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ANNUAL TOWN BUDGET MEETING
MAY 4, 2009
Town Council Chairman John F. Carlson called the Annual Town Budget Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Avon Senior Center, Community Room.
Council Chairman Carlson welcomed everyone to the meeting. The first order of business was to call for nominations for Moderator.
On a motion made by William Stokesbury and duly seconded by Thomas Harrison, it was unanimously voted to elect Diane S. Hornaday as Moderator of the Annual Budget Meeting.
The Moderator, Diane S. Hornaday, outlined the procedure of the meeting and advised citizens that in accordance with the Town Charter, there will be discussion on the proposed Budget then it would be submitted to a vote at Referendum on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at the Senior Center, 635 West Avon Road, during the hours of 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. She further reported everyone will have the opportunity to speak on this item, but we ask that you identify yourself, including where you live, then make whatever comments you would like and whatever questions you may have regarding the question to be considered this evening.
She announced that the Town Clerk would act as the Clerk of the Meeting, in accordance with the Town Charter. She called upon the Town Clerk, Ann L. Dearstyne, to read the Call of the Meeting, as follows:
LEGAL NOTICE
TOWN OF AVON
ANNUAL BUDGET MEETING
The Annual Budget meeting of the electors and citizens qualified to vote in Town Meetings of the Town of Avon, Connecticut will be held at the Avon Senior Center, 635 West Avon Road, in the Town of Avon, Connecticut on Monday, May 4, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. for the following purposes:
To receive and consider a resolution for the adoption of the 2009/2010 Annual Budget in the amount of $70,887,438. as recommended by the Board of Finance, for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2009.
Pursuant to Section 9.4.1 of the Avon Town Charter, the Annual Budget Meeting will be adjourned to a referendum vote on the aforesaid recommended budget to be held on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Electors and persons who are not electors but who are qualified to vote at town meetings will vote at the Avon Senior Center, 635 West Avon Road, Avon, Connecticut.
Absentee ballots are available at the Town Clerk’s Office in the Town Hall.
The aforesaid question will be placed on paper ballots under the following heading:
“Shall the Annual Town Budget in the amount of $70,887,438. as recommended by the Board of Finance, for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2009 be approved?”
Voters approving the proposed question will vote “Yes”
And those opposing the proposed question will vote “No”.
Dated at Avon, Connecticut, this 13th day of April, 2009.
The Moderator reported copies of the Call to the Meeting are on the table by the door, and also there are copies of a summary of the budget and a tax calculation form which you are all welcome to pick up and apply to your own situation. She called upon Thomas F. Harrison, Chairman of the Board of Finance, to present the Annual Budget Resolution.
Thomas Harrison, Board of Finance Chairman, reported the Board of Finance at a meeting in April voted on the resolution, he will present the Resolution, and urge its adoption and the Moderator will call for a second to the resolution. We do not actually vote on it tonight, it will be referred to a vote on May 13th, what we are doing tonight is formally adopting the resolution as presented.
Mr. Harrison moved the adoption of the budget resolution which will go out to referendum on May 13th as follows: “Shall the Annual Town Budget in the amount of $70,887,438. as recommended by the Board of Finance, for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2009 be approved?”
The resolution was duly seconded. The Moderator called upon the Board of Finance Chairman, the Town Council Chairman and Board of Education Chairman to make their presentations.
The reports of the Board of Finance, Town Council, and Board of Education were presented, are attached, and made a part of these minutes. The Board of Finance, Town Council and Board of Education are recommending the Annual Town Budget in amount $70,887,438 for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2009; go to referendum on May 13, 2009.
The Moderator asked if any other Town Official wishes to comment.
Mark Zacchio, Town Council Member, reported this budget meets the obligations, clearly, it only meets a small percentage of the needs. When you talk about what our road construction needs are, when you talk about what the district bullets are for schools, it really only meets a percentage of our needs, and I think that is okay. We are in an economic environment where it is suitable to put a budget in front of the public that only meets a portion of our needs. For the discretionary spending, it really does not meet any of what our best and brightest thinkers throughout the budget process came up with what we think our discretionary needs are. To what we are going to need in the future for the kinds of expansion and programs we might need, on the Police Department for training or in the schools, for the high school kids they are
preparing for college. What I think is in front of us is a budget that meets the current economic reality, but it really does not meet the needs of this community in the future. It is good for one year, but it is definitely a budget that only meets a percentage of what we really need to do as, again, a Community, and that is something that we have been very good at for the last few years. So I hope you join me on the 13th in voting yes for this budget as well. I think we have a lot of support from the elected officials that stand before you tonight who work on this throughout the year, and please come out and vote on the 13th and support the budget.
