan to get rid of a parking garage or increase the fee for parking or recognizing that town's people are subsidizing, you know, give pe give residents a break on parking, you know, like an hour free every day and and maybe charge people out of towners more. Um because I I think it's reasonable to ask, you know, if we're not going to raise taxes at the rate of inflation, it's reasonable to ask people,
045including parents and kids to give back a little bit, but we haven't talked about uh this money losing parking system giving back a little bit. Whether that is increasing fees or decreasing our liabilities or just like again looking at that $10 million like that almost doesn't pass the smell test to me. Like how can we spend $10 million $10,000 per parking space to renovate? Thank you, Jason. And uh happy to answer that question. I'll I'll try to answer it as succinct. It's a complicated um arrangement that we have. Arrangement is probably not the right word to use, but I understand your question. So, we do have um we have a parking lot fund where all of our when we go into the center, we go to Blueback Square, we pay for parking, that revenue goes
046into our parking lot fund. We also have all of our expenses of our pock parking operation in that parking lot fund. So right now it's a it's a sufficient self-suffi sufficient um fund where the revenues are funding the expenses. There's a another piece of this that's outside of the parking lot fund. And so back in 2005 when uh Blueback Square was developed, um our council back then had the uh the vision to um to look at the possibility of building parking garages to support the development and then establish a special services district. We call it an SSD. So since that time, um, the Blueback Square tenants and residents of the Heritage Park condominium complex have been paying an SSD tax to be part of the special services district. So, and then the parking that's in
047their garages and in Blue Square is in our special services district fund, not in our parking lot fund. And there's an exchange uh transfer uh from an accounting standpoint that happens every year between those two funds. But we've used um that tax and the revenues and blueback to fund the debt of the parking garages. So we paid for those garages through that process. So garages were built 20 years ago and um you have to renovate a garage structure that that's that it's that old. believe it or not, it's 20 20 years old now. Um, so we are committed to using bonding funds. So we will bond I talked about our capital financing. So we will bond the the cost to renovate both of those structures and we will fund that through our CIP. So we're
048bonding at a lower interest rate number. we're not taking the cost of those renovations, putting it into our parking lot fund where we would in fact have a a deficit, a large deficit, and then we'd have to tax our residents separately for that. So, we're it's like any of our assets, our fax and library, our schools, our um fire stations, police station. Anytime we have to do any kind of significant renovation on any of our assets, we will bond um the cost of that construction or renovation through our CIP, borrow the money at a lower interest rate, and then pay for that over 15 years. So, um and just real super final point here. So when that special services district ends at the end of this year cuz we paid off our debt and we're
049no longer collecting that tax from um the from Blueback and and the heritage as well, the revenue within the special services district will flow over directly into the parking lot fund now. So we have one more year in this structure. Next year um that revenue flows over to our parking lot fund and our positive balance will continue to increase. uh over the uh in the future. Not to say that the point of looking at potentially raising our rates isn't something we should consider. Absolutely. Um looking at there's not much that we're not considering or looking at almost every single year. Um and and you bring up great points about our garages and we're we're looking at a couple things there as well. Um but again, we will that's just what we do normally throughout the
050year to do what we can to find ways to uh minimize the impact uh that any of these operations have on our taxpayers. So does that help answer your question, Jason? Yeah, thank you. Um so I guess what what I'm you're you're saying that it's self- sustaining. Just even putting out the the capital expenditures aside though, it doesn't look like it's self-sustaining. it looks like it loses a million dollars a year and then the capital expenditures that's not free money. I mean we're still paying for that. It's just we're paying with it over time with interest. Um so correct. Yeah. I is it is it is the system self- sustaining or is it like kind of like insolvent and we're losing money on it. I guess I didn't hear it is self-sustaining once we So
051we have four million we we collect $4 million in parking revenue a year. You're only seeing a part of that because we have two separate funds where that revenue is going into the special service district fund which is probably a couple page later ends after this year and all of the revenue and the SSD now flows over into the parking lot fund. Okay. And so if it is self-sustaining um I mean do we really need to spend $10,000 per space again? That's like that's a that's pretty extraordinary just to renovate. We do. Yeah. So we we we hired a consultant uh to come in and and take a look. It wasn't us, you know, looking around the garages deciding, all right, what do we need to do? We hired an expert and engineers to look
052at our structures. And if you look at any kind of parking lot garage of our size or even larger around the the country, um any expert out there would tell you, yeah, at 20 years, you need to you should you could argue we should have been doing something sooner uh and spreading that out over time. But we're at the point now where we absolutely have to make um those renovation changes to to our garages. the the um escalators that folks see that are in the garages now, if you've ever taken one, those are $5 million and and they have a useful life of of 20 years. So, um it's a lot of money. I I understand that, but it's, you know, there are some things that we absolutely have to do. Yeah. I I do
053again want to just put it a little bit in perspective. Blueback Square is our third largest taxpayer in the town. Uh and those parking garages support the businesses in Blue Square. That was the park that was the Blueback Square agreement that you know 20 years ago was designed actually more than that designed in a way that that parking lot structure. Uh obviously you don't want a parking lot structure like that is way more efficient uh and way more sustainable than uh parking you know parking um uh lots and whatever. But we are going to be looking at we couldn't look at selling those garages or refinancing them in some or some other financial structure until the um until the uh SSD uh the loans were paid off. Uh and now they are and will be
054and we are going to be looking at every single kind of financing arrangement that could be done. Those those uh improvements need to be done whether we sell the garages or we don't sell them. It doesn't matter. So those uh improvements need to make just like school improvements you know that per you know if there's you know fewer students you still have to provide the same you know structure. So uh the fees for sure we're going to be looking at and I am I would uh expect pretty assuredly that we will be changing our our parking uh fee structure. Thank you. Uh Jackie Yakabazi, I um I am a mother of a first grader at Brayburn. Um let me first say thank you all for what you do as civil servants. It is not an
055easy job and these decisions can't happen in a vacuum. So I appreciate the walkthrough of the budget. Um and that if we're looking at a whole puzzle, we have to look at all the pieces, not just one. Um but to be selfish, I'd really like to understand what the other options are. Clearly what what is being brought forth is what this group feels is the best option. So fair but I'd like to understand what the other options were in terms of classroom size. So for Brayburn the proposal is that for our fourth graders which doesn't affect my kid for a while um but it will um they're going to go from three classrooms down to two and 27 children in a class. I don't know who that's worse for, the kids or the teacher. Um,
