Public Hearing
June 5, 2008
Board of Finance Members Present: Marie Desousa, Acting Chairman, Robert Little, Jack Mannette, Joanne Kubick, Jason Bowsza, Kathy Pippin, Alternate.
Also present Board of Selectman members: Denise Menard, First Selectman, Edward Farrell, Selectman, Dale Nelson, Selectman, and Gil Hayes, Selectman.
There were approximately 60 members of the public present in the audience at the start of the public hearing.
Ms. Desousa called the meeting to order at 7:37PM at the East Windsor Middle School, Main Street, Broad Brook. She started off by thanking everyone for coming tonight. This is our second public hearing regarding the proposed 2008-2009 budget. The Board of Finance will conduct a budget workshop immediately following this public hearing to discuss recommendations from residents present that have chosen to speak publicly. A sign up sheet has been put out for sign ins. As in the past, everyone will have 5 minutes to make their statement. Ms. Desousa cautioned speakers to be aware that personal attacks will not be tolerated. She asked everyone to show respect for varying opinions. After everyone has spoken and if time allows a second opportunity will be
afforded to anyone who ran out of time. The Board of Finance met after the failure of the 1st proposed budget and has put forth a new proposed budget. Several reductions have been made. They are as followed $651,375, while adding $100,000 added to revenue from the excess cost-special education. The budget decreases are in the following lines. $325,000 in the Board of Education, $135,000 Police Department ($20,000 SRO, $9,000 training, $63,886 Salary, $700 longevity, $ 18,929 & $17,598 Health & Life Insurance, $4,487 Social Security and Medicare, CIP reserves was reduced by $50,000 for the senior center study, $85,000 Park & Rec storage, $10,000 sidewalks, and $25,000 drainage. Again the Board of Finance is not all in agreement with the reductions that have been put forth but certainly understands that the community rejected the last proposed budget and typically results in responding with a new proposed reduced budget. The board
majority elected not to reduce the million dollars allocated for the pension account. As you are aware this account has been under funded and we need to strive to fully fund this account. Some members felt a reduction of $200,000.00 this year would still achieve the goal thus saving cuts in other areas but the majority present at the meeting disagreed. The Board of Finance as taxpayers and residents has struggled with the same concerns as you; the rising cost of fuel, heating oil, and electricity. But we must not forget the basic need of our community still has to be met. Public safety, education, and other services can’t continue to be stagnant. This proposed budget does just that again. We have heard arguments that people can’t afford to continually have their taxes increased but this is a year that statement is not true for all as the revaluation has reduced the mill rate. Although, some will take objection to this
statement it’s a message that needs to be heard. I would like to encourage you to contact the assessor’s office for your tax liability before deciding your vote on June 10th
Denise Menard- First Selectman
I have signed up to speak at this Public Hearing to express my concern for the latest recommendations from the Board of Finance. Up to this point of the budget process I have stated numerous times and stressed to the Board of Selectman that we are working with the Board of Finance, we are a team. Speaking as one Selectman, I can no longer stand with the Board of Finance as I find their latest actions alarming to say the least. When the Selectmen and the Board of Finance met earlier this week, we came to the table with carefully thought our recommendations for reductions in the budget that was rejected by the voters. The major portions of the recommendations of the professionals that run the Town were quickly dismissed by the majority of the Board of Finance that night. At
that same meeting, we also tried to inform the Board of Finance that contrary to rumor that taxes were going up drastically, the fact prove that of 4,301 taxes there would have been no tax increase or a reduction in taxes for 1,063 taxpayers and 820 would have paid $139 more for the year. That reflects more than 40% of taxpayers that would have a slight to no increase in their taxes if the rejected budget had passed. Again, I was told that the majority of the Board of Finance was not interested in those facts, calculated by our Treasurer, Assessor and Tax Collector.
