The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Budget fails; second vote set
GOSHEN >> There are three towns in the Region 6 school district, each paying a share of the cost of running the schools. A May 2 budget referendum, driven by residents in the town of Morris, failed.
That referendum was prompted by a petition, made primarily by Morris residents. The referendum vote also was dominated by Morris residents, according to Region 6 — more than the number of voters from Goshen and Warren combined.
The referendum failed by a vote of 350-426. Of that total, 419 votes came from the town of Morris, 324 of which were “no” votes.
Now, two chief elected officials are encouraging voters to approve
the budget when a second vote is held May 23.
After the initial proposal, totaling $19.44 million, was rejected May 2, the Region 6 Board of Education reduced it by $197,170, according to documentation on the district website, which cut it to $19.24 million — a 1.74 percent increase.
Goshen First Selectman Bob Valentine and Warren First Selectman Craig Nelson held a press conference Wednesday and said they support the proposal, noting the Board of Education complied with a request to cut the initial $19.74 million budget.
Further cuts, they said, would imperil the quality of education in the district.
Valentine said he was concerned about cutting the budget any further.
“If we cut it more ... we are going to, without question, cut into what is necessary to run our schools educationally, and so we start to cut into the educational necessities of our school system,” said Valentine. “We should be very, very careful in what we do beyond this.”
Goshen and Warren officials support the proposed budget, Nelson and Valentine said.
“Personally, I think we’ve already started cutting too much on this budget,” said Nelson. “It’s a very tight budget to start with, and to shrink that down any more ... it just goes right for the programs and the students.”
Morris First Selectman Tom Weik declined to say whether he was for or against the budget proposal Wednesday. He said he hoped residents came out to participate in the referendum.
“The more (voters), the better,” said Weik.
Nelson and Goshen agreed.
“I would encourage residents of the town of Goshen to get out and vote, to make their voices known,” said Valentine.
“Just come out and vote,” said Nelson.
Weik, unlike Valentine and Nelson, believes the Region 6 budget can be cut further before the quality of education is affected, and he believes Morris residents think it is too high.
Under the revised proposal, Warren would pay $3.33 million toward the Region 6 budget — a drop of 1.03 percent over the current year. Morris would pay $6.64 million — a 2.58 percent increase — while Goshen would pay $7.34 million — a 2.32 percent increase.
The amount of state funding for all three communities is expected to decrease under the latest state budget proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, with Morris the hardest hit, as it would lose $70,675 compared to the current fiscal year.
All three communities have seen the amount of Education Cost Sharing funding provided by the state dwindle in recent years.
Morris lost more than $537,000 between the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, for example, and a further reduction in December saw the amount allocated to Goshen fall by 24.5 percent, or $26,601.
The loss of state funding, Weik said, in addition to the possibility of being assessed one-third of the cost of teacher retirement in the state pension fund, if that comes to pass, should be borne by both the town and Region 6.
“The burden of it all has to be shared between the town and Region 6,” said Weik.
The second Region 6 budget referendum will be held from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 23, according to a notice on the Warren town website.