City leaders maintain spending levels

2018-19 budget totals $53.67M

TORRINGTON — In 10 years, the city can be a thriving destination for businesses and families, said Board of Finance member Josh Ferreira.

But with the 2018-19 budget projected to have a zeropercent increase, he said, it will take growth in the grand list to help revitalize the city.

Torrington’s approved 2018-19 operating budget is $53,670,965. The budget numbers presented to the Board of Finance by Comptroller Alice Proulx reflects a 46.17 tax rate, an increase of 0.41 mills.

But during budget negotiations on Monday, the finance board and the City Council pushed for level funding, leaving the tax rate at 45.75 mills.

“It wasn’t prudent,” to increase it, Ferreira said.

As the finance board considered the budget numbers this week, one option for controlling spending was to cut 16 employee positions.

“That’s conservative,” Mayor Elinor Carbone said at Monday’s meeting. The staff reduction would have offered $752,305 in savings. Instead, the finance board found savings elsewhere and rejected the layoffs.

The operating budget for the Board of Education’s 2018-19 school year, which was presented to the finance board in April, was $2 million more than the amount considered by the finance board on Monday. The approved school budget totals $74,149,114.

“It’s level funding with the current fiscal year,” Carbone said, “but it still provides the board with the funding to provide important programs.”

“It preserves the ability to go forward with the alternative education program,” Carbone said. The program, according to the school board, would offer a less-traditional education model. Classes likely would start later in the day and students may be able to take part-time jobs.

While the school board’s capital budget, which pays for large-scale infrastructure projects, was kept at a zeropercent increase for a total of $63,077,466, Carbone said some of the higher-cost projects can be funded by issuing bonds. The funding request would require a referendum in November to seek approval from voters for the city to take on the debt.

Finance board member Lance Boynton suggested that funding from the sale of bonds be applied to the city and school budgets to support maintenance and infrastructure improvements.

“We’ll see what the potential is,” Carbone said. “It has to include the schools.”