Board Braces for Bumpy Budget Process

Town Administrative Officer Karl Kilduff passed the budgetary button to the Board of Selectmen on Monday evening, with a presentation of the proposed 2010-11 budget: a financial plan that Kilduff described as a vehicle to carry Darien forward in a time of uncertainty.

"You set the direction of the town," said Kilduff. "Keep a clear focus on what this town needs to do. And with that, it's no longer my budget its now your budget."

And so the Board of Selectmen gear up for what is anticipated to be a bumpy budget process. Where economists publicize the technical turn towards recovery, the economic engine runs choppy at best, said Kilduff.

The proposed $38.96 million budget represents a 2.1 percent increase over last year and bears wounds of service cuts, four lay-offs, wage freezes, increased pension obligation and an initial reduction of over $700,000 in requests.

As the Board of Selectmen looks to further reduce the budget total, the challenge will be maintaining the town's core mission as a service provider while cutting service to the core—and with limited resources.

"Do less with less," said Kilduff.

The proposed increase stands at 2.1 percent or $819,726—a less than one percent increase over two fiscal years. Where the total budget includes Town operations, Library, debt service, and transfers to other funds, the bulk of bump can be seen in two town service areas: public works and human services.

Last year's decision by the Board of Finance to scale back in paving has bumped the public works budget up 12.4 percent or $303,000. First Selectman Campbell said that's unlikely to budge.

"We have to do that. You know we have to stay on track," said Campbell, adding that in the future, he would prefer to budget for less road paving and more tree pruning.

The second bump comes from repairs to the eroding Senior Center, which may cost the town over $45,000—four percent of a six percent increase in the human services budget.

"A simple matter of deferring maintenance cannot be deferred anymore, if we're going to continue to provide services out of that building," said Kilduff.

The increases should come as no surprise, said Kilduff. The Board of Finance did not neglect to consider the consequences of their money-saving decision last year, and the degrading state of the Senior Center is no secret.

Where the general fund—a reserve for non recurring, smaller capital projects—is anticipated to dip, a freeze on major capital projects and a favorable bond rating mean good news for debt service; that's down 5.9 percent, subject to an uptick, only if the board decides to move forward with a major capital project that requires bonding.

Kilduff said that further cuts are expected and must come at the board's discretion with the town's core mission in mind. Consider mil rate calculations, and a cut of $85,000 translates to a savings of $8 and change for the average Darien taxpayer. Meaningful cuts will be in the hundreds of thousands and will necessitate a restructuring of priorities and expectations, Kilduff said.

"This is fundamentaly a process of setting priorities with the little resources that are there. The board should look to identify a funding level for quality and quantity of services," said Kilduff.

"You have a lot of work cut out for you."