Stonington finance board slashes budget, draws on rainy day fund

Stonington — The Board of Finance will hold a public hearing on the proposed $83.8 million budget for 2024-25 and its .41-mill tax increase at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the high school.

The board will then meet after the hearing to discuss and make any changes to the budget before sending it to a referendum later this spring. The board completed deliberations last week and settled on a $3.66 million, or 4.57%, increase over the current $80.2 million budget.

That would have increased the tax rate to 18.71 mills, but the finance board elected to use $3.4 million from the town’s undesignated fund balance to partially offset the increase. If approved by voters, the proposed tax rate would increase from the current 17.45 mills to 17.86.

Finance Director James Sullivan said Wednesday the undesignated fund balance is projected to be $19,659,482 at the end of the 2023-24 budget year, June 30. With the use of fund balance and approximately $14 million the town reserves to cover two months of operating expenses, the town would have just shy of $5.7 million left in the fund.

The proposed $35.4 million general government and debt budget calls for a 1.69% increase while the proposed $43.7 million school budget calls for a $2 million, or 4.87%, increase.

While the Board of Finance cut a total of $112,000 dollars from First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough’s proposed general government budget, some departments saw much more significant cuts, including $228,000 from the Department of Public Works. The figure included a 31% decrease in the snow removal budget and $100,000 from the Water Pollution Control Authority.

The school budget saw cuts of $322,589, but its capital improvement projects took the biggest hit with the finance board slashing $827,500 from the $1.8 million request, including $220,000 for turf replacement at the high school, $285,000 for audio and video systems and $250,000 for roof repair at the high school.

The Public Works Department saw the largest capital improvement cuts — $806,600 — including $600,600 for the Alpha Avenue

Viaduct replacement and $206,000 for work to improve drainage at the 4th District Hall, both of which will go unfunded in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Despite cutting nearly $1.8 million in capital improvement funding from the already-slashed First Selectman’s proposed budget, the $4.3 million in capital project spending is up by $1.3 million over the current year.

A letter from Chesebrough on the town website encourages residents to attend the public hearing and provide input. Residents who are unable to attend can send their input to the finance board at BoF@stonington-ct.gov ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.

The budget referendum is tentatively scheduled for April 30.