The Moderator stated Mr. Zacchio is a member of your Town Council. Is there any other Town Official who would like to speak?
The Moderator stated there can be no addition or reduction in the resolution that was presented and seconded to be sent to referendum. She opened the meeting up to citizens who wish to comment. Would you please stand, state your names and address, go to a microphone so that everyone can hear you. Please speak for yourself, by that I mean, I think or this is what I observe, not as a representative of a group. Please try to limit your comments to three minutes so that everyone gets a chance to speak.
Mary Saslow, 9 Wiltshire Lane - I have been a member of this community for the past twelve years, my son Brian is here and is a sophomore at Avon High School, and I would ask the moderator if he would be allowed to read his prepared remarks, in conjunction with this issue.
The Moderator reported he is not a registered voter, therefore he cannot, but you are Mary and can read his report. It is the practice in our Town not to allow those who will not be eligible to vote at the referendum to speak at these hearings. But for what I consider good and valid reasons he will under the parameters I have outlined be allowed to speak for three minutes.
Brian Salow, 9 Wiltshire Lane - The approval of the current Avon Public School Budget is a necessity for the proper education of the youth of this Town. As it is under the current budget proposal teachers will be laid off including those that provide viable instruction in our health and music programs. In addition, the Middle School athletic program is in jeopardy and reductions are planned for such essential items as textbooks and supplies. These cuts are sever enough to provoke students at the school and our teachers who have suffered or will suffer if this budget does not pass on May 13th then that means further cuts resulting in elimination of as many as 15 teaching positions and the entire athletic program and student activities of all levels. What kind of an educational experience will students have if these basic
programs that most have grown up with as bare elements of a public education experience are eliminated? It is the responsibility and civic duty of all the citizens of our Town to vote to pass the budget so that the students of Avon can receive an education that will prepare them for the highly competitive and challenging environment of the real world. Students need to get the necessary tools to develop sharp minds that will benefit them in the future. These tools include appropriate student to teacher ratios that foster individualized learning and enriching experiences that school athletic and music programs provide. After school activities such as mock trial, the debate team and tutoring in the city are also in jeopardy. All of these additional elements of our current educational curriculum help us as students to learn to think outside the box, and develop leadership, social and technical skills beyond ones that are learned in the basic classroom and
textbook environment. With the significant issues that are currently facing our Country, we students need these skills in order to develop into full thinking individuals who can go out into the world and solve these problems for you and for our future generations. We currently pride ourselves as being recognized as one of the top schools in the State, and in the Country, and this point alone has attracted many families to move to this community, and participate in funding, due to their taxes, many of the Town programs that all of us currently enjoy. Will we be able to continue to attract new families if our school system is reduced to provide only the basic elements of an education? Being a citizen of this town each and everyone can have a responsibility and duty to support the public school system and enjoy the success of the future generation of this community, by voting yes.
David Altschuler, 18 Volovski Road – I am just baffled by what the Finance Committee did at that meeting that was held here last month. As Peggy Roell said at the meeting following on the 31st, if you take more out of this budget, the voices of the people at the meeting will not have been heard. So I would like to ask somebody from the last meeting to please tell us if there were, I counted from the minutes that are in draft form on the web site, roughly four to one for support of the budget at a higher level. So if this is the forum for us to express our opinions, why was that ratio not heard.
Moderator – thank you. Mr. Harrison do you want to respond to that?
Board of Finance Chairman Harrison – Thank you for your question. I think if you have been following my presentation, I explained to you that there is about six different items and categories of things that we considered. One of which is the people who speak at the public hearing, but there are a lot of other things as well. I think the total number of people who spoke at the hearing are either 27 or 28 approximately, we have 12,000 registered voters in Avon, last year we had 3,000 people show up at the referendum. So I do not believe that 27 or 28 speakers necessarily represent the entire population of people who would come out to vote or could come out to vote. We mentioned at that meeting that we do not base it strictly on an applause meter basis, we listen to the comments at the hearing, we listen to
people who talk to us in Town, we listen to people who e-mail us, we listen to what the economic situation is, we look at a lot of things, and we listen to the people who in the past have come out to vote at the referendums. And the referendum vote is what decides this, you have the option if you are unhappy with our decisions to vote against the budget, people do that rather freely. If you look at that slide you will see that over the course of the referendums we have had seven rejected and six approved. So we do not pretend to have all of the answers, we do the best job we can to anticipate what the majority of the voters will do, and the majority of the voters is a much larger number than those who speak at the hearing. So you have the option to do what has happened many times in the past, to reject it, but I believed I explained in the slide presentation what we look at and it is not limited just to the body count of people who speak at public hearings.