056it's challenging for both. Um, I was volunteering in the first grade class the other day for 20 and wow, God's work. And, um, but it really there's so many factors and at least at Brayburn, we have children that have different behavioral needs. So, there's going to be more those folks in our classes um that require more resources, which there's going to be cuts there and things. But um maybe you can talk a little bit about what the other options are because I really don't think 27 children in a class works. And I and I don't I know we can look at nationally and and what other states are doing, but we live in Connecticut and we live in West Hartford and I live in West Hartford. I'm a lifelong resident, but because I would I
057had a much bigger house that I wanted in Bloomfield, but I knew that I'd be raising my family here. Um so if you could talk about those options, I'd appreciate it. hap happy to do so. Um, so couple of things. Um, class size has been certainly the the one of the largest topics that I've certainly seen and and I know uh probably a lot of folks here if you have school age children that's a that's a concern. Um, I want to talk about what maybe some folks don't don't necessarily realize uh on the class size um front in general. So, up on uh the West Harford Board of Education website, my my recommended budget is up there and there's a data supplement that I think a lot of people are are looking at and referencing
058indicating um hey, these are the projected class these are the projected class sizes if we did a strict adherence to our class size guidelines. um with 27 being um the maximum that we would look at in a fourth or fifth grade and that is a jump from third grade uh K through three is 23 as the guideline maximum. Um so not surprisingly a lot of the uh questions I'm getting are from current third grade families as as they look at the increase into fourth grade. Um to answer your question, Jackie Brabburn specifically, um you know, it shows on on that page, um as it does for a couple of other uh schools and grade levels, hey, right now or at the time that this was printed, which was when we first did the budget proposal
059or a week or so before, there was an anticipated enrollment in fourth grade at Brayburn of 54 kids. Um so the paper shows two sections of 27. However, way at the bottom, it shows there are three sections still left to give relative to the number of uh number of sections because this is just a moment in time. Um so if that held true, um you know, some folks have written in and asked me, you know, because they've seen my comment to that and said, "Hey, hey Paul, if you were to distribute those three available sections today, where do you think they'd go?" Um, and there's a number of factors that play into that. Not the least of which, like you say, at at a school like Brayburn, for instance, I have an intensive behavioral program.
060So, what's the density of students that we're serving um with those needs in those particular grade levels? What's the frequency of time that they might be expected to be in those classrooms? What does it look like, say, in some of my other schools where maybe I have a higher ELE population? A lot of those things. But if but if you told me where do I think I'd throw the three sections, I'd throw them at the places that had the 27. We had our second board workshop last week and I asked my um I asked my uh director of finance and planning to rerun numbers so I could have the most up-to-date numbers for that meeting. Um so that would uh the rerun of those numbers had two factors that were um that were variables. Number
061one, move in or move out. So any changes in enrollment in general and then number two uh the recent magnet lotteryies that we ran for Charter Oak and Smith. So assuming that all folks who uh had applied to the magnet lottery that were selected for the magnet lottery will then attend because they've they're just in the process of being notified. Hey, you applied. You you you won a seat in the first round. Please confirm that you'd like to attend. So assuming that those numbers were rerun uh so in many cases some of those numbers came down in Brayburn's case in the grade level you mentioned um the enrollment actually went up by one and that that meant now from 54 to 55 we would break that fourth grade automatically into three smaller sections of uh
062I think it's what is it 18 and 19 or something like that um you know which is like again had I applied that one section there that's what you'd be seeing anyway Okay, under these rerun numbers, hey, you know, again, another moment in time, there's going to be some folks that are happy because they're now just at that breaking point or they saw relief from the magnet. There are going to be some folks u who are going to be who are going to be less excited because now it would appear, for instance, I could just pick a school over here in second grade uh that's now at 23 and 23 and they were previously at three sections of 16, 16, and 15. Um, in this new run, I have four sections that I'd be able
063to give. And I would look at where I would give those four sections. Um, we do this every single year. This is not like a new thing. Uh, every single year we're we're faced with the same question. We we have a a specific number uh that we will budget for. um we will go into you know we make as many decisions as early as possible for obviously for uh staffing needs but then you know inevitably it's coming down and we're we're watching almost on a daily basis in the month of August folks who are moving in moving out what's the status of their registration process we'll have folks who who sign up but don't get through the registration process which you know translates to hey they were thinking of moving here and they started but
064they never finalized um we call them and say, "Are you really moving here?" Stuff like that. Um, and so by the time you all get your letters that say your teacher is going to be Mr. or Mrs. Jones, that's our that's our locking in date. Once we send you the letter, that's our contract with you. We're not going to disrupt that following that. So, we wait until until mid August. um where we have situations where where the moveins and things settle in such a way that we need to exceed the number of sections that we've budgeted for, we do that. We're doing that this year. We're three sections over what we put in for 9 months ahead of time because nine months ahead of time, we're giving it our best guess. Um and when we
065do that, um we then have to find a way to uh compensate for that. Now, at times some of that compensation can come in just from um hiring and you know we try to we try to hire um you know we average uh like when we do a budget for for folks that we don't know we'll average a salary at 75,000 which is somewhere you know I wouldn't say it's smack in the middle but maybe you know approaching the middle range plus 25,000 for benefits. So, uh, it's $100,000 for every every, uh, FTE that we don't that we can't attach a name to. We don't know how many years of experience, etc., etc. Uh, if we get some some newer teachers that come in, if if we're able, then we can realize some of those
066savings and we have the money budgeted in the in the payroll account to cover it. If not, then we have to find some savings. And we've done that. We've done that where we'll have a position that's on the books uh that we choose not to hire for. Whether that's not to hire for for the year, not to hire for for a portion of the year in order to realize some savings to uh because we whatever budget gets passed um ultimately first by the board of ed and then affirmed by the town council. We can't come in over budget. We have to, you know, we have to balance that budget by the end of the year. That's essentially a statute. Um, our other options, you asked about other options. Our other options become um finding something
067we're not going to do and trade for a classroom teacher. Um, so that, you know, and like I said, we're 81% people. Um, it's not about, you know, less paper and paper clips. It's about I'm going to hire this person to fill a hole over here and not over somewhere else. So, so those become the trade-offs. Uh, I want to I want to at least be more optimistic about what some of these class sizes look like. There's a larger question that folks have come to the board table to talk to the board about reooking at class size guidelines. I don't think any of us are opposed to that. I just don't think that this is person I won't speak for my board. I don't think this is the budget cycle where I can try to
