Simsbury, CT - Board of Finance-Public Hearing 3/30/04

Chairman Paul Henault called the Board of Finance Public Hearing for the 2004/2005 Operating Budgets to order at 7:34 P.M. in the Simsbury High School auditorium, 34 Farms Village Road, Simsbury. The following members were present: Chairman Paul Henault, Peter Askham, Candace Fitzpatrick, Nicholas Mason, Kevin North and Michael Wade. Also present were Board of Education Chairman Richard Hogan, Board of Education Business Manager David Holden, Finance Director/Treasurer Kevin Kane, Board of Education Vice-Chairman Charles Moret, Superintendent of Schools Joseph Townsley, First Selectman Thomas Vincent and other interested parties.

Mr. Henault introduced the Board of Finance members and Town officials present. He reviewed the purpose and procedure for the Public Hearing and briefly reviewed the proposed 2004/05 Operating Budgets: Board of Selectmen - $14,910,340; Debt Retirement - $5,161,910; Board of Education - $50,227,141; and Non-Public Schools - $367,035 totaling $70,666,426. Mr. Henault stated that earlier in the budget process, the BOF had asked the BOS and BOE to adhere to a budget cap of 4.5%.

Mr. Vincent thanked everyone for being at the Public Hearing and acknowledged those who had been involved in the budget process since December. He offered a special thanks to Mr. Kane for his hard work and diligent efforts. Mr. Vincent presented the BOS budget request (4.25% increase) and noted that this adheres to the spending guideline of 4.5% set by the BOF. He added that reductions from the initial budget request of 5.46% were necessary to meet the guideline.

Mr. Moret introduced himself as the Chairman of the Budget and Finance Sub-Committee for the BOE. He introduced fellow Board members and acknowledged the hard work and many countless hours that Mr. Holden spends on the budget.

Mr. Moret stated that staffing is the major component of the budget and noted that in the last five years, staffing has actually decreased as a percentage of the BOE budget from 69% down to 64%. He added that insurance and pension has increased from 31% to 34%. He summarized that each year there are more factors that are out of the BOE's control.

Mr. Moret presented the BOE budget request, a 5.35% increase, and stated that the BOE believes that 5.35% is a very prudent, conservative and most appropriate budget to bring forward. He noted that several of the surrounding towns in the Farmington Valley have proposed higher percentages.

Mr. Moret reviewed the BOE budget process and noted that the Budget and Finance Sub-Committee started looking at this budget in October. He reviewed factors driving the BOE budget. He noted that the BOE met the BOF's 4.25% cap last year, and in order to do so, had to make reductions in staffing and course offerings. There was a significant impact due to these reductions. Class sizes have become quite large. He noted that if the increasing class sizes are not arrested, there will be significant deterioration. He added that they are exceptionally concerned about the middle school right now.

Mr. Henault commented that both the BOS and BOE have presented challenges and needs with respect to the Operating Budgets. He stated that the BOF has to look at those needs, what those requests are, and at the same time try to balance between the revenue and the requests. He reviewed the factors involved in arriving at a mill rate and discussed tax implication estimates. He noted that this year the Grand List growth is flat; there is almost no growth in the Grand List at all.

Joan Coe, 26 Whitcomb Drive, stated that the 4.5% cap is more than is necessary. She noted that all the taxpayers have compelling reasons to say, "enough is enough," and she added that taxes should be reduced, not increased. She questioned several areas of expenditures. She also stated that the Simsbury Farms golf course has not been profitable over the years and that the restaurant is not making money. She added that the taxpayers should not be burdened with a losing revenue. She suggested that it is time to look into selling the golf course to reduce expenditures. Mrs. Coe summarized by asking the BOF to reduce all the budgets and especially stick to their own mandate to reduce the BOE budget to a maximum 4.5% over last year.

Dave Mudano, 10 Robin Road, stated that he supports the BOE and their budget and that he opposes the BOF's 4.5% cap. He opined that further cuts will have a severe negative impact on his children's education short term and, more importantly, long term. He stated that he is distraught by the seemingly brick by brick dismantling of the school system. He expressed belief that the BOE is in place to insure Simsbury's school system remains one of the best education systems in the state. Mr. Mudano challenged the members of the BOF to give the BOE the funding that they've asked for. If they don't, they should at least take the budget to a Town Meeting as is and let the people vote.

Paul Smith, 9 Kings Road, noted that the Simsbury school system is very successful. He added that one of the programs that will be cut under the 5.35% budget is the intramural program at Henry James. He stated that the Simsbury school system is facing a very negative trend. As a math teacher in Simsbury, he has personally seen how last year's budget cap has hurt the system. One negative is that class sizes have increased. He thinks there are people in Simsbury who deserve some tax relief, and a program needs to be worked out. But that tax relief program should not be done at the expense of the children of this community. The BOE came to the decision in late February that if they reduced the budget to 4.5%, the damage would be too great. Mr. Smith stated that he feels the 5.35% budget should be forwarded to the public for their vote.

