Redding expected to adopt reduced budget
REDDING — The finance board is expected to adopt its finalized $50.7 million Wednesday, which officials say will keep the tax rate level and not slash school funding.
The new figure includes cuts to the town and school proposals, which the respective boards presented earlier this month as a way to deal with the economic crisis under the coronavirus pandemic. This budget is about $500,000 less than the initial proposal and
$240,000, or 0.47 percent less than the current budget.
“The overwhelming majority of public comments have been don't increase my taxes and try to protect the school budgets,” finance board member Jamie Barickman said.
Other residents have called for cuts to all of the budgets as residents face less income in the upcoming fiscal year.
The town budget is $14.9 million, which is $313,000 less than the proposal and
$71,600, or 0.5 percent, less than the current year.
The Redding Board of Education budget, which covers K-8, is nearly $22.6 million. This is about
$188,000 less than the initial proposal, and $506,000, or 2.29 percent more than the current budget.
Redding’s share of the Region 9 budget, which covers Joel Barlow High School and is split with Easton, is $13.2 million. This is $675,000 or 4.86 percent less than the current budget due to a change in student enrollment. Region 9 acts as its own finance board and so the Redding finance board is unable to make changes to it.
First Selectwoman Julia Pemberton said the bulk of the town’s cuts were in the park and recreation’s personnel line because they couldn’t offer the summer programs as planned due to the coronavirus.
It also includes savings on leasing a radio tower because of an agreement with Ridgefield, delaying some open space maintenance, gas savings and holding off on leasing a mechanics truck and backhoe. Pemberton said the backhoe delay was a gamble.
“That’s a piece of equipment used on a daily basis,” she said.
On the schools’ side, the board of education outlined cutting money for substitutes, a Redding Elementary School teaching position, two paraprofessionals, zeroing out library book purchases and holding off on reinstating the music teacher, leaving one for the program. It also cuts half of the money for extracurricular activities, summer curriculum work and professional development.
The finance board has finalized the numbers for the town and Redding Board of Education budgets at a series of meetings this month.
It has until June 3 to officially adopt the budgets, though they will most likely adopt these figures Wednesday now that the selectmen have given them the authority to do so under Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order that required towns adopt budgets without town meetings or referendums. The finance board is also expected to set the tax rate, including whether it should use money from the unassigned fund to offset less revenue.
Both finance board members Ward Mazzucco and Jenifer Wyss said they were against using the unassigned fund to cover lost revenue because the economic effects from the pandemic could go on for years and they had to plan for the long-term. They said lost revenue should instead be accounted for by cuts and supported a 5 percent cut to the schools’ budget.
“What we’re talking about is not a responsible budget,” Mazzucco said, adding the savings were one-time occurrences and could lead to a big tax increase next year. “We’re using today’s reserves for tomorrow’s expenses. It’s not a wash.”
Other members said the town is expecting a lot of unspent money at the end of the year across all of the respective budgets due to the coronavirus and it was a good idea to use $600,000 or so from the unassigned fund to give residents tax relief.
Barickman said the schools already cut per pupil spending 4 percent once special education was factored out and the main reason for the overall increase was because of special education.
He said a 5 percent cut would dismantle the current school system and something like that shouldn’t happen without a referendum.
“What we’re seeing here I believe, is an ongoing sentiment by a certain portion of the town to fix the school's spending and to spend less and we're using the pandemic as cover for it,” he said.