nothin New Haven Independent | RTM Endorses BOF’S $103.6M Budget

RTM Endorses BOF’S $103.6M Budget

Marcia Chambers Photo

L-R:Chris Sullivan, Adam Hansen,Dennis Flanagan and Ray Ingraham.

This year Republican RTM Representative Marc Riccio, never shy about expressing his views on the budget, left his charts at home.

There was no need for them, he told the Eagle after the Representative Town Meeting’s (RTM) annual budget meeting, one that in years past might go to midnight or beyond. 

This year was different in a number of ways. Riccio said the players during this budget season worked very well together. The department managers were great and I was very pleased with the results and pleased with the process. I didn’t have to bring my charts tonight. I didn’t need them.

I think it is a smart budget. I think it is a fair budget. The Board of Finance (BOF) did a good job and they gave us a budget that we could approve. We had lots of discussion in our committees,” he added.

Back in March, the BOF did the heavy lifting, cutting $1.8 million from the town-school budgets. The BOF budget approval emerged after three days of public hearings. Overall, the increase over last year’s budget comes to 0.9 percent over last year’s $102.6 million budget. The RTM has the right to go lower than the BOF’s budget, but this year, unlike other years, it went no lower.

What it did, said Jim Finch, the town’s finance director, was to validate” the BOF budget. The Republicans now control the RTM by a majority of 19 to 11. Democrats voiced no opposition to the budget.

Fast-Paced Budget Meeting 

The RTM budget meeting was quick and without conflict. That is in part because the parameters of this budget came with a different reality this year. This was the year of a state-required revaluation of property, one undertaken every five years. After the devastation from Storms Irene and Sandy in 2011 and 2012, along with a hard-hit condo market in town, the Grand List fell by about $23 million. So going into the budget session, all the players lived with the reality of the reval. Click here to read about it.

A falling Grand List means the mill rate goes up and everyone in the room knew that. It is expected to increase to 26.93 mills or roughly 2 percent as Republican Rep. Peter Black put it later on in the meeting. During this budget season, the mantra from First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove was to spend less and to try to come in flat. It also helped that the town put into place other bonding mechanisms that allowed the town and the schools to find other ways to fund capital projects.

BOE Comes in Low

Since the Board of Education came in with the lowest budget submitted in five years, and was cognizant of the revaluation issues, all the parties were on board.

Hamlet Hernandez, superintendent of schools, said in an interview afterwards that an incredible amount of planning went into making the budget work this year… There was an incredible amount of cooperation and collaboration and shared directions.”

He said it has taken five years of work and the building of relationships. I think this was very effective. That is not to say we won’t have issues in the future,” he said, adding the mill rate, revaluation issue was an issue this year. We have a responsibility to our children, we have to balance things.” Asked about prior public conflicts, he said, There is change, we are moving more toward civil discourse. I think that speaks tremendously well for our community and gives us a very strong model for our children.” 

Marcia Chambers Photo

Robert Imperato, chair of public works committee.

Within 10 minutes of opening the meeting, the RTM approved the $53.2 million school budget and within 30 minutes, in what could be a record time, the entire town-school budget, a combined $103.6 million in all. It was, except for $100, the same budget the BOF approved in March. The RTM then spent another hour examining and approving line items with both sides of the aisle consenting. Chairs of various committees itemized issues. A motion to adjourn was made at 9:15 p.m., one hour and 15 minutes after the meeting began.

Reval Takes Stage Center

This budget season the mantra from First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove was to spend less and to try to come in flat. It also helped that other bonding mechanisms were put in place to allow the town and the schools to find other ways to fund capital and other items.

Overall, this was a lean budget, all sides agreed, in part because of major contractual constrictions that bar reductions. The school system’s drivers,” fixed costs, that is, include salaries, benefits, transportation, utilities and tuition the school system pays for special needs children who need to be educated at other schools. There was little wiggle room, one RTM member said.

Finch told the Eagle afterward that while the budget process was the same; the road was a little bit easier.

A couple of factors came into play. The Board of Education’s operating budget was lower and that helped. I do think to some extent the combination of the bond refunding and coordinating the town’s capital and the board of education’s capital helped as well. It seemed smoother. It seemed like a different approach was in play. Instead of criticizing the budget they were actually validating the budget. I think historically the budget was looked at as something that was actually bad and needed to be altered and I think that over time that hasn’t been the case.” Click here to read about the bonding issue. 

Finch has guided the town’s financial health for many years. He did so again in recent months as he sought to refinance $18.8 million in outstanding bonds and to partially finance sewer pump improvements, the demolition of Branford Hills School, various school building upgrades and a new design for the Community House, which will include a new renovation of the building for senior use.

First Selectman Praises Budget


Cosgrove agreed with Finch’s observation that the RTM had validated the Board of Finance’s budget. A lot of work went into this from the very beginning, working with the finance department, the board of ed, the department heads. You can see how that played out. I don’t know if there has ever been another time when there had only been a 100-dollar difference between this and the Board of Finance’s recommendation. As Jim said, it is validating the budget. There was a lot of work that went into this, coordinating the budget, taking advantage of different opportunities, the bonding, funds that came in from other sources.”

Marcia Chambers Photo

Rep. Josh Brooks.

Reps. Frank Twohill, chair of the RTM education committee, Vincent Baglio and Josh Brooks (pictured), members of the education committee, all spoke to the transparency of the process and to what may be a new, working relationship with education officials.

Baglio told the RTM that the education committee’s primary goals were to minimize the financial burden imposed on our taxpayers given the immediate mill rate increase due to the reevaluation and to provide the highest quality education for all children of our town while meeting the challenges associated with our changing demographics.”

While school enrollment continues to decline from 3,300 to 3,100 students, he said other factors prevented the budget from declining as well. He said the school system faces a set of serious problems based on demographic trends that are accelerating every year. These trends include students who are poor, who change schools often, who do not speak English as a primary language, and who have special needs.

The BOF will meet May 18 to finalize the town-school budget and to set the mill rate.
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