Stonington — Residents spoke, and in the end, the Board of Finance agreed with them.
On Wednesday night about 250 people, the largest turnout in recent memory, partially filled the high school auditorium for the annual public hearing on the budget.
Speaker after speaker pleaded with the finance board to restore the $368,000 it had cut from the school budget while others urged the board to reverse its decision to eliminate the job of longtime zoning enforcement officer Joe Larkin.
After listening to 3 hours and 20 minutes of comments, the finance board approved a proposed budget for 2009-10 that restored both items.
“Town leaders did the right thing tonight,” said parent Rob Marseglia, just minutes after the finance board agreed to send its revised budget to a referendum vote.
The $53.9 million proposal for 2009-10 will not raise taxes and is about the same as the current budget. The finance board’s goal is to avoid last year’s five budget referendums by having a budget that does not raise the current 15.1-mill tax rate.
The many parents and a few students who spoke in support of the school budget pointed out the finance board’s $368,000 cut came on top of the $900,000 the school board had cut itself.
They said that cut has already resulted in 14 teachers being laid off, larger class sizes and numerous other reductions. Many said they moved to town because of the good reputation of the school system but that is being eroded each year by budget cuts. They said children are being hurt and the situation would hurt property values.
Parent Kathy McKinley warned the finance board that reducing the school budget now would carry a high long-term cost.
More than a dozen residents, including Planning and Zoning Commission Chairwoman Lynn Young and ZBA Chairman David Rathbun criticized the finance board for eliminating the Larkin’s job in order to save $85,000 in salary and benefits. Their comments that the cut would result in a loss of experience, a delay in issuing permits and violations not being addressed were met with applause from the audience. Other residents said the finance board should not be making operational decisions that should be left to First Selectman Ed Haberek.
Marseglia, who heads the group Vote Yes in Stonington, proposed using $368,000 from the town’s $9.6 million reserve fund to restore the school budget cut, a move which would still keep the tax rate increase at zero. He also suggested establishing a three-year plan to use money from the reserve fund for education while still keeping a sum in the fund equal to 16 percent of the town’s operating budget.
“My fear is more teachers will be laid off if the $368,000 is not restored,” he said.
Most of the people in the audience stood to show support for Marseglia’s plan.
The reserve fund, which is set aside for an emergency, is almost equal to 18 percent of town’s operating budget. It has earned the town a high bond rating, which allows it to pay less interest on the money it borrows.
Finance board members have opposed suggestions in past years to use reserve-fund money, citing the need to keep a high bond rating. They have also said that doing so means the town would then have to make up for that revenue the following year.
“You say Mr. Chairman that this budget surplus should be saved for a rainy day. Well it’s raining. It’s pouring,” parent Jon Nickerson told Frishman, adding he moved to the town for its good schools, not its high bond rating.
While the finance board agreed to restore the money to the school budget and Larkin’s salary, it did not use money from the reserve fund but tapped money from the town’s $1.4 million debt reserve fund as well as money left over from capital projects that have been completed.
The board also restored $35,930 to the budget, which is what the town would have saved after members of the union that represents town hall professional administrators agreed to give up their 3.5 percent raises next year. They will now get those raises.
School board chairman John Bolduc told the finance board that talks have not yet been held with six of the seven school employee unions, including the one that represents teachers, about giving up their raises in 2009-10. He said the board, which has asked school employees to forgo their raises, wanted to wait until it knew what cuts the finance board was going to make.
Much of the $900,000 in cuts the school board made to its budget could be offset if school employees agree to give up the $883,000 in raises they are set to receive in 2009-10.
The Board of Selectmen is scheduled to meet this morning to set the date of the town meeting and referendum on the budget.
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