The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Officials propose $34.4M budget
Costs up 2.2% as school spending remains flat
PORTLAND — First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield has put forward a proposed 2018-19 budget that calls for spending $34.38 million in the coming fiscal year.
The proposed spending total, which includes funding for education, town government operations, debt service and capital improvements, is 2.18 percent higher than the current year’s spending.
Spending for education, by far the largest share of the overall budget, has been held in check by Superintendent of Schools Philip B. O’Reilly and the Board of Education. They responded to Bransfield’s request by presenting a $20.68 million budget that calls for a zero increase over this year’s spending.
Most of the $733,786 increase in the overall budget comes from capital expenditures, debt service — the
amount the town pays on previously approved debt — and employee fringe benefits, which includes an 8 percent increase in health insurance costs.
Asked to explain how her budget climbed while the education budget remained level, Bransfield said, “I expect the selectmen will lower the budget.” However, “It’s my responsibility as first selectman to show them what the needs are.”
The proposed budget will be the subject of public hearing on March 27 at 6:15 p.m. in the Mary Flood Room of the public library. A hearing scheduled for Tuesday was canceled due to inclement weather.
Copies of the proposed budget are available in the town clerk’s office at Town Hall, at the library, or online at portlandct.org.
At the conclusion of the public hearing, the Board of Selectmen will begin its review. If the budget is approved as presented, it would require a 1.98 mill increase in the tax rate and would bring the rate up to 34.96 mills.
Over the past several years, as the town continued to emerge from the recession, Bransfield has sought to keep spending in check. “Our increases in taxes had been minimal, but not so in 2019.”
The majority of the proposed increase (1.42 mills) “is due to reduction in state funding during 2017,” Bransfield said during a mini budget tutorial with reporters this week.
Throughout 2017, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly leached away promised funding for cities and town as they wrestled with closing a significant deficit gap in the state’s coffers.
When everything was said and done, Portland came up short some $1.16 million, Bransfield said.
And the bleeding hasn’t stopped: Bransfield said she has been notified the town stands to lose $239,478 in town-aid grant funding. “This potential elimination of funding would be extremely devastating to our annual town road maintenance program.”
Still, there are some bright spots amid the gloom.
The grand list, the value of taxable items and property in town, “is up slightly,” she said.
As the proposed $40 million Brainerd Place mixed-use development moves forward on the former Elmcrest property, Bransfield said town officials expect to receive $187,500 in building permit fees.
Moving forward, Bransfield laid out a list of objectives for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Those objectives include moving forward with a sidewalk repair project, begin construction on the Route 17 recreation complex , and move ahead, pending residents’ approval, with the cleanup and eventual redevelopment of the 5.27acre parcel of land on the Connecticut River.
In addition, Bransfield intends to embark upon capital improvement projects, including installing new roofs on both the Co. 2 Fire House and highway garage, and complete the third-phase of window replacements at Brownstone Intermediate School.