068propose a reduction in class size guidelines uh given what the town is facing just uh but it's something I think you know we've heard we understand so I hope that addresses some of your question um I'm going to go there then there hi I'm Alicia Landau this is my husband Zach Landau um we moved into was to West Hartford this September. Um we're at Whiting Lane Elementary. Um we adopted our daughter from foster care when she was 4 years old in Alb, New York. And um looked all when he finished his medical residency, looked all over the Northeast to find the place where she would have the best academic opportunities and where she would be um around other students who look like her um and feel like connected. And we totally love this community. We
069love Whiting Lane. We're super happy to be here. Um but I'm really scared about class sizes. I understand that I'm I'm echoing what everyone's saying here. Obviously, the in a perfect world, we're looking at the budget and we're saying, "How can we reduce class sizes because the numbers are super outdated. I'm a occupational therapist. I've worked in schools. The needs of students are way higher than they ever were before in terms of students who are coming in learning English for the first time. Kids who, you know, because of co didn't have enough early childhood learning opportunities, um behaviors like just behavior management is incredibly challenging. So, obviously, like number one, at some point we need to revisit class sizes. Um, and then I guess the other part comes down to to equity. Um, and so
070we have schools that are title one and schools that are not. And we have schools where there's like winter's class, our daughter's class just a student just started last week. So we're now at 23 students, right? So first of all, students come in the middle of the year and you're not going to say no, you can't go to school. So it's like you're saying that you're you're putting all this money into it. You know, you know the roof is needs to be replaced, but you don't have the budget to support it for the for the upcoming year. And so we're already at capacity. How are you going to bring a teacher in mid- school year or if someone moves in and you know whatever the time is? Like I feel like it doesn't make sense
071to have everything hinging on one student coming or not coming. It just isn't fair to the families who are there and the teachers who are there. And um you know I don't I don't know for sure but it seems like perent per pupil expenditure is probably the same across schools is my guess. Um but there has to be a way to allocate to schools that are have students with higher needs. Um and and that's what I would like to talk about. I'll give her the mic next and you can go. Um so our per pupil expenditure um that we publish just to make sure you know I'm very clear and honest with that. Uh first that gets published at the end of a at the end of a fiscal year when all of your expenditures
072are finalized. You take whatever that final dollar value was and you divide by the total number of students serviced and that's your average per pupil expenditure. When we're doing budgeting for schools, it is very true uh that we start by saying, hey, here's the total budget uh that we have um in terms of what a school budget's going to be. We divide that up by the you know by the total number of students service and we allocate that equitably across the schools. Then in the case of a title school um there there are additional title one funds federal dollars um that the title schools are then able to get. So uh the title schools you know it's not an equal they they actually will get more um likewise there's a title three grant um and
073anywhere that there are um English language learners title three supports English language learners. So that that funding goes to provide um relief and support across the district. Um typically by way of uh we'll fund a number of our English language tutors out of that. But but but the short story is yes, the title schools will have some additional money and that's typically invested. Um in some cases we're funding some teachers out of that fund. in some cases uh specific if there's a specific title program in the title school. Um in many cases we're funding um additional tutors or interventionists out of that fund. Um and and the good news is amid, you know, Mayor Caner brought up, you know, we're in a really scary uh financial time federally, um I'm cautiously optimistic to say that
074what we've heard from the federal government thus far, is that are what are called formula grants, um which is IDA, which supports students with, uh disabilities, our title one and our title three, um are all u presumably safe uh in the federal federal government uh seeking, you know, funding and and I'm pleased that the recent continuing resolution, those funds were named SAFE. Um there are federal grants that we we make benefit of uh title two specific to professional learning. Uh that that grant was not named in the continuing resolution. I don't know what that's going to mean, you know. So So this is some of what we're looking for. Um again I'll reiterate I I definitely you know it's it's um something that we do look at in terms of I think we've been looking
075at we have seen as you've mentioned an increase in the number of students we service uh for language proficiency. We've increased our we haven't we haven't changed class size specifically but we have increased our number of of uh ESOL teachers um proportionate to the increase in students serviced. Likewise with special education, we've seen an uptick. We're we're at we're we're pretty much at the state average for a number of students uh with special education needs. Uh and and that is the area of growth in terms of our teaching positions this year. So it hasn't hit the class size yet, but we we do invest for those differences. I did I want to at least offer that. Pardon? I know you have a question. Just wanted to respond to the questions so far and additional ones
076that may be regarding class size and for you to know that we as board members have received have heard and are aware of the concerns and do not shy away from them. As superintendent Vicena shared the numbers are variable. So it it is constantly changing and so do not want to give the false sense that what has been shared thus far is a fixed number. We know that it is variable but also do want to recognize that there are many pieces that play a role in the functionality of a classroom. uh we certainly know that yes the makeup of our children varies and so that plays a role in the climate and of the classroom. we know yes the number of students but also in in terms of the quality of what is happening in
077the classroom and the leadership as well and referring to our teachers and that's why we are so appreciative of our teachers that's why we certainly do value professional development we had that on Wednesdays that is an important opportunity for the teachers to refresh to revive and to address what's happening in their classroom so say that because do not want to give a false sense of security that the number alone will determine how the classroom is functioning it is all of those pieces collectively that make up how the students are doing in the classroom. And as we know, family engagement is so very important as well. And so clearly what you all are sharing and the emails we have been receiving echoes that. And we so appreciate your commitment and your involvement because we cannot do
078this alone. The teachers cannot do it alone. Collectively, we have to work together. So again, your concerns are heard. We certainly hear them. It never is determined or rather never is preferred to have the highest number of students per classroom. So I think that is something we can say without hesitation. It's not that we strive to have the highest number. However, with what we do have and what we are trying to work with, we try to make it as manageable as possible, but certainly recognizing your concerns, certainly recognizing what we're striving to to continue to maintain high quality education for all of our students, which is certainly what they deserve. So again, there still may be questions or comments about that, but want for you to know the questions and comments that have been raised
