[Note from Regional Editor Gary Jeanfaivre: This article has been updated so that it accurately reflects its authors and the process by which budget reductions were made. Newtown Patch regrets the errors and apologizes to our readers. If anyone has any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at 203-556-0777 or gary.jeanfaivre@patch.com]
Voters will be turning out today to vote on the fifth budget recommended by the Legislative Council. The total budget amount voters will consider is $106,146,838, of which $68,355,794 is the Board of Education budget.
While many residents have been calling for a bifuracted budget that would allow them to vote on the town and education budgets separately, that will not happen this year. The concept could be under review in a Charter Revision Committee.
In one of the most drawn out budget year's Newtown has experienced, the Board of Education budget was cut by $1 million dollars after the failure of the first budget referendum on April 24. The Board of Finance had already reduced the Board of Education budget on March 14 by $700,000 in contract negotiations, medical insurance, and a dramatic reduction in commodity prices, according to the Chairman of the Board of Education Debbie Leidlein.
but the Legislative Council interpreted the significant no vote to mean the voters wanted a decrease to the budget.
On May 15, the second budget referendum represented a 1.28% tax increase to taxpayers, and went down in failure by 77 votes.
The Legislative Council then unanimously approved reducing the fund balance expense by $200,000 and did not make any other adjustments.
On June 5th, the third budget failed by 114 votes. The Legislative Council then passed a budget that took $240,000 from a fund balance and give the Board of Education $200,000 of it to be used for capital projects, and reduced the Selectmen’s budget by a net of $120,000 after they were given $40,000 from the fund balance to use.
On June 26, the fourth referendum failed,
in 2010, it took three tries to pass the budget. The voter turnouts for the first two rounds were 24 percent and 29 percent, respectively. It finally passed with a 31 percent turnout.
It remains to be seen if this budget will be defeated yet again, or if it will finally stand.
Patch will be bringing you updates from the poll and also provide the result as soon at it is available.
You are being a bit condescending, chauvinistic and mean! Wouldn't it be better if you made your argument with some substantive information? I know that you are capable of doing so.
I agree with you that it is difficult to trust the town officials.
That comment is the definition of "trolling" (look it up on urbandictionary.com). But thank you for perfectly making my point - this issue is turning perfectly good residents into awful people, over what (if you really, really stop and think about it), is not a heck of a lot of money to the average Newtowner. [insert pointless: "if you think it's not that much then why don't you pay it" comment here] Look, I *get* the "enough is enough" argument - I get that the multiple years of 5+% increases to the budget were outrageous. I didn't live here during those years but you'd better believe I would've had issues with those year-over-year increases. If anything, you zero-percenters should be ashamed of that 10-year increase history, not this .5%. And for the record, me and my family are here to stay, we're not an urbanite fly-by-night family who will move away after our kids graduate through the school system. This issue is driving a wedge between the people and it needs to stop. Vote yes!
I believe this budget process has been painful but the process of going through the many referenda has educated many people and there have been increased community conversations on many topics (such as the rainy day account, the unassigned capital nonrecurring fund, the Children's adventure center, FDK, enrollment, road salt, etc...). We have learned so much about the school and the town budget. Those budget binders are being thoroughly tested and that is a good thing for Newtown. Hopefully we will learn from this process and create positive changes in the future.
It looks like you have a new BFF... CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Better late then never, we went through those 10yrs of increases and now it's going to stop. BTW the only wedge I'm driving is the one between their fingers and my wallet.
She is committed to providing her kids with a gold plated education experience while demanding others pay for it regardless of their ability to absorb the subsequent tax increase. She is Marie Antoinette reincarnated.
"the only wedge I'm driving is the one between their fingers and my wallet." http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/austinpowersyeah.jpg
Lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am offering up a different point of view. Is that a problem? You should be aware that my feelings are not hurt because much of what happens here is senseles. This is not personal and my feelings cannot be hurt by people I do not know.
Some areas of Danbury and New Fairfield have similar proximity to NYC but their home values are much much lower. Do not dismiss the quality of education. It is a huge factor for parents who purchase homes. Perhaps our home value would rise if we adequately funded the schools to beef up our educational programs.
“I implore the Legislative Council members to not act on the budget based on the opinions expressed here on the Patch." Oh…you “implore”! I see. Then I guess since you “implore” then your comment should be given extra special attention by the LC. In Po’s magical pink unicorn world the LC should only consider Po Murray approved opinions, preferably those found in emails to the LC. Anyone who would communicate any other way is simply a rube whose opinion must be discounted because their mind aint right. All opinions are equal. But I guess some opinions are more equal than other in Po’s world. Did you REALLY hold a leadership position in town once upon a time????? Frightening.
Could it be that the "active participants" are the majority and need to be listened to? and just so you know this "anonymous people" voted no and will continue to vote no, WHY? BECAUSE THE BUDGET IS TO HIGH. Thanks for your no vote.
School enrollment (using "actual" data from the 2010 Chung study, summary page 8, and current enrollment from the school web site). Numbers are centered around the peak enrollment in 2006. 2006 - 2011 enrollment decreased by 5.3% 2001 - 2006 enrollment increased by 12.3% Note that classroom costs are a "saw-tooth" graph, i.e., the costs change based on the size of classrooms, not individual students. (Po Numbers) Budget Inflation Net increase 2012 0.57% 2011 1.16% 3.16% -2.00% 2010 1.33% 1.64% -0.31% 2009 0.43% -0.34% 0.77% 2008 5.00% 3.85% 1.15% 2007 4.14% 2.85% 1.29% 2006 6.06% 3.24% 2.82% 2005 7.19% 3.39% 3.80% 2004 6.86% 2.68% 4.18% 2003 7.60% 2.27% 5.33% 2002 8.10% 1.59% 6.51% 2001 7.66% 2.83% 4.83% Other questions I have: 1) What was the state contribution across the years? That is, was some of the net increase due to reductions in state aid? 2) Were there any added unfunded mandates that were implemented? Were such programs extended or added that drew money from existing programs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6CZKVGSb1E
A $106 million total town budget and taxpayers are not "invested"? And I assume that the coalition that you mention are the majority of voters.