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BOARD OF FINANCE
MINUTES
PUBLIC HEARING
April 9, 2007
I. CALL TO ORDER – Board of Finance Chairman Tom Harrison called to order the Public Hearing at 7:30 and welcomed the audience at the Avon Senior Center Community Room. He introduced the Board of Finance member present: Margaret Bratton, Catherine Durdan, Jim Speich, Bill Hooper, and Tom Gugliotti. Mike Monts was absent. Mr. Harrison explained the process of the hearing and workshop(s) to be held on April 10 and, if necessary, April 11. At the Public Hearing, the Board of Education’s budget proposal would be presented followed by the Town Council’s presentation of their proposed budget and then the Board of Finance overview. Following the presentations, the audience would be invited to ask any questions and make comments. The Budget workshop is to be held on Tuesday, April 10 with a second workshop, if necessary, on April 11.
II. Mr. Harrison called on the Town Attorney Dwight Johnson to explain the budget process. The hearing is the culmination of the process started late last year and the purpose is to review and to consider a resolution for adoption of the budget presented by the Board of Finance. The referendum is to be held on May 16. If fewer than 9% of the residents of the town vote, the budget will be passed.
III. Following his leading those present in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, Mr. Harrison called upon Chairman of the Town Council John Carlson to present the proposed Town Council, Sewer, Debt Service and Capital Improvement Budget for the Fiscal Year 2007/2008. Mr. Carlson introduced members of the Town Council present: Ann Hornaday, Mark Zacchio, and Bill Shea. Joe Woodford was absent.
Mr. Carlson noted there had been a series of meetings in the months before the hearing. The public is invited to attend most meetings. Prior to any adjustments by the Board of Finance, the overall increase presented is 6.2%, with the Town operating budget at 5%, the Sewer budget at 1%, the Debt Service at 3% and the Capital Improvement budget at 31.25%. Additional costs this year are for Avon Day 155.56%; in the past the costs were absorbed by various department budgets. The other additional item is a Youth Services Director at a cost of $28,000; 50% will be reimbursed by the state. Mr. Carlson’s presentation included the costs of new services (slide 3), additional costs (slide 4), the top 5 capital improvement projects (slide 8), existing and projected net debt service (slide 9), and
the budget summary (slide15). The PowerPoint presentation is attached and to be considered part of these Minutes of the Public Hearing.
Board of Finance Minutes
Public Hearing
April 9, 2007 – page 2
Dwight Johnson, Town Attorney, amended his previous comments: the public’s comments will be taken into account at the Annual Budget Meeting in May.
IV. Board of Education Chair Peggy Roell was called upon and introduced those Board of Education members present: Tom McNeill, Mike Eagen, Will Stokesbury, Sue Henneberry, Ken Notestine, as well as Superintendent Dr. Kisiel and Director of Finance Gary Franzi. Mrs. Roell stated that 30% of the Board of Education employees (about 130 people) live in town and asked those present to raise their hands. The PowerPoint presentation and explanation is attached and to be considered part of these Minutes of the Public Hearing.
V. The Board of Finance Overview was presented by Mr. Harrison. The Board had requested that the guideline be no more than a 5% increase in spending. The PowerPoint presentation is attached and to be considered part of these Minutes of the Public Hearing.
VI. Mr. Harrison called upon the audience for questions and/or comments on the Town Council, Board of Education and Board of Finance budget presentations. Each person was asked to speak at one of two microphones and to state his/her name and address for the record.
