Alders Advance Schools $$ Boost

An unexpected $11 million in state funding is slated to help the city pay for fire truck upgrades, school building fixes, and a budgetary lifeline for the Board of Education.

At their latest monthly meeting Monday night, Finance Committee alders advanced two proposals from Mayor Justin Elicker to accept that additional state money.

West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith cast the sole vote of dissent among the eight committee members, calling for an audit of the Board of Education’s budget before increasing funding for the school system. The two ordinance amendments will next go before the full Board of Alders for a final vote.

One proposal concerns $3 million that the Elicker administration has moved to set aside as ​“contingency funding” for the Board of Education. Those funds include $2.5 million from the Supplemental Revenue Sharing Grant and $500,000 from the state Office of Policy and Management (OPM).

If approved by the Board of Alders, that $3 million pool would not be a direct transfer from the city to the Board of Education. Rather, it would remain in the city’s general fund ​“for educational purposes.” After the end of the 2025 – 26 fiscal year, if the Board of Education needs up to $3 million to close a budgetary gap, school leaders can return to the Board of Alders to request a budget transfer to that effect.

The city put a similar $3 million contingency plan in place for the Board of Education last fiscal year. The Board of Education has not yet requested a transfer of those funds, as calculations for spending in the 2024 – 25 fiscal year have not yet been finalized.

Meanwhile, the school district’s $220.7 million budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, currently has a $3.8 million funding gap.

Designating $3 million in state funds once again for ​“educational purposes” would show that ​“we have signaled we saw there might be fiscal pressure” on the school system, and ​“we have a plan in place,” said City Budget Director Shannon McCue on Monday night.

McCue argued that the budgetary move is a means of being ​“transparent” about anticipated shortfalls — and that credit rating agencies may look upon it favorably as an example of responsible contingency planning.

Finance Committee Chair and Westville Alder Adam Marchand also pointed to a state law preventing municipalities from decreasing year-to-year funding for their school systems. The strategy of marking the $3 million ​“for educational purposes” while leaving it in the city’s general fund, as opposed to directly assigning it to the Board of Education, would avoid raising the minimum amount the city must contribute each year to public schools.

New Haven Public Schools CFO Amilcar Hernandez, who came into the role this past spring, said that the $3 million contingency plan would be essential to retaining the school system’s current staffing levels. 

Over the course of the most recent budget approval process, school leaders had warned that shortfalls would lead to layoffs that could affect 129 teachers, librarians, and other school staff members. The district ultimately decided to close down Brennan-Rogers School and make a host of other cuts instead of enacting those layoffs, while still chasing a $3.8 million shortfall.

“At this point, there’s no other programming we can cut,” Hernandez told the committee alders on Monday. ​“At this point, we are right at that line where not having funding will affect staffing.”

“I’m working extremely hard to find efficiencies,” he added, expressing hope that the shortfall would be lessened to some extent by the end of the fiscal year. In order to commit to paying employees for the coming year, he said, the district needs to know that the $3 million in backup funds are available.

"Deferring Capital [Expenses] Has Costs"

Meanwhile, the city also received an unexpected $8 million from the state’s Municipal Grants in Aid program. The grant can fund public infrastructure improvements and maintenance related to roads, bridges, and other traffic and parking needs, which can include snow ploughing and tree trimming. 

Elicker has proposed that the city use that $8 million from the state to replace $8 million already approved for the 2025 – 2027 capital funds budget for uses that match the grant’s purpose. That move would free up a more flexible pool of $8 million within the capital funds budget, which covers city investments in physical infrastructure.

Of that $8 million, the mayor is proposing that $2 million remain in the city’s Engineering Department to fund additional public infrastructure upkeep initiatives.

Another $2 million would be used to purchase new fire trucks. 

And the remaining $4 million would be allocated to the Board of Education for school building repairs.

Marchand pressed McCue Monday night on why the city should use the $8 million to increase capital project funding, rather than using it to simply replace municipal contributions to projects that have already been budgeted for and reduce city expenses.

“There’s a great need for that funding,” responded McCue, noting that the city has a ​“dire need” for fire truck upgrades in particular.

“I would argue that deferring capital [expenses] has costs,” McCue added. In other words, if the city has more funding now to invest in maintaining infrastructure, city staff can address problems before they get worse — and in the long run, avoid having to pay for more significant repairs.

This argument ultimately persuaded Marchand, who surmised that an $8 million investment in maintenance needs now ​”would probably be more than eclipsed” by the cost of waiting to address those needs.

City Chief Administrative Officer Justin McCarthy noted that state statute caps the amount of time that fire trucks can be in operation, while it’s taking longer and longer for companies to manufacture those trucks. Other city vehicles, some of which have been in use on a daily basis for over a decade, are also in need of upgrades, he noted — pointing especially to garbage trucks, one of which the city is currently renting in order to meet the need for trash pickup.

City Engineer Giovanni Zinn noted as well that the additional $2 million allotted to his department would be ​“a very useful tool for matching other grants” that require the city to contribute a certain percentage of funds toward a given project — meaning that the funding could be leveraged to secure further outside grants.

Smith: Audit NHPS

When it came time for the alders to deliberate, Alder Honda Smith — whose ward encompasses West Rock’s Brennan-Rogers, and who has criticized the district for closing that school — argued that the city should not provide further funding to the school district before a thorough audit of the school budget is conducted.

“The Board of Ed always seems to be running a deficit,” she said.

Smith voted against the $3 million budget contingency. She also proposed an amendment to the $8 million allocation that would allot only $2 million to school buildings, and redistribute the remaining $2 million among the Engineering Department and the city’s rolling stock.

In response to Smith’s amendment, Westville/Amity Alder and Majority Leader Richard Furlow replied, ​“I would hate to make this kind of amendment without hearing from the departments” that would be impacted. ​“I’m not able to support it at this time,” he said, though he noted that he would consider it further along in the legislative process. 

“We are all frustrated with the Board of Education. But having said that, we have schools that are falling apart. Mold. Pools that are not functioning,” Furlow added. ​“I think the answer is not in lessening the amount of money given to the Board of Ed,” but in increasing alders’ oversight of the school budget process.

Ultimately, the committee voted to favorably recommend the two proposals without Smith’s amendment.