Linda Merlin, 48 Highgate Drive – Tom, I am a little confused by what you said just now. I just wanted to clarify it. Obviously everyone votes yes or no on any issue presented to referendum. But I know in the past you have always promised citizens that if we vote it down that it would go lower. And I think you currently are misleading people who are not happy, and with this particular resident and wish it were higher. So if you could just clarify what you were just saying.
Finance Chairman Harrison – Sure, thanks. I think if you look at the history of the votes that I had and that is five Linda, as I mentioned the higher the mill rate increase the higher turn out and the higher no votes. I do not know what the vote will be this year, I do not know what the turnout will be. Generally speaking, people vote against the budget because they believe it is too high, I do not know how that will come out this year. I am not making any prediction Linda, as to what will happen if it is defeated, I certainly hope it is not. You have a situation this year where I do not believe there is any organized opposition at all. I have not heard of any. I sure hope it passes so that your question, and my potential answers will all be thoroughly hypothetical and epidemic. Because I
cannot tell you what is going to happen on the 13th, or what will happen after that. But look at the voting chart, you can get substance there, what levels the voters seem to be comfortable approving, and what levels of tax increase they are not comfortable approving. That is really the best answer I can give you.
Linda Merlin, 48 Highgate Drive – with my other minute - I would just like to talk to the greater community, and as the numbers on the chart show about voter turnout, generally 30% or less in Town turned out for these referenda. The votes are usually pretty close, which means generally less than 50% of the Town is determining the direction this Town is going in. While I hope more people will turn out and more people will support the Town and the budgets proposed, I think that it is important for everyone to know that this is a community that if bigger than the people that turn out and without participation of what we want Avon to be is going to be controlled by a very small group of people, no matter which way it goes. I hope everyone will support it, but I would rather more people turn out than ever
before just to start involving themselves in the process and helping the direction of Avon to remain in the right direction.
Holly Matthews, 160 West Avon Road – I am going to maybe rephrase her question, because I do not know the answer. If I am not happy with this budget because I want it to be higher, what do I do?
Finance Chairman Harrison – You have to decide that for yourself, no one can tell you how to vote.
Holly Matthews – Is there someone else who might be able to address my question? In that I do not feel I have the answer.
Thomas Gugliotti, Board of Finance Member – I wish I could give you a definitive answer. I know Mr. Harrison would like to have given you a definitive answer. As without structure, there is no way that anybody can tell you what would definitively happen if the budget is turned down. Historically if the budget has been turned down, the budget has been reduced, that is what the votes seemed to show. As Tom indicated if you say you do not like it because it is too low, and you vote against it. I will tell you this, I supported this budget, I supported a bigger budget. I will tell you I would be worried if you and others decided to vote this budget down, because I fear that the end result would be a lower budget. I think you have got to take what we have. For those us who think, as Mr. Zacchio
said, that we have not really met the needs of Avon, we have got to find where our bottom is, and this may be the bottom. And as the economy changes, and God willing it changes, maybe some things can change in the future years. But for now everybody, all the Town officials, all the professionals who worked came up with, what we think collectively, in good faith in our hearts, is what the great majority of people will support. It causes a lot of pain, but we think this is what we need to get this budget passed. I personally feared that if you decided and many others decided you were against it because you think it is too low, we would be more disappointed. So I ask you to support it. In fairness to Mr. Harrison and everybody else, no one can tell you what the result would be if it was turned down. Thank you.
Florence Stahl, 2 Sunset Trail – Good evening everybody. Only an ideologue would always vote no on a budget. Isn’t there ever going to be a time when you believe Town officials when they say they have wrung everything possible out of the budget? Can’t you accept that further reductions would hurt Avon, its reputation, property values, schools, future? Would an additional $20 or $50 a month really put you in the poor house? Have you considered moving? Only an ideologue would always vote yes on a budget. Isn’t there ever going to be a time when you wonder if Town officials could have done a better job of controlling the spending? Why do you support every budget every year all the time? Can’t you accept the fact that higher and higher property taxes are unsustainable
and will eventually bankrupt Avon, its present residents, future residents, older residents? Do you ever acknowledge that more doesn’t always mean better? We must not hold our convictions so dogmatically that we are unable to assess new facts and circumstances. The Avon Taxpayers Association does not oppose every budget every year, and indeed we are not opposing this one. We wish that those in support of the budget, any budget all the time, would equally assess new facts and circumstances in the coming year. Thank you.