Paul Cramer, 45 Pine Hill Road: It seems to be a relatively uncontentious year for this sort of thing. I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a general comment about the 89% of our expenditures. Nineteen years I got married to my late wife. I didn’t think I was representative of Avon citizens but I am somewhat representative of those about 65 years old and recently retired. Nineteen years ago I moved into a home for which I paid $350,000. I still have the tax bill on that and 19 years ago it was $3,685. Now with the proposed budget this year, the way things have gone, my house has been determined by the town to be worth $380,000 and my proposed property tax this year will be $7,000. Therefore my house value has increased 9% while my property taxes have
increased 90%. When we absorb these types of tax increases it is with the realization that it is not just the property tax increase that many of us have to deal with. Obviously we have double digit increases in the cost of food, medical care, gasoline, utilities, you name it and that constitutes the majority of most people’s actual cost of living. Unlike all these nice numbers that the agencies are saying, our actual cost increase does not usually look like 2% or 3%. Like many I have to meet these cost figures with so-called cost of living and salary increases and with my state job, I’ve not exceed 3% in 20 years. Some can actually meet these increases while others realize that their supposedly valuable home will not buy a dime’s worth of food, medical care, gas or utilities unless it is sold. That creates other problems of uprooting one’s family and the problem of where to live. Everyone knows that the
property tax system of funding education and town services is broken locally, statewide and nationally.
In 2003, the problem was elegantly analyzed by then Avon resident Grier Santos, in a book whose dedication reads “in pursuit of the greatest good for the greatest number”. He tried to inspire us to urge our local, state and national representatives to enact fundamental change, that is, fundamental change in the paradigm, in a property tax system that now polarizes us and leaves us bickering over a few inadequate dollars that we actually control with our annual votes. Please, I ask you, do what you can and particularly advocated in all the rhetoric and move toward change in this paradigm in a fundamental way. One more thing, I’m too old to go to the schools we pay so much for. I get my education in the history room and other resources of the library and please don’t
under-appreciate that. Make sure we have adequate library facilities for Avon; students come and go and it is a great resource for everyone.
Allan Reiskin, 25 Highwood Drive: (not verbatim, tape was not clear enough) I recognize that the percentage of increase in the budget always exceeds the growth of the grand list. During the last revaluation the assessor hired some assessors from Boston and the figures varied too much. That needs to be corrected. Our grand list is going up 2% while the budget is going up 5%. It doesn’t make sense.
Keith Sherman, 54 Tollgate Lane: Thank you to those who manage the tax dollars. I’m the past president of the Avon Free Public Library. We are in desperate need of a larger pot to draw from. I’m encouraging everyone to raise their voices to get the library improved.
Clair Henderson, 1 Keystone Circle: Here we go again. I’m echoing those who spoke before. The cost of living has gone up 3.3%, the grand list 1.9% and the total budget 6.2% with a tax increase of 4.95%. We must live within our means. My retirement income has gone up only 1-2% so I have to make adjustments. I don’t think the budget should increase more than 3%. Remember that 80% of the population of Avon is not in the K-12 population so cuts need to be made.
Florence Stahl, 2 Sunset Trail read from a prepared statement: Good evening. My name is Florence Stahl and I am President of the Avon Taxpayers Association. I have no interest in bashing Avon, its employees or officials. Look, Avon has been good to me. I raised two children here, served on many boards, opened and still operate a business in Avon, and remain very active in the community. I am telling you this because I believe I bring a measure of objectivity in what I am about to say. The truth is we are dealing with only 20% of the entire proposed budget tonight. All the rest is committed to salary and benefit contracts that were negotiated behind closed doors. We are totally excluded from an equation that involves 80% of our property taxes.
These agreements are revealed to us only after all the members of the union learn the details, vote on them, and the contracts are signed. Then we get the bill. Negotiations should be conducted in full public view with a hearing that allows for public input.
Even this salary and benefits booklet does not fully capture all the compensation that is buried in a labyrinth of complex formulas. Some of you may feel proud of our ability to pay and that’s fine. Personally, it would be great to double everyone’s compensation. But, ladies and gentlemen, you better get used to arguing over the 20% left to us regarding what programs to cut, services to cancel, and capital programs to postpone, because we cannot sustain both levels of spending.
Even is this socioeconomic heaven, there will never be enough money to satisfy the economic interests rooted in the education lobby. The Grand List increase is declining, housing starts are sluggish and people are beginning to complain ever more loudly about property taxes. Like nicotine and global warming, we can’t be in denial about the cost of education. And we can’t rely on shifting to other sources of revenue. Like rivers running to the sea, every revenue source runs to the taxpayer.
