WILLINGTON BOARD OF FINANCE
Town Hall
Common Road
Willington, CT ~06279
April 6, 2010
7:00 P.M.
BUDGET HEARING
Members Present:
Ken Schoppmann, Chairman
Ann Marie Brown, Vice-Chair
Elizabeth Marco
Alan Ference
Peter Latincsics
Chopeta Lyons
Richard Littell - Alternate
Mark Wiggins – Alternate
Also Present: Donna Latincsics, Business Manager; Tish Ignatowicz, Treasurer; Lynn Nicholls, Public Works Dir.; Selectmen Christina Mailhos and Tyler Millix; Dave Harding, Superintendent; Mark Makuch, Board of Ed; members of the public.
Chairman Schoppmann called the meeting to order at 7:02 P.M.
Chairman Schoppmann presented the proposed 2010 – 2011 General Government and Board of Education Budget. He explained that there is $129,000 less in revenue, part of it is $40,000 less from licenses and fees. This budget entails a mil increase of .06 which is a 3% increase in taxes. He then turned the floor over to Superintendent Harding.
EDUCATION BUDGET
Superintendent Dave Harding presented the Board of Education Budget. Special Education is up 18% and the regular education budget is down 3.4% from last year’s approved amount. The total request is an increase of 1.48%. Questions were then taken from the audience.
Dan Fabras asked questions concerning the unfunded mandates. Discussion followed.
Mark Makuch, BOE Chair, informed the audience that Special Education is a good thing that helps a lot of people.
GENERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET
First Selectman Christina Mailhos presented the General Government budget. The request includes a .61% decrease on the General Government side and a 4.23% increase with the Public Works department. The increase is mostly due to salaries. She informed everyone that they are considering installing cameras to stop people from taking things from the Public Works garage. Questions were then taken from the audience.
Board of Finance -2- April 6, 2010
George Debski thanked the Board for volunteering and voiced his concern of spending with the Town.
Laurie Semprebon of the Board of Education hopes that people support this budget. Things go up and there are contract obligations. Mr. Harding did a good job.
Jim Bulick agrees that there needs to be more work on the expenditure side. Everyone’s revenue has dropped. He would like to see the spending go down as much as the revenue side.
Melissa Welsh doesn’t understand the salary increase for non-union employees.
Selectman Mailhos informed the group that last year they did not get a raise which caused more problems between employees. Because this may not be possible next year they thought that is was doable this year.
Mark Jones spoke about supporting the Town’s employees. The Town is trying to get by with the employees they have without any new hires.
Selectman Mailhos spoke about everything increasing i.e. roads, library use, etc.
COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD
Chopeta Lyons spoke about the long budget season. The Board has looked out 3 to 4 years. All volunteers worked very hard to bring in the best budget.
Peter Latincsics is glad that so many people are here tonight. The problem is usually that we do not hear from the general public. It is important to hear the public’s opinion. He strongly recommends that the Board comes in with a 0% increase.
Ann Marie Brown spoke of the Board maintaining services with the Town the way they are.
Chairman Ken Schoppmann informed the audience about what is included with the spending part of the budget with mandates and contracts. $300,000 is from special education mandates; $150,000 is contracts, 10% in from an increase in liability insurance, transportation increases which cost $600,000. All this was brought back to only a $70,000 increase. This includes a decrease of 2.6 teachers. Road maintenance is necessary, it would cost more in the long run if not properly maintained.
Lisa Marco thanked people who have come to our meetings. It’s interesting how many people come out depending on which Board is being discussed.
ADJOURMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Debra Hlobik
BOF Recording Secretary
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