Ann O’Brien, 11 Stony Way – I am speaking just for myself this evening, as a parent and as a taxpayer and as a resident of the Town, but I am an employee of the Town as well. I want to say that when we went through the referendum season last year, I know how painful, and I can only guess how painful it must have been for those of you who worked so hard on budget to have them turned down again and again. And I sympathize with the desire not to have that scenario again, however I strongly believe that it is the responsibility of the Town Council and the Board of Finance to put forward a budget that reflects what the community leaders, our Superintendent and our Town Council believe to be in the best interest of the Town. I think it is the responsibility to first put forward that budget at the 3% level that was
proposed, but it is absolutely baffling to me as a resident that there would have been the number of people who are clearly in support of the budget, from the information I have seen about on the number of people who took time to contact the Board of Finance members in private, that the number of people who have spoke in favor of the budget, then to have it arbitrarily refused in the hopes that maybe we found the bottom. I think that is not the way you should approach it, maybe we approach it that there will be more than one referendum, but at least you will know for sure what the community will and will not support. Again, even in last years referendum when the Town Council took a very courageous step of going ahead and implementing the budget at the rate that they believed to be necessary to maintain the quality of services in our Town, that that was a courageous thing for them to do because they are in the position to know best. So as two other speakers have
referred to, it is baffling to me that the budget would have been reduced from 3% to 2.15% based on a thought that maybe the Community was not going to support anything higher. I think it is your responsibility to put forth a budget at least for the first referendum that was introduced at the earlier budget hearing. Thank you.
Sonja Larkin-Thorne, 5 Avondale Drive – I would like to say, and unfortunately I was not able to make all of the budget hearings this year, but I really do think that this budget reflects reality. In these economic times there are not a lot of dollars available, and while people want to stand up and say it should be more, I applaud the Board of Finance and the Board of Education, which I go to very often, and thank you Peggy for reflecting the reality of these economic times, and what reality we are willing to see in this Country from an economic perspective over the next two to five years. Government spending is going down, peoples retirement income is flat, investments are down for those of us who rely on those as part of our income, and the Town Council specifically, and the Board of Finance, reflect the reality of what
is going on in these economic times. And at this point I would say in looking at this budget, that I would support it and vote yes.
Joe Diani, 55 Old Wheeler Lane – Good evening, I completely agreed with this young man that to see some of the programs that we are losing in the school and the reduction in teachers is terrible. We need all of the educators that we can possibly afford, however, now I should probably head for the door because I am going to be thrown out of here by next comment. Are these raises necessary, are they cast in stone, can’t people for one year forego and have a zero increase between the Board of Education and the union, is it possible? I have seen this in industry, where in fact, in my 65 years of working at one time during one of those serious recessions, I was with a company that had about 200 people, our employer asked if we would take a 5% reduction just to keep the plant going and not lay off anybody, so that
they would retain their insurance and retain their positions. We all agreed, we all survived, and I think that perhaps in future negotiations you saying that you cannot change them this year, couldn’t you consider a zero increase one year. I do not think that it would hurt. I have gone through it and here I am, I am still in one piece. So that is why I say I should head for the door now.
Moderator – Mrs. Roell will respond to you.
Peggy Roell, Board of Education – I am not sure if you were here last year when we went through the discussion about the binding arbitration laws, I can send you some information about it. Our negotiations between Boards of Education and Teachers Union are covered by some very strict State Statutes that have procedures that need to be followed, a year and a half ago or so, we went through the negotiation, the mediation process went to arbitration, and arbitrators determined the amount of increases that they thought were reasonable based on the community’s ability to pay, not willingness to pay, less other criteria. There is big document on our website that I would be happy to send you the link to that better explains the whole process.
Joe Diani – So these are in concrete even though we have a real bad economy right now, there is not consideration for that?
Peggy Roell – Well the unions can open up negotiations, and that is something that they can do, but they are protected by State law, they do not have to do that by any means.