079thus far. We certainly do hear you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Lauren. Um I am a parent of two students at Webster Hill Elementary and um and I know and I appreciate the feedback on the question so far. Our situation is a little bit unique um to the others as well. Like I just want to so while I am here to advocate for class size um and I'm very aware of how complicated this process is. So, I worked in Boston public schools for 20 years. Um, looking at school budgets a lot, get it. I know how complicated, looking at the data. Um, really was a result of our families coming to me. So, I had over a 100 families uh sign a petition in the last 24 hours because I had an outcry of families coming
080to me as the PTO president, concerns. Um, we are currently um have a principal for one year right now. So, we're like in a transition period. Dr. Lanner has done a phenomenal job. She's a phenomenal educator. Um but knowing that we're getting a new principal, we are the third neediest school in the district. Um we are title one. We receive the third um largest allocation title one. We have uh three times the percentage of English language learners and um families living um below the federal poverty line as some you know we have a significant amount of needs and our numbers projected are the highest across all 11 schools. Um, and so that's a major concern and I hear that things change and the numbers aren't set. The reality though is when we have hires in
081August, that's very different than a hire in the spring. And we know that quality um is a big difference in that in we are in a situation right now where we can't have any more students particularly looking at our our second grade projections. So if we are at we're at like almost at that cap. So I'm looking you know while we talked about fourth and fifth grade and those numbers are looking very high. We're most concerned about our first, second, and third grade classrooms. Um that have gone to from three strand to two strand over my four years. A strand a year has been pulled. The numbers have increased in those really key grade levels. Um and so right now, uh we're at a place where we we're already projecting capacity. So then what often
082would happen is that we're going to get students in the spring and summer and then we might need a pair of professional that's hired in the summer that's to support across classrooms as we've done in the past at Webster Hill. We did last year as numbers change and it's a it's a further burden to the teacher. Um our teachers are feeling the burnout currently. our families um are coming and talking, particularly our families who have students with special needs um in our second grade have been the most vocal to me personally just knowing my role as a PTO um about their concerns about their children and their class sizes. So, um, while I know that a bit was addressed, I just wanted to like I I had this whole spiel that was connected to what
083a lot of you guys said so eloquently, but I just wanted to kind of highlight the differences and what we're advocating for specifically at Webster Hill. No, I appreciate that. And, um, second grade is is one of those um, right at a cuspy point. Um, at Webster Hill, they exist. I um, there are those hires that that get down to the August time frame. uh but as many of them as possible during the typical hiring season will you know we we do obviously try to do that it's not it's not like all four are happening in August that's usually like the last one to go is it going to be here or somewhere else kind of a thing and um the the one thing I'll say just and I think it it it lands on
084um reaffirms what what Lorna said is both for the Whiting Lane and the Webster Hill you know blue ribbon school at Whiting Lane Webster Hill um over the last five years just the dramatic increase in student achievement to the point where they're where they're now leading in the district and it's a testimony to the teachers and so I do appreciate the you know the concern and you know the fear of of burnout but you know it's one of the things I' I got a lot you know folks talk about all all of the different variables that come in in class size is definitely one of them um I just want to underscore uh you know the thing that makes West Hartford special is the quality of teachers that we attract. They are they are I
085would put them up against anyone in the state. They are just incredible. Um and they do a phenomenal job. And so I I just I say that not that they might shoulder any any of the financial burdens, just that that they are just exceptional at what they do. Um and it's and it's in that confidence that uh you know we're trying to preserve the programming that that you have. So, um, this gentleman and then I'll go to you and then over here. Uh, good morning. Thank you for all being here. Um, my name is Ken Pouch. I've been a resident in West Hartford for over 40 years now. And, uh, it I agree it is has been an exceptional town for me and my family over those years. uh looking at the budget at a
086higher level um I think if I'm my notes are correct um I I uh recorded that 90% of the town revenue comes from property tax. Is that correct? And um 10% of that total property tax revenue is comes from commercial property tax. Is that correct? Correct. Uh that's an extremely low number which you referred to. Um in the 40 years we've lived here, we've I think it would be fair to say that West Harford is moving more from what I would call a town to a city. The particular development of now residential properties, i.e. apartment complexes uh both in West Harford Center and outside of West Harford Center. Um I think underscores that. Um, my question is, how do you see the commercial property, the apartment complex development, uh, contributing to and lessening the reliance
087on personal property tax, residential property tax, uh, and boosting it up more to a level of of higher, I'll call, commercial property tax we see in other towns like for instance Newington uh which has a high um commercial uh property tax base. Great. Thank you for that question and I can uh talk briefly and certainly the mayor can add to my comments as well. Um as I I mentioned in my comments, we have a a lot of development that's happening townwide. um you know right here in Elmwood right as as where we sit this morning we have a um and we the our council developed a transit oriented development district a couple years ago one of the first in the state uh to encourage uh more dense uh housing opportunities and business opportunities in an
088area that's walkable to public transportation. So we have our Connecticut FastTrack here. It would be our hope one day to have a train station there as well. So folks can get to and from West Hartford to Boston and New York easily without uh having to drive a car. Um the old Puritan site has been that's a a site that's been approved for development. The developer is working through um financing right now, but that's a that's an 8090 million development. Uh as you move down New Park Avenue, there's another uh TOD development that was approved and that's more like $40 million development. And as we move into the center, um, we have, uh, about a hund00 million development on Troutbrook, the former Troutbrook, I mean, I'm sorry, Children's Science Museum. Uh, and then on Farmington Avenue,
089we have 100% affordable development at 900, the old West Harford in. Um, so that's that's about a $40 million development. We have the by line, which is heading west on Farmington Avenue, which is almost done. Uh it's about a a $50 million that's a mixeduse development. So that'll have residential on the top floors, commercial on the bottom floor. And then as we move into the center, we have two other projects that were um approved. And then as we head to Yukon, um we have uh on the parking lot side um the developers building four um apartment buildings with 300 units. That's about a $90 million development. And then on the west side of the campus where the main campus was, it's about $150 million development there. So hundreds of millions of dollars of development that
090and where you talk about our AAA rated status and the brand that we that we have that we're all part of. Um people want continue to want to invest in West Harford. um at the Yukon site alone, the property where those four apartment buildings uh are going to be put, they purchased that land for $22 million. So, it's just again, it's a sign of of what we offer here in West Harford. Developers want to be here, but as I said in my opening comments, we're like two years. So, next year we'll have even more growth. In that second year, we will see um kind of an explosion in in grandless growth uh as a result of all of these projects that are in some form of uh approval either approved, not yet construct constructed or