Since this is now a Public Hearing, I except to be given the courtesy to present the recommendations, the Board of Finance and Treasurer and I tried to present on Tuesday. In addition to the recommended addition of $100,000 in revenues from the Board of Education Special Education Excess Cost Funds, we also recommended a reduction from $1 million to $800,000 to the pension contributions, a reduction of $20,000 from the Police Department budget and $25,000 from the Assessor’s budget. None of these recommendations would impact services, education, or safety while reducing the budget by $345,000. We again recommend that the Board of Finance, please reduce the pension contribution of $1,000,000 to $800,000 even $750,000 and give the town back the police officer that was cut because
it was rumored that 1 maybe 2 officers were retiring. I checked that rumor and was told no officer has put in for retirement. Give the town back their Capital Improvement money so that we can make some headway toward sidewalk, drainage, and recreation improvements and planning money that will lead to grant money for a new senior center. And lastly, restore money for the future of our children; reinstate money to the education budget.
Laurie Whitten- Town Planner
Hi, my name is Laurie Whitten and I am the director of community planning and development, and the Town Planner. First I want to thank the Board of Finance for all of your never ending hard work. You have taken on a monumental time and life consuming task, which often goes without thanks, so thank you.
Since the budget as proposed is not quite set in stone, I thought that I should take this opportunity to remind the citizens and the Board of Finance as to the workings of the Planning and Zoning Department. The Planning Department staffs the Planning & Zoning Commission, Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands Agency, Economic Development Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, and National Resource Preservation Committee, in addition to many other tasks including preparation of zoning permits for any improvement to property in town, and assisting citizens with land use questions.
Our jobs are very much dictated by statutory and regulatory requirements. For instance, every application taken in must be heard and acted on with a certain time frame, and must be notice in the paper three times if there is a public hearing, average cost is $70.00 per ad. If these state mandated requirements are not adhered to, the town can be liable for law suits because of procedural due process errors.
The Planning Department puts together approximately 480-500 packets annually for our boards and commissions, which require staff time, organization, postage, supplies, communications, and money for legal advertisements. To be successful, the department needs all of our staff, and all of our minimal funds. After salaries and other required line items are deducted, my operating budget is only 6% of my department budget, or approximately $12,000. So if what seems a minor cut are taken from the remaining line items, the staff will not be informed of statutory changes, be able to maintain their required certifications, get appropriate supplies, and if there is no travel money, there will be no inspections and complaints now. My point is that the budget for every department is tight,
there is no more fluff, and I know that all the department heads scrutinize their budgets to the penny, line by line, before the Board of Finance receives the final copy. So please trust me that any seemingly minor cut to the existing bare bones budget can and will have negative consequences to the operation and services to the citizens of this town. I thank you for your time and consideration.
John Gardner-Meadowview Drive
Mr. Gardner had two questions for the Board of Finance. The first one is what the formulary for the revaluation was. Mr. Gardner asked this question because of the houses in his community. There are 3 houses all with the same square footage, however his house has all the extra amenities that could be added to the house and his neighbors house doesn’t have any of these amenities but the neighbor’s revaluation was approxly $32,000 more that his. Between the 3
houses there is about $40,000 different between. His next question was why his street gets a bill from the water company for the fire hydrants as he gets the same tax rate as everyone else in the town and pays his taxes. So why does his street get an extra charge for their fire hydrants?
Tom Muska-East Road
Mr. Muska indicated that there were approximate 63% of voters that voted no and he was one of them. He quoted the Godfather by saying it is not personal, it is only business. He feels the town needs to make some deeper cuts in the budget. He said he couldn’t say it better than quoting an article written by Chris Powell of the Journal Inquirer in April. It says “Collective bargaining for public employees and state’s binding arbitration law have put personnel expenses beyond ordinary democratic control as public policy this is insane, but in politics, public employees unions are untouchable even as everything else is expendable.” He also referred to an article in the New York Times which he said he wouldn’t go into detail but left copies for
the audience. He also felt that it is not fair to the East Windsor parents of children that they live in fear for their children education with this budget.
Jennifer Syme-East Road
Ms. Syme started by thanking the Board of Finance for all the hard work they had done on the budget. She was speaking to the No voters during her time, she wanted them to know how voting no hurts the town in the long run. It also hurts the children. She said there is a saying you need to spend money to make money. She encouraged the public to vote yes for the children of the community. She also feels that if you don’t put money into this town no one will want to come to this town to live.