We invest time and money to implement new teaching methods. Now we must invest time and energy in new cost containment methods…a series of incentives and rewards deep within the education and general government system. Our town must emerge as a leader among Connecticut municipalities to bring back fiscal sanity.
According to data that I accessed today, the Rate of Inflation for the year January 2006 to January 2007 was 2.08%. The Inflation Rate for the month of February 2007 is 2.42%. Incremental increases in our property tax have exceeded these figures for years and the compounded result is, well, astonishing. It’s like the story of the frog not escaping while it can because it’s being boiled ever so slowly. I don’t know about you, but when I go into that voting booth on May 16th, I’m turning the heat down…way down. Thank you
Raymond Berti, 5 Wildflower Terrace: Avon is a well run town but it’s time for a mind-set change. Of every $10 in tax dollars, $7 goes to education and $3 to all else. Look at what Avon has; it has a wonderful education system. However, the seniors are bearing a large burden of the cost of education. I think the cost in taxes should go down for seniors after a specific age. Get out of our pockets. We have to think of what to do to help seniors in town who have the burden of those people moving into town.
Robin Schwartz, 88 Harris Road: I’m part of the sandwich generation. I can very well appreciate the stresses and strains on people in my parents’ generation. Every day we get the bills for nursing care, medical care and drugs and it is astronomical.
I hope we as a town have continued to offer the rebates that we had in the past to individuals where there are numerous circumstances that impact on their retirement income and lack of increases. I hope we can acknowledge that and hope that the income tax scales can be looked at. This is a strange year because we really are in the midst of a lot of interest at the state level in reorganizing the we all collect, pay and reapportion taxes so in terms of the property taxes and state and ratio interest. I come from a state job. The budgets proposed by the Town and Board of Education are fair and reflect a lot of conservative thinking. In looking at how the balance is, a lot of cuts have been made and I will vote yes.
John -----, Woodhaven: name and comments were not able to be understood on tape.
Linda Merlin, 48 High Gate Drive: I just want to inject another voice in support of what you have done. Trying to come up with a fair and balanced budget for the town is difficult. I too support help for seniors on fixed incomes. I know the town has certain programs for them. A lot of this whole process is out of the Town’s control; it’s a state issue and the state is looking at it very closely. But you as a board, the Board of Ed and the Town Council have to deal with the state laws and it’s a very difficult problem. I know that tonight’s meeting is to hear all the different voices and to balance it and trim here and there. As you go into the Board of Ed budget and start cutting back even just a little bit you start getting into teachers
and programs that are important, core programs and some of the best programs in the schools. I know early on one of the higher things on the list was the enrichment at the middle school which is my son’s favorite program in the entire school system so far and was my daughter’s. It’s a great program and I hope it doesn’t get cut. I know these are hard decisions and I know you have to choose something but I think everyone did a lot of trimming before they got to you. It’s hard to look at a town presentation when they show pictures of tiles off of roofs and rotting windowsills to prove that we need to invest in the basic infrastructure. But I hope the town will support this proposal.
Phil Schenck, Town Manager, stated that the Town has a lot of different programs that assist a wide variety of people, not only the seniors but other people that are in need as well. Specifically, the Town Council has, over the years, modified the tax circuit breaker program above the State’s requirements in order to better accommodate Avon residents and that is reviewed every couple of years. Currently there are over 158 households in the community that qualify under that program, and that’s a tax shift of a little over $100,000 from those who qualify for the program to those who don’t qualify. It is income tested and age tested. The current top level right now is close to $40,000 per couple where one person over 65 years of age. Mr. Schenck stated that it was a specific
program he was talking about but there are a wide variety of other programs too and he would be happy to talk with anyone interested.