091constructed. So, mayor, if you want to, but how how maybe you'll address this, but how do you see all of that development you're um you've given the detail to us on reducing the burden of 90% of the revenue uh for property tax uh residing on the residents where how will that affect a lower property tax burden for the residents? So almost all those uh developments are adaptive reuse. A synagogue that now it was not taxable is being converted to a mixed income development. A a motel that was underutilized and not was well pretty low whatever. Um and that is that was re the science museum the children's museum that went out of that moved and was re so they're all um adapt or reuse the campus obviously that moved um we don't have a lot
092of land for um and all of them are residential they're not there some mixed use commercial on the first floor Yukon being probably the largest but they're still residential um even though they're a multifamily family residential. They're still residential. Um, we do have some industry and and commercial. We obviously have the mall that we split with uh West Farms. I don't know if you know the history, but it was West Harford and Farmington. West Harford was the town that actually was going to have the whole mall, and the council at that time didn't want the whole mall in town, so they split it between West, they put it on the development line. Uh, so it's West Farms as a result of that. Um, and so we, you know, we obviously have a a center, we
093have Bishop's Corner, we have there's commercial centers, uh, but we don't have land for extensive commercial development except for the Yukon, which is going to have some commercial development. Otherwise, it's really all multif family residential. Uh, we did spend a lot of attention with our industrial base. We have a number of industrial properties. uh triumph being one where we worked very hard. They were going to there was a a consideration of them consolidating their operations with another company um and leaving West Harford potentially. And we worked really hard with the state DEC to uh work on some of their fixed costs to make it more valuable for them to be here and stay here. Uh, and I mean that doesn't get a lot of publicity, but it was an incredible in uh amount of work
094by um by our myself, our state delegation to keep them here. And they actually brought a line of manufacturing into their uh into that uh facility that's across from Charter Oak School. Um we, you know, we continue to work. We have a but I think it's un not that it's unrealistic but it's very challenging for us to diversify our housing our that development of 9010 um because we are so highly developed um we will continue there's not a lot of we will actually strengthen blueck uh there is some you know there's some uh turnover in that and there is a lot of desire for that commercial um office space. Uh there's a lot of uh companies that want to be in a vibrant center versus in an industrial park and somewhere remote. Uh so we're
095seeing a lot of interest there. Um but it's really fortifying the commercial districts that we have. The growth of that probably is not going to be um m is not going to change much. And to the talk of the city town that is part of I think uh um Tracy Wilson be in blessed memory um our town historian had talked about that city town populations over 50,000 can selfidentify really um and you know New London is a city it be largely because it was a center an industrial center we were an offshoot of Hartford we're a suburb of Hartford and so and that sort of is that commercial residential makeup up that's historic for our community. It was a residential community. It remains a residential largely residential community. And so that city town having that
096be a a draw. I think we are a draw for restaurants and our center uh and maybe some commercial properties but not in the same way that uh you know Hartford is or uh we're not a major employment center and all that. first right behind you. Right behind you. Yeah. But just to generally talk about taxes, right? Here's the thing, right? Connecticut's known for its high property taxes. We come under attack for that. And West Harford is a poster boy for high taxes. Look at this. 45.21. Seriously. Seriously, that's a lot. And and the increase you're asking is a lot. And like I say, you I know you feel that you're right up against it. You can't cut anything. Well, let me just bring up a couple of things that that have popped up and
097I brought them up before, which is the overtime, massive overtime that the police, the fire, the public works. And it comes up in the paper, I don't even put in the paper. Somebody puts in the current every year and even breaks it down. One guy makes $125,000 in overtime two years in a row. So, it comes into the millions of dollars. Number one, that's overtime. But another thing comes with with with the with the school system. I don't know that much about, you know, the school system, but I've been told that they have proportionately high a lot of administrators, secretaries, um, you know, and specialists maybe, you know, compared to other other towns. I'm not saying that's not right. I'm not saying in a perfect world, we could do everything right. But in this non-perfect
098world, we're going to have to make tougher decisions. And as far as getting back to the overtime again, if you remember, I this was last year, so maybe you don't because the police chief of police was there and he turned to me, he goes in and in reference to this guy pointed to me, he goes, "Our policemen work hard and they should work all the overtime they want to." And they do cuz they work a ton. I went to one basketball game, there were three police officers, you know, I go to other towns, sometimes they don't even send a police officer. And and not only that, they have three police officers, they have their their um, you know, security guards, too. Now, that's that's a small issue. I understand that but that's if it's multiplied
099many times over it adds up. We it just many things I don't like I said I don't want to spend my life going through through the town and finding out every issue where we could save money but e even where we even even so we have to make even tougher issues and of course even the school system and things like that it seems like our our sacred cows you can tell by these people the people have come here today they're very concerned about the school system and they should be you know these these class sizes kind of I'm saying really the money we spend 27 kids in a class but regardless the taxes let's Let's just talk about taxes. They're super high. And again, you you can win all the awards you want, but we
100are known for high taxes. When you you can go to anybody, oh, West Harvard's nice town, but and people have moved out of this town because I I don't want to move. I love this town. And like just said, we it's a great town for for many reasons. But yeah, the taxes, that's an issue. And and like I said, this increase if it stands or even come close to standing is just going to help put a you know ruin things where and and let's talk about oh yeah here's one one more thing about some from weha she writes she goes well all the services we get what when I first moved to this town people used to drive up your driveway get your garbage cans right we used to have like cleaf collection we used
101to have um anytime you want to put anything out they take it all that stuff all gone what what do we have now for services, real services, basic services. We have garbage collection. Oh, okay. Garbage collection. Every town has that, by the way. I don't know what services we're really getting. You know, it's our school system really, obviously, that seems to be and and that's a good thing. But again, no matter what, we have to make even tougher decisions and going forward here. Thank you. And and that's why we're here and that's why we're doing this. And and as I think everyone has said, it's not where we're standing right now. We are working hard to minimize the impact as we move forward and we know we have work to do. So appreciate your comments