William Shultz- Lindsay Lane
Mr. Shultz feels the information that the public had was not accurate. For example in the Journal Inquirer in the fourth paragraph, it said the average tax increase will be 6.8% it is true but about 50% of the town was going to have a small increase, some people in this town would have a large tax increase. In the Connecticut Magazine we are the cheapest town to live in as we have the cheapest taxes in the state for a town of this size. With the new figures 32% of people’s taxes will go down, 1% to 2% of people will have a small increase. He also pointed out that in our town the teachers salaries are some of the lowest in the state. He also felt we need to put money into the Board of Education for our children. He asked the Board of Finance to get the
word out so the taxpayers have the information to let the community know how much their tax will be changing if any.
Gina Couture-Sullivan Farm Road
She is a mother of 2 children in town and she stated she is just very sad, that our kids are not important enough to vote this budget through. She also reads Connecticut Magazine and this town is rated last to raise a family. She feels not voting for this budget through doesn’t hurt the employees pay as they are set the so monies are taken away from the children. A better educational system just makes our town better and will encourage people to come live here.
Kathy Simonelli- Depot Street
She is very disappointed with the recommendations that were made by the Board of Finance on Tuesday’s meeting. She is also disappointed with people who are giving out misinformation that everyone’s taxes are going up 6.9 to 7.9%. She really believes that the last place we need to take money from in the budget is from the Police Department budget, safety is very important in this town. She feels the cuts in the Education budget make it harder for the administrators and teachers to teach our children. Our schools have been staying at statues quo. Many other towns have a foreign language in Kindergarten or even 3rd grade but our children need to wait till freshman year in High School. At the Board Brook School our ratio in the Special Education is a
27-1. Someone on the Board of Finance says we need more volunteers; I don’t want a volunteer off the street teaching Special Education or foreign language. We need licensed teachers. She understands these are difficult times but she feels our children are worth it. She encourages everyone to vote yes for the budget.
Dale Nelson- Omelia Road
She feels the budget cuts are not done, she told people to stay after this meeting to see for them. I was very surprised to see someone who hasn’t been attending any of the meetings between the Board of Selectman and the Board of Finance making a motion, for a cut of $325,000 in the education budget.
Cal Myers- Main Street
Mr. Myers is the Chief at the Broad Brook Fire Department; he indicated that most of the members of the fire department support this budget. They understand the times we are in. They also hope that everyone understand the emergency respond budget can’t take any more cuts. He also indicated that every time the town has a referendum it cost the town approximately $4,000 to $5,000 that is about half of the cost of the electric bill for the fire department. He also voiced about how he was feeling personally as he also lives in the town. He feels that East Windsor is little by little falling apart and it will continue unless the budget gets passed.
Carol Sauerhoefer- Pierce Lane
She and her husband graduated from East Windsor High Schools. She was speaking to another parent who informed her that about 12 students from the 2010 graduating class have transferred to another more competitive education and happier environment. She also said that about 10% of the students in each class transfer out of the school because of these reasons. She also stated that these children are honor students and athletes. By loosing these students she feels it hurts our SAT’s and CMT’s scores. She feels that these types of students would bring a better atmosphere to the school. She has a son in the 7th grade and she considering pulling him from this school system and she is not alone.
Edward Farrell- Meadowview Drive
Mr. Farrell sits on the Board of Selectman and he feels that the Board of Selectman and Finance have tried to make a responsible and rational budget. He indicated that the Boards have found some items that fell under errors and omissions that they put them back in the budget. We have been trying to do a zero base budget, but that has not been working. He feels this budget should pass the way it is.
Kathy Bilodeau- Scantic Road
Ms. Bilodeau is very disappointed with the voters of the town. She feels the some of the towns people really want the town to go further, and pass the budget, however it didn’t pass. Ms. Bilodeau went on the town web site and looked into how much her taxes were going to increase she found out her taxes were going to increase $73.00 on her 1,800 square foot home. She let the people know that $73.00 wouldn’t even fill her van for the week. She feels that this amount of money is not a huge sacrifice to let the town keep the services that it needs. She encourages everyone to go to the website and learn what their tax increase would be before Tuesday. She gets upset just thinking how this will affect the children in the future. She also
encouraged the Board of Finance to take another look at the Budget after hearing what the public is saying tonight.
