EL faces $7.2M budget hike
East Lyme — The Board of Selectmen this week forwarded a proposed 2023-24 budget of $87.4 million, which calls for a $7.2 million, or 8.8%, increase over the current budget, to the Board of Finance.
After Wednesday’s hours-long budget deliberations, First Selectman Kevin Seery said the finance board has “some tough decisions” to make as it examines budget numbers in areas spanning town operations, the schools, debt service and capital projects.
“They’re going to balance what they honestly feel the town can afford,” he said.
Town finance director Kevin Gervais
said an average homeowner with property assessed at $300,000 currently pays $7,152 in taxes. If the budget went forward with no changes, that same homeowner would be billed for $7,641 in the coming year. That’s an increase of $489, or $40 per month.
The town operations proposal approved by selectmen was $259,396 lower than the preliminary budget recommendation presented in February by Seery with input from department heads. Seery at the time described himself as “deeply uncomfortable” with the size of the request.
The $21.6 million proposed budget for town operations now stands at $21.6 million, an increase of $1.1 million, or 5.5%, over the current budget. The Board of Education this week approved a $58.9 million budget proposal, representing an increase of $4.8 million, or 8.8%, over the current budget.
The $6.2 million debt service line is helping drive the overall budget spike with an increase of $1.3 million, or 26.4%. That’s because the principal is coming due on multiple bond projects. Proposed capital spending coming of $610,840 is $67,909 less than the current budget.
The proposed town operations budget includes two new police
Town finance director Kevin Gervais said an average homeowner with property assessed at $300,000 currently pays $7,152 in taxes. If the budget went forward with no changes, that same homeowner would be billed for $7,641 in the coming year. That’s an increase of $489, or $40 per month.
officers, one firefighter, an accountant, a part-time assistant for the planning department and half the cost of the town's grant-funded youth prevention coordinator.
One of the only sources of debate Wednesday night involved hiring two police officers. Selectmen agreed the new hires would start in November as a way to save $43,000 compared to paying a full year of salaries and benefits.
Selectwoman Ann Cicchiello favored hiring only one officer.
The Police Commission has recommended bringing on two officers per year for six budget cycles, starting in 2021. That year's budget included one new police position and two were added in the current budget.
“I just feel like we have really spent huge amounts of money on the public safety building, the police accountability bill, the legal fees for that, and then it kind of just spirals,” she said.
The independent police force, which started under Chief Mike Finkelstein's leadership in 2017, moved into a $7.4 retrofitted public safety building early last year.
Finkelstein on Thursday estimated his department has spent about $25,000 in legal fees over two years to update its policies in conformance with the sweeping police accountability law passed in 2020.
The law included requirements for every police department in the state to provide body cameras for all of their officers, mandated reports of excessive force by colleagues, banned chokeholds in most instances and rolled back some qualified immunity protections for officers, allowing civil lawsuits to be brought against them in certain cases.
Selectman Dan Cunningham split from Cicchiello, a fellow Democrat, in support of hiring two officers this time around.
“We're very fortunate, I think, to have the police chief that we have and the culture that has been created,” Cunningham said. “There are other towns that don't have the positive culture we have in our police force.”
Selectmen pointed to a rising crime rate that they attributed to increasing development and easy access on and off Interstate 95.
Data from the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection shows there were 145 crimes reported in 2017 compared to 230 in 2021.
Among the larger changes made by selectmen to Seery's proposed budget was an $84,252 reduction in the health insurance line. Gervais said the town has been advised that insurance costs, previously estimated to increase 12%, are now likely to increase 7.1%. Selectmen did not opt to go that low but found savings in reducing the increase to 9.4%.
The Public Works Department's $3.2 million proposed budget took a $116,500 hit in areas including road repairs, parks and field maintenance, stormwater materials and supplies.
‘Together, as a team’
The Board of Education budget proposal, which Gervais said represents 67.1% of the overall proposed increase, includes more than $1 million in staffing positions saved from the chopping block for now.
The school board this week reinstated 18.5 teaching positions originally slashed in the January budget recommendation from Superintendent of Schools Jeffery Newton.
The education budget also increases the part-time athletic director position to a full-time administrative position. Newton has said the cost is offset in the proposed budget by the teaching salary and stipend of current athletic director Steve Hargis, who is retiring.
Seery on Wednesday acknowledged broad support from the school community that led the school board to rescue numerous positions, including teachers, paraeducators and library aides.
“But there's some difficult decisions that have to be made,” he said of the budget planning process going forward. “And we can only do it together, as a team.”
The school board is scheduled to present its budget on March 13 to the Board of Selectmen, which can make comments, and then on March 28 to the Board of Finance, which can make cuts to the bottom line. It is up to the school board to decide what specific items to cut if the bottom line is reduced.
The budget proposal will be voted on at a referendum on May 18.