102as well as everybody else's terms of overtime. Um you know part of you know we talk about being a successful community and our brand and the great place to live and that anyone who's doing anything like even when you're looking at issues from around the world they want to be here in West Hartford to talk about those issues and we have to keep everybody safe. So when we have something that's happening, when we have celebrate, when we have all the things that we do from March until November, there's literally an event that takes place every single weekend. Nobody nobody does what we do from that perspective anywhere around us. Um, but our job, we have a moral obligation to keep everyone safe and that, you know, we will have to hire extra police officers in
103those situations. I said, I'm sorry, but three police officers at at a basketball game that's hardly attended. And like I said, we had an issue one time between at a Hall Connor game where a little fight broke out. So if Hall Connor maybe they would send three cops, but normally one plus they have the security guards. I'm just saying that's just a little example I'm throwing out there. And I could look at that one a little a little closer, but we do both of our high schools have school resource officers. So we have a high we have a police officer who is assigned to Connor Dan Hall. Two of those three were probably them. Um, but in terms of overtime, uh, I think an important I everyone's been reading the paper over the last couple
104of weeks about state police overtime and factoring that into their our pensions. All of our pensions, we've eliminated overtime from the calculation completely. So for police and fire, public works, that overtime has been eliminated completely. Almost 75% of our fire firefighters today are covered under that new pension plan. And about half of our police officers today are covered under that new pension plan. So, you're right. Overtime is a a necessary well, some may view it not necessary, but it's an expense that we we work hard to manage, but at the very least here, we've made some decisions in the past uh where it's not imp impacting us, you know, with our other liabilities like our pension plan. Um no and I listen to your comments I understand uh in terms of the administrative positions I
105would want you to know that from current operating budget uh the budget that's going forward recommended reduces uh the administration by 1.6 positions and uh for teaching positions away from the classroom. Um it's a total uh cut of 2.25 from the general fund. That's 1.25 25 positions cut and one position shifted from the general fund into uh a federal grant. So, I'm tempting to be responsive to that. You know, in my in my thing, every sort of uh every area had a had a little bit of a hit. We looked at everything. It wasn't uh it wasn't like uh you know, we went went for the easy easy button necessarily. So, um I do recognize saying all that that it's still big. there are still large class sizes uh in some areas and uh I
106recognize that's still a concern. And one other point I just want to make and and not to defend but to my point of us always looking at ways to find ways to do things differently, more efficiently, and try to save money, which we'll continue to do. You know, I've been here 25 years, so not quite as long as uh my superintendent here, though I am older than he is. Um when I started here, we had 600 full-time employees on the town side. We have 450 full-time employees today. So, we've reduced our workforce by 150. Uh to the mayor's point earlier, we are we're lean and mean. Uh we made some decisions then to get us to where we are then and and kind of moving forward and we'll continue to work to to find ways
107to continue to be efficient and and be leaner and meaner as much as possible. Other questions? I don't know if this works, but first it's okay, Zach. Uh, hi, I'm Zach. I'm uh I'm a newer West Hartford resident, and I think I moved to a different West Hartford than than maybe the last generation who sees this as a very residential um community. We searched all of New England for a walkable place. And I don't see us as a as a Hartford suburb. Um, we're some of those West Hartford residents that never go into Hartford. Um, our commercial centers are here in West Hartford. We travel well outside the region when we want to be in a city. Um, and I think of West Hartford as a growing city. Um, I'm curious what the town envisions.
108When you talk about commercial growth, I see a lot of places for growth. I see um uh Park Road and I see this area here which I think is like trip was like New Britain and I see areas down in Elmwood where I could see so much flourishing commercial growth there. Um walkability density right now there it seems like there's a lot of blight and a lot of low population density in a lot of areas that look kind of rough that could really um become the next really nice place to go walk and shop and live and exist in West Hartford. I'm curious what's happening with that in in the budget now. um and how that might change our budget in the next few years. Great question. Um and that factors into some of the
109development that we were talking about earlier that we're seeing. Um everybody when we're in West Harford and part of what drew me and my family to West Harford was that center. We drove through the center, you know, back in the 90s and we're like, this is where we want to live, this community. And that's thankfully why we uh made that decision to move here. um our mayor and our town council have had the vision of creating um those walkable central areas in different parts of our town as well. So it's not just the town the the center and blue back. So I talked about our to which is literally as we walk out the front door here on New Britain Avenue, we'll walk down New Britain Avenue to New Park Avenue. major development happening right
110here on this corridor. And then as you head north on New Park Avenue, creating that walkable community in the TOD area, one that the state's pushing hard for for TOD type communities statewide. I think we're leading, you know, leading the state in that kind of vision and potential potential development right here. The uh the old Puritan site that I referred to will have it's mixed use. So on the top floors, it'll have u multif family units. on the first floor to hog commercial and then as you head down New Park Avenue it'll have the same thing um at the uh at the Jaden on the lefth hand side of New Park and then as you go north and you talk about the Yukon campus having that area for for that community where you can walk
111to the grocery store, you can walk and grab a cup of coffee, you can walk to a restaurant, all connected to the Troutbrook Trail which takes us from Yukon South all the way to New Park Avenue right over here. And then we're going to eventually connect that trail to Harford and Newington. So creating that kind of bikable, walkable uh pedestrian friendly community from north to south. One of the uh council is very um adamant in working with the developer uh on the Yukon campus and continuing Trailbrook Trail through the campus. So right now Trail Brook Trail ends on asylum. We'll continue the trail north through the campus and eventually we'd like to get it just another less than a mile to to Bloomfield hopefully and make that connection to Bloomfield as well. No, I appreciate
112you or I I don't see us as a suburb of Hartford either, but I that's the way it was designed. The subdivision of Hartford became West Hartford and was uh annexed and blah blah blah. Um, and I think we are a draw and we know we're a draw, but we aren't um we don't have big high office buildings that attract a lot of people to work. Uh, we do we have work centers and we we do but our largest employers are the town and uh I think um the Hebrew home the our our two largest employers. So we don't have large employment centers really sort of why I was saying I think the the city sort of designation but we could we could and I I don't think it benefits us in any way but
113I don't think it hurts us in any way either. So at some point you know we might be the city of West Har we'd have to change a lot of uh our signage and all that but you know it cost us quite a bit of money but whatever. Um as far as um development I do think there's a lot of potential but I don't think it changes the makeup of the designation of commercial residential uh it might well puritin commercial on the first floor residential above that was a fully commercial property now it would be mixed use so there would be a little more residential designation um but as far as potential reuse of a lot I agree with you I think there's certain um areas in town that have a a lot more potential.