Cindy Herms-Pamela Court
Ms. Herms voiced how disappointed she was in how the votes were for the referendum. She encouraged the Board of Finance to get the information out to the public before Tuesday. The community needs to understand what they are voting for. She indicated some headlines that are in the Journal Inquirer, “Murder, Home Invasion, Armed Robbery” these items are going on in this town. We can’t keep cutting the budget for the Police, Emergency Responder and the School.
Bea Corrado- 1 Lindsey Lane
Thank you for putting together the budget. She asked the Board of Finance to reconsider some of their decisions. She also asked the Board of Finance to get the information out to the public. She then challenged the no voters to reconsider their votes.
Gil Hayes- Rye Street
He first thanked the Board of Finance and Board of Selectman for such a good job on this budget that has been worked on for the passed 8 months. He said he liked the good old day of the children in this town going to college from East Windsor High School. Mr. Hayes read from the New York Times that Mr. Muska had brought to the meeting. He read the following, “The most obvious drawback of the current property tax system is that since it ignores a person’s income it causes undue hardship for retired people and those going through tough times. As baby boomers, many of whom have no defined-benefit pension plan, begin to retire in huge numbers, thousands in Connecticut will be forced out of their homes-and most likely out of the state since affordable housing isn’t easy
to come by here.” He feels this is true, but it needs to be done in Hartford. He feels this budget should pass. He feels this town needs to take care of the children like they did his.
Danielle Godeck- Lindsay Lane
She feels like many of the other speakers before her, she wanted to thank the Board of Finance but she is very disappointed in this town. Since she moved here from Windsor Locks 12 years ago, the town has had a hard time passing the budget. We need to pass the budget to keep the services that is needed in this town. We are not boycotting the grocery store or gas station because these items have gone up.
Edward Demarco-East Windsor Police Chief
Mr. Demarco stated how important it is that the budget for the Board of Education not be reduced so the police don’t need to be involved with the children as adults. He said he was not going to give an impassioned plea he was going to give hard facts. He stated that no police officer has filed intent to retire or have they let their intention known to retire in the next fiscal year. But if there is a cut in the budget it will reduced the number of officers this town has. Because of that we will go into clear violations of our federal grants we are currently running under. Two sanctions could occur one is the immediate repayment of the grant monies the town has received and the two futures banning of grants that police or the town could receive. Trainings have been cut and my
officers are not getting enough training like they should. Our police cars are falling apart. He called his police cars,” bee hives” because he has spent so much money on these police cars. He understands that town is going through tough times, but we can’t make any more cuts. I will do my best not to allow these cuts to affect the safety of the public or the safety of the police officers. Our services will be impacted if the cuts continue.
Carol Madore-Town Assessor
Ms. Madore let the public know if they need any information from her office please call, as her staff is ready to answer questions and calculate the new tax increase if any. She let the audience know she would stay after this meeting to answer any questions that they might have.
Tim Howes-Superintendent of Schools
Mr. Howes thanked the public for coming out. He stated it was nice to see that we are all working together. We are here for our students, town, garbage, we are here for everything. He indicated his job is to make sure the students are safe, feed, and educated. Yes, students are leaving; there are a lot more choices for the students out there on where to go to school. So we don’t loose our children we need to build a better mouse trap that is the same for our town. There are other choices for people to choose another town; if we don’t change we won’t have any services. What we need to know is what value you put on your services that you get and what value you have on your community.
Lenny Norton-Barber Hill Road
Mr. Norton let the audience know he has lived in this town all of his life and his family has been here for about 200 years. If you look at your revaluation and look at the appraised value of your house, you need to decide if you would sell your house for that, Mr. Norton indicated he knows he wouldn’t. He then to decide if you would sell your house for that, Mr. Norton indicated he knows he wouldn’t. He then let the audience know he also works for the town he is responsible for the infrastructure of the town, so if the budgets keep getting cut the infrastructure will continue to deteriorate.
Ms. Desousa adjourned the meeting about 8:45PM, and thanked everyone again for coming to the meeting, and reminded everyone to come out and vote yes or no. You need to be active come out and do your part and vote.
Respectfully,
Lori Butenas
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