Norwich City Council adopts final budget late Monday

Norwich — The City Council voted late Monday to adopt final 2018-19 city, school and fire budgets totaling $134.2 million that keeps the central city tax rate below the objectionable 50-mill mark but likely will cause a future shortfall in the school budget.

The final budget, $126.07 million without the fire budgets, calls for a citywide tax rate of 41.01 mills, a 1.2 percent increase over the current 40.52 tax rate; a volunteer fire tax rate of 0.45 mill, a 0.3-mill increase over this year; and the central city paid fire district of 7.38 mills, a drop of 10.2 percent from this year’s 8.22-mill tax rate. Taxpayers in the central city paid fire district will pay a combined total tax rate of 48.39 mills, a 0.72 percent decrease from this year’s rate.

The council voted 6-1 at 11:45 p.m. Monday, with Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick voting against, to approve an overall 3 percent increase in the school budget to $78.46 million — 1 percent higher than the city manager’s proposed total but still 6 percent, about $4.6 million, lower than the $83 million requested school budget. School officials have threatened to take the city to court if adequate funding is not provided, and this year’s school budget already is expected to end in a $1.5 million shortfall.

School board Chairwoman Yvette Jacaruso said the board’s Budget Expenditure Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Monday to recommend a final budget, and the full board will meet the following night to adopt a final budget. She couldn’t predict the result, given the board’s recent adamant stance that classroom teachers and current programs will not be cut.

“I’m glad that we got the 1 percent but we need more than that to function as a school system,” Jacaruso said Tuesday. “We’re going to do our best. We’re going to have to cut somewhere, and will come to the full board. It’s up to the full board to decide.”

Staffing maintained

The 9 percent requested increase would maintain current staffing and programs without adding new programs. With no space to close school buildings and consolidate, school officials have said they are out of options without adequate funding.

Following a closed-door meeting in April, the board’s attorney recommended the school board take the city to court if adequate funding is not provided.

“I don’t want to go to court,” Jacaruso said. “We’re going to look at each account and see where we’re going to go with it. I don’t know what we’re going to do. We have to run a school system.”

Alderman Joseph DeLucia initially tried to add $1.2 million to the school budget Monday but that failed 4-3 along party lines, with the council’s three Democrats supporting the addition and four Republicans against it. When the 3 percent increase was approved, DeLucia immediately declared it was “clearly not going to be enough.”

DeLucia said unless the council provided a large increase in the school budget, it “is inviting an enormous shortfall in the school budget in the coming year.”

The current school budget already has a shortfall estimated at $1.5 million. School officials are expected to request the city fund the deficit once all bills are accounted for in August. Most of the shortfall is in special education tuition and transportation but the school board cut $200,000 from the fuel budget last spring to avoid cutting classroom teachers, and that account will be in deficit, school officials said.

Expressing support

About two dozen demonstrators held colorful signs such as “Fund our schools,” and wore stickers to express support for school funding outside City Hall prior to the council meeting and brought those signs into the meeting, which dragged on for more than four hours.

The council reviewed and voted on more than two dozen line items in the city side of the budget during the course of the meeting, eliminating one filled secretary position in the planning and neighborhood services department, and reducing an accounting assistant in the treasurer’s office and an assistant in the human resources office from full-time to part-time.

The part-time animal control officer was reduced from 28 hours to 18 hours a week. Three vacant full-time positions — a recreation facilities maintainer, a Public Works heavy equipment operator and crew leader — were eliminated.

In one surprise last-minute addition to the budget, the council voted unanimously to fund a new assistant city planner’s position starting in January at a cost of $41,000 including benefits. Mayor Peter Nystrom said he added the position to be more in line with planning staffs in other cities in the region. Nystrom said the planning office plays a key role in economic development and the position is necessary with increased development activity in the city.

The budget also reduced hours for a part-time clerk to the assessor’s office and increased the recreation department director to full-time.