Stratford Town Council OKs nearly $249M budget
STRATFORD — After months of workshops, committee meetings and a public hearing, the Town Council voted to adopt a budget of just under $249 million for 2022-23 Wednesday, according to council chair Chris Pia.
The budget is split into two major sectors, $125.4 million for town expenses and $123.2 million for the schools. The package passed 6-4 along party lines.
The final amount was a decrease of about $139,000 from the proposal submitted by Mayor Laura Hoydick, which Pia attributed to changes in the state rules regarding vehicle taxes. The council also approvewd a mill rate of 39.46 for next year, a reduction of .01 mills from the current budget.
That means that a homeowner with a house assessed at $300,000 will pay $11,838 in real estate taxes next year, a reduction of $3 from the current year.
Car taxes will be set at 32.46 mills, the maximum allowed in Connecticut. The state will reimburse the town the difference between the vehicle tax limit and the town’s property tax rate.
“I am happy we were able to produce a balanced town-wide budget that maintains the current tax rate and that provides the BOE with the funds necessary to run their day-to-day operations,” Pia said.
But if Pia was happy with the budget, Superintendent Uyi Osunde was not.
Osunde disagreed with Pia’s assessment that the budget, which allocates more than $2 million less for the schools than the school board had requested, provides the schools with the funds needed to operate.
“We are disappointed because this appropriation [clearly] falls significantly short of what we need, at a time when we require a deep well of resources to meet the improvement challenges we have in front of us,” Osunde wrote in a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media Wednesday night.
Osunde had previously sent a letter to teachers on May 4 saying “significant reduction measures” may be necessary if the schools didn’t receive a funding increase, possibly including closing a school.
Pia said some cost-saving measures would help bridge the gap between its funding allotment and the school board’s requested figure.
Stratford is set to receive additional state funding from being designated an Alliance District, meaning it is among the lowest performing districts in the state. The extra funds which will be around $1.1 million, according to the state budget.
The legislature also passed an amendment to the state budget exempting Stratford from meeting its minimum budget requirement for 2022-23, which raised concern from the teachers union. Teachers, parents and students rallied outside of Town Hall ahead of the council’s meeting on Monday.
After the vote the council’s four Democrats issued a joint statement saying the budget was “disappointing” that “once again this administration’s chaotic budgeting process is using money meant for strategic improvements to ‘keep the lights on’ and completely defeat the intent of the Alliance District designation.”
The state funds should be used to improve education, not maintain status quo, they wrote.
“Our students deserve not only their basic needs met but the opportunity for the bold, innovative reforms this funding was created to deliver,” they wrote.
The school board now must approve a revised 2022-23 budget with this new, lower amount.
Osunde also said that the district is “committed” to do well for the district’s children.