Maria Ecke, 18 Meadowlark Road, asked that, under the Freedom of Information Act, the salaries of the Town and BOE officials be mailed to her. Mr. Henault informed Ms. Ecke that any FOI requests must be put in writing.

Bill Gardner, 53 Highridge Road, stated that he is Chairman of Assessment Appeal. He noted that last year they had over 600 appeals because of the increase in assessments and also because of the resulting tax increases. This year so far there are over 100 appeals. Many of the people who came in were seniors. He stated that 45% of the voting population is over 50 years old and 25% over 55 in Simsbury. A large portion of the town doesn't have children in the school system. He stated that he has no problem supporting the school budget as long as it is rational and reasonable. He would like to see the BOE budget get down to 4.5%.

Charles Stephenson, 65 East Weatogue Street, stated that he supports the desire of the BOF to cap all budgets for the coming year at 4.5%. He added that even the 4.5% is too high. His concern rests with the long-time viability of a 5 and 6% tax increase year after year in an environment which cannot sustain that level of increase. He provided statistics of income percentages which were far lower than Simsbury's history of tax increase percentages. He added that these are the realities that the citizens of Simsbury are living with, and it is that very environment which makes the current budget proposals, regardless of their compelling arguments, unacceptable.

Dan Crowley, 6 Walker Drive, stated that many families paying the taxes have income from various sources. Families try to budget, but you can't budget what you don't have. He stated that we must change our thinking. He offered scenarios of how soon someone's taxes would double at certain percentages of increase. He commented on the overcompensation of public, state, federal and local bureaucracies and the long-term pension bills. He recommended freezing the budget. He suggested that the well-to-do-folks who moved to Simsbury in lieu of sending their children to private schools would be willing to pay a substantial increase. Mr. Crowley again recommended freezing the budget in deference to the people who live here in modest homes and who are aging rapidly.

Brad Brimmer, 68 Simsbury Manor Drive, voiced his support for the 5.35% budget recommended by the BOE. He stated that his children have been provided the finest education, bar none, in the State of Connecticut. When people hear the name "Simsbury", they immediately think of high quality schools and high achieving students. Unfortunately some of the luster is wearing off due to budget reductions, reduction in class offerings, reduction in educational enrichment opportunities and the increased reliance in the fee-for-service approach to school programs. He asked the BOF to show some courage by adopting the budget and letting Simsbury's residents vote on the budget as is.

Mako Haruta, 16 Sanctuary Drive, stated that she is a university professor and that she and her husband moved to Simsbury in 1994 after carefully researching all the school systems in the Hartford area. Simsbury was a very clear first choice. She added that they are very deeply concerned about the cuts and the increasing of class sizes.

Dick Tesh, Bickford Street, stated that he has been a resident for 19 years. He agreed with the BOE that the 4.5% cap is unacceptable. This budget request will result in a tax increase of almost 6%. He added that the BOE continues to insult the intelligence of the taxpayers of Simsbury and the BOF by ignoring the 4.5% cap. He asked that the BOF insist that the BOE reduce its budget request by an amount that will bring the tax increase down to 4.5%.

Susan Rabinowe, 1 Aspenwood, stated that she moved to Simsbury for the wonderful schools and a belief in the public school system over a private school system. She added that the Town is chipping away at an extremely high quality school system, thus losing the viability of the town. She stated that it is a crisis situation at this point and that no one can afford to wait.

Jean Carpenter, 54 Musket Trail, stated that she highly supports keeping class size down. She noted that nobody wants taxes to go up, but we have to keep our schools at least at par if not continuing to go up in caliber. We need to go forward with this.

Evan Woollacott, 128 Terry's Plain Road, stated that he has lived in Simsbury since 1960. He spoke for "all the seniors" using his life as an example. He stated that he has been retired for 18 years and over that time has had no increases in income. During the same period, the BOE budget has increased more than 100%. He asked what do seniors do? Initially they look to discretionary monies and spend that to pay their taxes. When that's gone, they look at how they can cut into their quality of life. Then they start selecting priorities and what they can no longer do. The next step is to move out of town. He stated that he has always supported education, but he still wants to live in the Town of Simsbury. He suggested that the BOF direct the BOE to stay with the 4.5% increase.

Mark Turpin, 16 Sanctuary Drive, stated that he has three children in school. He added that Simsbury spends less per pupil than many other towns. He stated that he has noticed that his children's class sizes have been creeping upward. He requested that the BOF send the BOE budget to the voters and let the voters decide.