Joe Diani – Well I thought I would give it a try.
Peggy Roell – That is alright, and most private citizens are not apprised of it. Thank you.
Tom West, 27 Lakeview Boulevard - I am going to reiterate some of the things that some of the other people have said. Baffling, great work, I am going to add a couple of things though, irritating, frustrating. This has been a difficult process to go through, last year was equally difficult to go through. Voting it down, voting it down and finally voting it down a third time. I was one of the people that voted for it the first two times, and voted against it the last time because it was to a point where it was not going to be giving enough money to those programs that we needed and wanted, and the Town Council stepped up and they did what I felt was the right thing, they added some money back. But on that note, this is our next tragedy. This whole process has been a tragic process to go through. The
funding level that you are seeing at School and in Town are just not what is needed to properly educate our children or to properly maintain this Town. But, all that said, the real tragedy would be if this thing does not pass. So I urge everybody, get out get your friends get your family vote to pass this budget, let’s get through this and let’s hope as we move forward into the future, and fund things at the level that they should be funded at to properly educate our children and to properly maintain the Town, so that we grow.
Chairman John Carlson, Town Council –There is a need for some clarification as to what happened after the third budget referendum failed.
Town Manager Phil Schenck – In regard to last year’s budget, particularly in the Town Council’s actions after the defeat on the third referendum, there has been a lot of questions raised, and I do not think people really understand some of the issues that were involved. At the time that the budget was put together for the third referendum we did not have a State budget, we did not know what the State revenue structure was going to be, including the grants that were going to be given to the Town of Avon. Several days before the budget referendum we did find out that we were going to get approximately $200,000 more through State grants and authorizations to charge fees and so forth that had not been included in the budget. There was a corresponding need at that time as well, to change and retrofit and remove
and add new boilers at Roaring Brook School, and that project cost was about $177,000. Obviously you cannot shut the boilers down during the school year, so the work has to be done in the summer, which puts a time limit on how you schedule these types of improvements, with the unanticipated unexpected increases of revenues from the State, it allowed the Town Council who manages the capital improvement program to go ahead and take advantage of that money to replace the boilers in the Roaring Brook School. That is why that money was added onto the budget that evening, so that we could proceed with the Roaring Brook School boiler replacement. To wait until the next Town Council meeting further along in the year would delay the Roaring Brook School boiler replacement to the point where it was questionable whether it could be done last summer. This was part of our whole energy improvement program that we were trying to implement to reduce the
tremendous increases in energy prices, which went through a year to two years ago. That is the background on why that money at that time and that project, and that budget was increased by the Town Council. It was an opportunity to take advantage of the situation that was not known at the time the budget was put together.
David Nord, 16 Oak Bluff – I think this has been a very good discussion tonight and the only thing I would ask, and I have watched this budget process in amazement this year, and one of the things that is encouraging is that it does not seem like there is a lot of opposition, although I have been told that the group assembled here is indeed not representative of the Town. So that we just hope that the vote is a positive vote. I agree with some of the Town Council members who said they really hope that it is not rejected because despite some representations that you just do not know what you would do with the rejection, the fact of the matter is every rejection ends up with a lower budget. One thing that I would ask from a process standpoint is that raises total last. Hopefully if it is passed it is not an
endorsement of the process next year, because I think there is a serious flaw in the process that will become a lack of individuals on the Board of Education and the Town Council who we have elected to do a job and that job has been overridden by the Board of Finance, on an assumption that was based on discussions with many people, but that is what the vote is for. So it really needs to be put to a vote of the residents and that vote will then be the first step in the process to reducing it if it needs to be. I would just add that for consideration so that you do not misinterpret the results that may occur this year.
Moderator - I would like to speak to the process, the process is detailed by our Town Charter, and the members of the Board of Finance are also elected, and our understanding is that they do not have the same eye when they look at the budget that the members of the Town Council and Board of Education do, so it is a third and hopefully impartial look at the budgets that are voted down. That is the process and that is how it is followed, outlined in the Charter, the format that we use.
There being no further discussion, the Moderator thanked everyone for coming and for participating. The budget will be submitted to a referendum vote, to be held on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, here in the Avon Senior Center at 635 West Avon Road, Avon, between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
On a motion made by William Stokesbury, seconded by Peggy Roell, all were in favor.
The Annual Budget Meeting was adjourned to referendum at 9:00 p.m.
Attest:
Ann L. Dearstyne
Town Clerk
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