Finance Board: Expect Cuts in Proposed Budgets

Taxes would have to increase 6.62 percent if the selectmen's and Board of Education's proposed budgets are approved without being cut, Finance Board Chair Liz Mao said on Tuesday.

"Personally, I do not feel that's acceptable this year in Darien," Mao told officials after they had presented their budgets to the Board of Finance. "We have tried to keep tax increases below 4 percent. [...] You should expect us to take some cuts."

The Board of Finance typically cuts the budgets as proposed by the Board of Educaton and Board of Selectmen. The budget then gets passed on to the Representative Town Meeting, which may cut them further.

"I don't think things are so good in Darien that we can accept a 6.62 percent increase, Mao said. She added that she was only speaking for herself.

Another Board of Finance member, said the proposed budgets are "profoundly out of whack with reality. We're not even close."

Mao asked town taxpayers to make their voices heard on whether or not they want the town services in the proposed budgets or whether they want them cut in order to keep taxes down. She asked taxpayers to email her about the budget at lizsmao@gmail.com.

"Town side" of the budget

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, in her budget message to the Board of Finance, said her board had little choice in approving a 5.99 percent increase over the previous year's budget (which doesn't include education spending).

She said 92.2 percent of the $42,660,669 budget was "non-discretionary" spending, including wages already agreed under labor union contracts, increases in the prices of goods and services the town buys and debt service.

Reducing the selectmen's budget would result in reduced services, she said, adding "The budget you have before you represents current public demand" for services.

Education budget

Elizabeth Hagerty-Ross, chairperson of the Board of Education, said her board's proposed budget, which raises spending 4.06 percent, includes increases in personnel costs and other costs that would have to be met or services would have to be reduced to students. The budget also includes other spending largely to meet new needs, such as security, she said.

The proposed education budget reflects a slightly larger school population, with 60 more students (for a total of 4,906) predicted for the 2013-2014 school year, she said.

It includes more money for security in the schools due to increased concerns after the school shooting in Newtown and some increased costs associated with changes in state testing requirements in which the CAPT and CMT tests will be replaced, Hagerty-Ross said.

A proposed $300,000 electricity generator at the high school is also included in the budget. The generator would be used for a town shelter typically opened when there are days of electricity outages around town.

School security

Finance board members balked at the amount of the proposed new spending on school security for both this fiscal year and next, but by the end of the night the board passed the proposed new spending for this year and sent it on to the Representative Town Meeting for final approval.

The security plan includes six new "security monitors" for the middle school and the town's five elementary schools, along with spending to make doors and windows more secure, create a more secure entrance at Holmes School and buy security cameras and more public announcement equipment at the schools.

"The Board of Education believes this is the most appropriate plan that we can put in place at this time [...] to make sure our students are safe [...] and feel safe," Hagerty-Ross told the Finance Board.

Editor's note: This article was updated at 6:32 a.m.