114One park being one of those uh where we had a convent right that was aging convent that we just added 300 apartments to in the last few years a little before you moved in um on the prospect uh right on the West Harford Harford line. Um and that is was a wonderful boost in the arm to a lot of those businesses all along that corridor. Um, and I I do think the biggest potential growth is uh our TOD area. A train station is on the state plan. Um, we do have plans for a new community center which could make that old community center campus a very attractive property, a difficult property, um, with an aging 100-year-old school and, uh, topography that's difficult, but with a train station there, there's really is potential. But I, you
115know, it's again, lots more potential for reuse, I think, and more density and more um uh some uh update a lot of updated uses. Uh but I think it takes people living in an area to really uh um light it up and and that's what we are have been working so hard with and that's really what the developers are interested in. So um and just one more comment. I just want to go back to development. I think we're talking about a lot of development. I don't want people to forget that for 20 years between blue back and in the last really 3 years. We didn't see a lot of development. We saw very little grandless growth. That's kind of why we're in some of the position we're in that we didn't have steady grandlist growth.
116We had revaluations that shuffled the values of property throughout town and we have had continuing increases in the values of our residential properties. But that doesn't that just shifts, you know, who's paying what. You know, the larger homes didn't go up at the same rate as the low and mod moderately priced homes did. And so the low and moderate homes went up at a higher rate. So, and we're going to have another we're in the middle cycle of a revaluation. So that mill rate will come down again. When we talk about the grandless growth that Rick had shared, 7.2 billion to 10 billion, that's going to decrease our mill rate quite a bit. So we're in the middle of that cycle. Uh but we are um seeing and we we can't necess we can't bring
117we can try to bring in developers when times are tough. If interest rates go up, we're it's going to be harder. if if the supplies are hard to get, if steel goes up and wood goes up, it's going to be harder for us to attract. So, we have to kind of grab those opportunities when they come before us. And that's what we've really tried to do. Uh, thank you. I just want to add real quickly. One thing, and Rick, you know, correctly pointed out that the our staffing is down um from 20 years ago. Um, one thing we have added is economic development, though. Um, and we do have an economic development coordinator who has whose job is both to, you know, uh, be the the check-in for the local businesses and also look for
118new ones. Um, and we've had that's been a great success. Um, and again, so we want to like be sure like when we're cutting the budget and we all get, you know, everybody here gets it in terms of like the the tax implications of this um, and the real harm being done um, by by higher taxes. Um there are people who you know um who a tax increase will be a inconvenience and others who it could mean no longer affordable to stay in town. Um these are real issues here. Um but one thing we can do it spending is not all just negative, right? And so economic development here has really helped to diversify um the tax structure here and bring in businesses um and and keep and keep them here especially. Um, so, uh,
119we had one, uh, we have, I forget the name, the entertainment one going up in, um, Corbin's Corner, uh, council person saw a great entertainment, uh, uh, level 99. Um, we saw this great place in another town, mentioned to economic development, they went out and recruited and we got somebody in. Um so so again that if you know a business is you know people want to come there's a reason people want to come here but keep on recruiting because um the more business the better. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Libby. I appreciate everyone being here and I think we're all here because we genuinely care about this town and we care about the kids that live here. Um my husband and I are both um graduates of Hall. Um we grew up here. Our
120parents are both still here in our original houses, which is just really special. And the schools are what drove us back here after living in New York City for a long time. My husband and I actually both spoke spoke at the board meeting on March 18th about class sizes. Um I was so amazed that I could recruit him to do that because I feel like that fall usually falls on the shoulder of women, right, and moms. So anyhow, um, and Aaron spoke a lot about how, and he's, he mentioned you, Sherry, about how the town is thriving and there really is so much good happening. I come today still deeply concerned about our class sizes and our kids. Um, I feel like we are investing financially, very much so into this town and as a
121result, our school should reflect that. And I know we have a wonderful school system and we never would have returned here if we didn't. So, after we spoke at the budget meeting about class sizes, I've talked to a lot of different people and um I'm also on the Aken PTO board and I volunteer weekly in my daughter's classroom and I really like to have a pulse on what's happening in the schools. I'm worried about our teachers and the sustainability of classes this big and I'm worried about our kids. Um, so I've spent the last week and a half really thinking about alternatives that it sounds like we're sticking to class sizes in the email that you sent to people that wrote concerns. And one of the things that Erin and I were both thinking about
122is how can we be creative in what we do about class sizes? And I know this is not a popular topic, but I think it needs to be addressed. And I know Shannon Marman mentioned this at the March 18th board meeting is at what point do we consider redistricting and I know no one wants to talk about that. It happened twice when I was a kid in West Hartford. All I had Bugby friends join me in second grade and then the area that Aaron and I both grew up from Mountain excuse me from Albany to Stoner Hunter then became Braburn. So I had my next door neighbors went to Connard on Orchard and I my sister and I stayed at Cap and Hall. It was not popular, but and my mom's best friend was the
123board of ed president back then and no one liked it. But guess what? It served a purpose to best service our kids. I guess and this was not something that could be talked about at the board meeting because there's no obviously you guys cannot respond. But I guess at what point do we consider redistricting to make class sizes more equitable across the district? Because as it stands right now, there's no reason a class should have 26 to 27 kids in fourth grade at Aken and 18 kids at Smith. That's just inequitable and we can't say that those kids are going to get the same education when there are nine more students in a section of fourth grade at Aken or Brayburn or Web Hill. I've done my research. So I guess at what point do
124we look at it and say maybe it's time to change the map around especially with the developments and I know it's like 0.25 kids for every unit of development. But we know exactly which school those developments feed into particularly on Trrowbrook. We know that the um east facing will all feed to Aken. And then we know the new affordable housing property that at the former Shaw on North Main will also feed to Aken. And I was just looking at the map and my husband's company actually developed the Camelot. So like we care about affordable housing. This is important work. We know where those kids are going to go. So and there will be families there. He knows there will be families there. So I guess at what point do we consider redistricting? That's I know
125it's not a popular topic, but I feel compelled to ask it. Um, I don't know that I have a timeline answer for you, but I'll say, you know, obviously it's come up and I don't, um, I think you bring up a good point. Number one, I think, um, as we, as these, uh, projects come online, as families begin to move in and seeing, um, seeing if our projections, you know, we just we just presented the long-term enrollment projections and there were very specific questions about what will the impact be of these different housing developments. So as that you know number one as we sort of say okay do the projections and what we're anticipating is that actually happening what's the impact on the schools that's going to be one factor. I think you know this
126this question has come up over class size over the last two years. Um I mean it comes up every year but it's come up I think with a lot more public um a lot more public momentum behind it. Uh and I think and I think it becomes it becomes part of that question. If we were ever to look at class sizes, we would have to look at those two things together. But then again, I I also don't think that it's um you know, it's not necessarily obviously a wholesale a wholesale issue. you know, we have had and it goes back now it's probably pre-COVID. I don't remember we did spot redistricting um where you where you looked at some neighborhoods um adjacent to another neighbor another neighborhood community in order to try to level things
127out. So it's it's not a it's not a conversation that um you know I I would I would agree that in general it's not generally a a positive conver a popular conversation person like it's not under right but it's not one I necessarily think I think that that uh we would shy from it would be something that I think would you know if if we get into a larger conversation about um what do the class sizes look like especially as we see the impact of these things. I think I you know I think I think there's a conversation that can be had. So thank you. So it's 10:30 now and I don't know if um if uh any there are any other questions. I had one more but if you need to finish that's okay.