Carol Kruse, 41 Drumlin Road, commended the BOE and BOF for the huge amount of work they have done. She stated that she is relieved that in this town they have people who take business seriously and the issues that are being confronted tonight. She expressed her strong concurrence with the BOE budget proposal. Continuing quality education in town is very important.

Peter Rosenthal, 10 Farmstead Lane, stated that taxes are going up, and the quality and the breadth of the educational programs are going down. He added that if some programs are cut, you take away opportunities for learning that the children won't have again in their lives. He suggested putting the budget forward to the voters as it is. He then challenged the community to stop talking about how to increase economic development year after year and never succeed. He doesn't think that the community has lived up to the issue.

Greg Smith, 140 Farms Village Road, stated that he and his wife moved here 10 years ago after a careful search. He supports the requested BOE budget. He noted that when classes are too big, students are disadvantaged. He agreed that creative solutions and increased commercial development are needed. He asked the BOF to be courageous and allow the voters to express their opinions in the voting booth.

Kathleen Godfrey, 17 Arrowhead Drive, voiced her support for the budget as it's been proposed. She suggested that a strong educational system infrastructure contributes to the quality of life that everyone in every economic bracket enjoys in this town.

Nancy Dennen, 21 Orchard Lane, spoke in support of the education budget. She noted that it is difficult for parents of small children and also seniors to get out at night. Because of that, she would like to see the BOE budget go to the Town Meeting or the Referendum so that the town can come out during the day to vote on it so that everyone can be represented.

Sandy Kremer, 476 Firetown Road, encouraged the BOF to pass the budgets as they have been shown. She stated that working within the school system, they have had so many mandates put on them at both the State and Federal levels that it doesn't matter how much taxes are increased. They just keep digging away at what we have. She recommended contacting our legislators, as a community, at the State and Federal levels and tell them to start using some common sense in what they are doing to the communities. We need to contact our legislators and let them know that we have had enough of them telling us what we should be doing in our communities.

John McDonald, 15 Lawton Drive, stated that he is tired of seeing the Town do battle every single year over these same issues. It's frustrating to see how it divides the town. He stated that he moved to Simsbury 10 years ago because of the quality of the school system but agrees with what other people have said that, even though the taxes go up, we continue to see the quality of education go down. He commented on Mr. Henault's earlier statement that the Grand List is flat and wondered why. He stated that the teachers in Simsbury are amazing, but as the classes get bigger, the teachers are losing control. He agreed with others that the BOF should pass the BOE proposed budget to the taxpayers and let them decide what's acceptable.

Mr. Henault stated that there is an Economic Development Commission in Town, and $8 million worth of projects were approved by Zoning and Planning, but those projects fell through for one reason or another. Unfortunately, there are certain factors that the Town has no control over.

Nancy Haase, 1 Stonehenge Drive, commended both the BOE and BOF on staying true to their charges even though it is difficult. She stated that the BOE voted unanimously to bring their budget forward, and they feel it is the best they can do. She asked the BOF to put forward the 5.35% budget.

Leslie Imse, 326 Bushy Hill Road, noted that neighboring towns are doing a much better job of keeping class sizes down. That's their priority because they know that class size directly affects student achievement and improvement. She noted that cuts would mean no physical activity at the middle school whatsoever. She doesn't think that they can cut any further than they already have.

Mr. Henault answered that there would be a Special meeting following the Public Hearing. Mr. Kane answered that on the Town side last year, legal fees were about $370,000 of which about $169,170 was for Meadowood. Mr. Moret said that on the BOE side, legal fees were $22,000 last year.

Karen Cobleigh, 8 Crestwood Road, noted that neighboring towns have higher budget proposals than Simsbury. She stated that she is upset about the middle school and the sport issue. She added that she watched the BOE really work hard on this budget, and it is a wonderful proposal. The children need it. Large class size is just not appropriate and just won't do.

Dr. Townsley stated that 60% of the BOE budget consists of teachers' salaries. He added that Simsbury looks at their teachers' salaries in relation to the 10 towns surrounding Simsbury because that's whom Simsbury competes with in terms of getting the best teachers. He further added that the beginning salary for teachers in Simsbury in the 10-town comparisons is #10 - dead last. He emphasized that Simsbury's salaries are average to below average compared to other school districts. Last year and the year before, Simsbury lost teachers to Avon. One teacher left here, went to Avon and made $7,000 more.

Maria Ecke, 18 Meadowlark Road, came up for a second time. She wondered why there is a rising increase in home schoolers. She asked for the percentage of increase of salaries of Department Heads and asked that it be made public.