Budget deliberations to restart

CROMWELL — After a recent false start, the Board of Finance hopes to begin its review of the proposed 2020-21 budget Monday.

Town officials believe they have taken the appropriate steps to prevent another disruption like the one that marred the start of the review process on Wednesday.

The proposed $54.111 million budget calls for spending $32.586 million for education.

That is an increase $1.9 million, or 6.1 percent.

At any time, that would be a significant increase.

In the midst of a global pandemic with an impact on the national economy that is still being measured, it could face increased scrutiny from finance board members.

By contrast, the general government or town budget calls for an increase to $17.9 million, a 2.78 percent hike.

The Board of Education held a special meeting last week to review and discuss the proposed education budget.

There were suggestions the school board might make some of sort of a reduction, but that did not turn out to be the case.

Instead, the board

reaffirmed their original request.

Board of Education Chairman Michael Camilleri did not respond to two emails from The Press seeking a comment about the meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Enza Macri confirmed that the board had met and that it stood by its 6.1 percent increase.

But she did not provide details on what makes up the increase.

The proposal reportedly calls for adding as many as half-a-dozen – or more — new staff members, including social workers for each school in the district.

This is the first budget Macri is presenting since she was hired as superintendent last year.

While Camilleri and Macri were unwilling to speak out about their request, Mayor Enzo Faienza was anxious “to let people where I stand on this.”

Referring to the evels of suddenly unemployed workers, Faienza said, “This is real. This is real. And it hurts. People are hurting.”

“This is as real as 9/11, as real as World War II, as real as the Depression was, and people are hurting,” Faienza said.

“Main Street is suffering,” Faienza continued.

“And this is not the time to come in with a big (budget) increase,” he said.

Faienza said there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t receive calls or emails from residents anxious or afraid about their ability to pay their sewer and property taxes.

“Every day, residents are

reaching out, saying, ‘What can you do for us.’”

“I had a man call me the other day who said, ‘I don’t have any food.’ Well, we got him food. I directed him to [Human Services Director] Amy (Saada), and we got him food.”

“We’re in a tsunami,” Faienza continued, pointing to the over 10 million American who have filed for unemployment in just the past two weeks.

“We have people who now every day are doing things they never had had to do,” Faienza said.

While he takes pride in the education system that Cromwell has developed, “We’ve got to take care of everyone.”

He implored the Board of Education to “reduce their request to a lower level.”

Faienza also rejected suggestions that money from fund balance be redirected

to help pay for the proposed education increase.

On Friday, Director of Finance Marianne Sylvester said the very uncertainty of the pandemic and its dramatic impact on the economy argues against any effort to use the fund other than as a safeguard.

“Because we are in such an uncertain time, it’s difficult to project how long this situation is going continue, Sylvester said, adding, “It’s certainly not going to have a positive impact.”

Finance board Chairman Julius C. Neto acknowledged the budget-making process “is going to be difficult.”

Still, “with the cooperation of everybody we can get this accomplished,” providing a budget that provides the services residents expect but at a cost they can afford, Neto said.