128Well before you ask your last we'll take one last question. I do want to thank WHCI for being here and covering this so people at home can watch and and learn and and and respond to us. We're always available by email or phone. Um and also to the library for openfax and library Laura I'm sure who was here she's the library director and promote who is the library um director for or uh here it do incredible work uh and we're really really grateful to have them but uh is there a mic floating around? Thank you. Hey I'm Chloe Growth. Um we are a new Brurn family. We've just moved from New Orleans in the last two years where uh there is no public school system and there is no city infrastructure that benefits children. So,
129we feel incredibly lucky to be here and really thankful and honestly when we pay our taxes, you know, we're privileged to be able to just say like please keep benefiting our children. Um so I read the response in the email about um you know the higher class sizes and how the success rate of children didn't really change at the higher class rate. You know how children are still performing well at the higher class rate which obviously we can attribute to having in incredible teachers. Um, I was a teacher in the Western public schools for several years and so I do know like the emotional and the physical and the mental energy that that increase would cause for the teachers. Um, so I feel like I need to speak for them because I have a third
130grader and a fourth grader in Braburn and like my kids are with them right now. Um, and so one of the aspects I'm worried about is how those teachers will be supported and how we retain those teachers. um and because they're the reason that the success didn't decline. So, as a new family that doesn't really know much about the district, like what support is in place? What systems are in place to support those teachers if that increase does need to happen? Thank you for the question and welcome to the community. CL um I first I would say um there are you know think about the lower grades you know we we are trying to preserve a support mechanisms in them that we have we used to have um something that we called kindergarten pair educators
131they worked specifically in the current kindergarten classrooms um they actually work now primarily between K and one uh we do blend them um and we typically will provide one uh we uh para educator um for every two classrooms in K and one is gener is generally how we'll do that. Um when we look you said you were at Brayburn specifically Brayburn with a third and fourth grade. Okay. uh when we look at Brayburn with as an IB school, you know, uh we look at the supports that we're able to provide in that. And one of the things I'm I wanted to mention that we're that we're you know, a lot of students will come into um an intensive behavioral program or maybe some of the schools that have our intensive academic programs and they're programmed
132with a with onetoone adult support. We're trying to do a lot of work within special education right now. we're piloting to say, hey, rather than have um all of these individual education plans, specifically naming, therefore mandating by law, onetoone adult support attached to the singular student. We want to look at what the density of that looks like across the classrooms and be able to trade um two or three pair of educators for an additional special education teacher who can then be pushing in. Because what we find is, you know, if Paul has a one-on-one and Rick has a one-on-one and then we end up in the same class or we go to the same arch class or something, there can be a lot of adults in the same room and their effectiveness at supporting the
133children is is no longer there. Um, so but we have to, you know, but it becomes about how the IEP is written because we would have to change the language in the IEP to where it was all of a sudden a twoon-one support. So, we've we've been in the practice of that over the last couple of years. It's one of the strategies that we're trying to do and we've asked for different schools. Hey, we'd like to do some more of this. Um, see if we can get your community behind it because if I can be then hiring those additional special education teachers, it it's number one, it's a more qualified support for the children. Number two, it's it's affecting, you know, it's it's a difference when I have two certified teachers in versus a PAR
134educator and a teacher in terms of the level of support and the different kinds of environments and the small groups that we can create. So, that's something that we're also trying to do. Um, I would say I'm I'm aware of the demands on our teachers. I I I talk to them a lot. I hear from them. Um, I talked to their union. the teachers are very very uh the teachers are always better to talk to. They're they're much more uh optimistic, but I hear the you know I hear the truth and the things they don't necessarily want to say to me through their union representation. Um but at the same time our retention rates do remain uh very strong and and I think that has to do where we have folks that you know they
135they can feel burnt out and they go somewhere else and one of the things they'll they come back u and they say the level of support that they do get in the district is just not not really well paralleled anywhere else. I think a lot of that has to do uh with our Wednesday structure which I want to thank all of the folks here for that Wednesday structure. Um, in other districts when you have a major initiative or you're trying to do something, you're getting two maybe three PD days in the year and that's it. And we've got, you know, the ongoing touch points that if I had to say what's the one thing that has made the school system the success story it is in West Harford, it's the Wednesday structure. So, um, I'll
136point to those things. They're not there's one that's new. The rest are kind of what's in place and what we've been able to do. Thank you. Okay. Um I just uh tonight's uh I think Rick mentioned no Webster House. I think it's the No West Library. Correct. Correct. That's okay. I just want to clarify. I'm like I could have it wrong. No Webster Library 6:00. We'll be doing sort of a similar very similar. Uh if you want to come back, please feel free. If not, send your friends whatever. I want to thank my colleagues who work tirelessly really. I mean it is a we are we are an amazing town because of our residents and pushup but we have remarkable elected leaders that work really hard and and wonderful town leaders that that um work
137at the highest professional level and we're really grateful. Uh thank you all again all for being here. Have a wonderful Monday. Thank you.