Bruce Corbett, 171 Huckleberry Hill Road: I’m a former teacher and I know the amount of work that goes into teaching in schools and the superintendent developing a budget and Board of Ed members to Board of Fin members. I do respect what the Board of Finance has recommended as a 5% increase and am a little annoyed at the Board of Education for going to 5.88%. I think there are some things that can be considered there. Avon’s school budget has, can we say, been well funded. When you have a 5.88% increase of a well funded budget, that is quite a bit of new money. If you have a shortfall budget or a very tight education budget and a 5.88% increase then that is not a very large amount of money. One of the things I have trouble with, I have several grandkids going to school
in Town. I think some of the things that were done to bring the Board of Education to 5% could be applied because it is a guideline for a lot of people who are getting pushed on the tax and property tax issue. I don’t know what $18,000 reduces in question of expenditures for new equipment, level funds for new equipment, reduced instructional time of 30 minutes for reading in category 3. I do not know what this new tax impact will be but I think a larger impact is that the Board of Finance is recommending 5% and the Board of Education and other town budgets should try to abide by those recommendations and there has been a lot of work and a lot of talk to arrive at those figures. I have trouble making sense of how they all come together. But I think you need to take a closer look at this. I have a home here and gas bills, electricity, and I want to go on vacation but I cannot do all those things. The Town does a wonderful job in
providing for all the people as best they can. I think the 5.88% pushes the limit of what should be done even though these are wonderful things for the kids, there are other people and programs to be considered. Thank you very much.
Mr. Harrison commented that things are more complicated this year due to what is happening in Hartford with the Governor’s budget proposals. It is unknown as to what revenues from state grants will be at this time.
Del Tepley, 10 Highwood Circle: I notice that in the Board of Education budget is some 13% is for special education and I’m not sure that that 13% covers all the costs of special education in house. (most of his statement was not understandable)
Richard Kisiel, Superintendent of Schools, spoke about the cost of special education noting that legislation passed in 1976, authorization IDA, said the Federal government would pay for 50% of the cost of special education. The district has never been reimbursed for the full amount. The government has paid only about 20-25% so there has been a constant shortfall.
Ralph Economu, 43 Hitchcock Lane: Did not address the hearing but the text of his typed statement given to the Board of Finance follows: “1. Despite substantial increases in the Grand List, property taxes in Avon have risen to a level that must be described as confiscatory for the longer term residents now in their senior years and living on a fixed income. We have effectively been subsidizing developers’ profits for years. 2. Avon’s present property tax relief program for seniors does not come close to offsetting increases in electric rates, medical costs (including Medicare), gasoline and food. 3. Increases in property tax rates in recent years have exceeded increases in Social Security benefits by substantial amounts. 4. I suspect the town’s debt per household ranks among the highest in the state, if not the nation. 5. State law permits towns to freeze property taxes and other measures for seniors. I strongly suggest that a program which gives weight to the number of
years a senior has resided in Avon (and paying taxes for facilities now existing) be adopted. The essential of my proposal is a one percent CREDIT on property tax for each year of residency in Avon. Such a program serves to reward longer term residents. 6. The average cost per student has to be among if not the highest in the state; yet the latest ranking I have seen ranks Avon’s High School as 13th in the state. Average cost per student (excluding the debt service applicable to education) are close to the cost of private schools. 7. Consideration should be given either imposing a school tax for enrollments (with parental income limits) or privatizing the schools. The Board of Finance, as well as the Town Council, should recognize that many of the matters covered above need immediate attention beginning with a decrease in the proposed budget. In addition, the Board should recognize that attendance at budget hearings
involves a highly organized effort by the education lobby to influence decisions. Many seniors in Avon are unable to attend sessions; please keep this in mind when counting voices pro and con.”
VII. Mr. Harrison asked for additional comments or questions and, hearing nothing, stated the meeting would adjourn. He further stated that the Board would meet the next day, Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Avon Room. He advised the audience that the Budget, in its final format, will be presented to the Annual Budget Meeting on Monday, May 7, 2007, 7:30 p.m., at the Avon Senior Center and will be submitted to vote at Referendum on May 16, 2007, at the Avon Senior Center Community Room between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. The audience was thanked for attending the Public Hearing.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas A. Gugliotti, Secretary
Attest: Susan Burdsall, Clerk
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