Branford Board of Finance Sets $99.3 Million Budget

UPDATE: The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) last week adopted a $99.317 million school and town budget for the 2013 – 14 fiscal year, after the Republican side of the aisle raised last-minute objections. Today the Board of Finance (BOF) reviewed and approved the budget and set the mill rate at 25.59, a 2.6 percent increase over last year. 

The BOF final budget meeting took place at Branford High School where Finance Director Jim Finch provided the BOF with an overview. At the meeting, the BOF learned that the town is expected to lose about $163,000 in expected state funds. Finch offered various adjustments to offset the loss, which if the BOF accepts ​“will allow the mill rate to fall to a level pursuant to the RTM reductions.” 

In March the BOF set a $ 99.4 cap for the RTM. The RTM cannot go higher, but it can and did reduce line items to make the budget lower. Overall, the RTM reduced the Board of Education’s budget by $50,000 and the town budget by $78,230, resulting in an overall net reduction of $128,230.

The newly adopted budget means that a homeowner in Pine Orchard whose property is valued at $1.184 million will face a $758 increase in property taxes while a homeowner in Short Beach whose house is valued at $248,400 will pay an additional $159. A condo owner at Turtle Bay will face an additional $114 in taxes this year while a condo owner at Jefferson Woods will pay an additional $71. 

After criticizing the town side of the budget (the school budget this year sailed through even though it was higher than the town side), the RTM voted 19 to 10 to accept the budget. One Republican, James Walker, III, joined the Democrats. RTM moderator Chris Sullivan votes only to break a tie. All 30 members of the RTM attended the meeting.

In an interview Finch told the Eagle that previously expected state funds identified in the governor’s budget earlier this year will not be forthcoming because of a state budget crisis. Finch called this development ​“unprecedented.” He said if the BOF agrees the mill rate is expected to go up by 0.64 mills, bringing the number from 24.95 to 25.59 or a 2. 6 percent increase over the current year. The mill rate determines the property tax rate for town homeowners. 

After the RTM cut $50,000, the school’s operating and capital budgets came in at $51,787 million and it was approved unanimously and by voice vote. The town budget, minus the $78,230 cut by the RTM, now sits at $47,529 million, bringing the total to $99, 317 million. It covers all town services, including police, fire and public works.

School Budget Easier This Year

Frank Carrano, who chairs the Board of Education (BOE), told the board on Wednesday that although some money was cut from the school’s proposed budget, he was pleased that the RTM voted unanimously in favor of the school budget. ​“It wasn’t all we wanted, but it was what we expected,” Carrano said.

This was the least contentious school budget process the RTM has ever experienced, said Rep. Josh Brooks, a member of the RTM education committee for the past six years. He took the occasion at the RTM meeting to praise School Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez (pictured center) and the BOE for their budget work this year, saying past relationships had been ​“adversarial at times.” (Gone were threats that the hockey team might go under or pleas from young children to the BOE to save a chorus.) Brooks said he wanted to take a moment to publicly state that the school budget this year ​“was the most transparent we have ever seen.

“This is the first time I have had sense of what the schools are doing,” he said at an earlier committee meeting. Click here to read about Hernandez’s presentation to the RTM Education Committee. 

Rep.Riccio Seeks Budget Process Change

At the RTM budget session, Rep. Marc Riccio (pictured), who is also vice-chair of the Republican Party, mounted a campaign to reduce the town side of the budget so that it would not rise above a 2 percent increase.

Before he took on the town budget, Rep. Riccio, who sits on the RTM education committee, praised the work of the committee and its chair for staying within a two percent budget increase.

Riccio said that over the four years he has been on the RTM, the combined school-town budget rose from $ 88.9 million in 2009 to $96 million in 2012 —increases he said that took place during one of the most serious economic downturns in history. 

Riccio blamed expected property tax increases, on the ​“DaRos-Campbell” administration, referring to the Democratic first and second selectmen several times ​“for those watching on [cable] television.” They recommended a $100 million budget for the town, he said, adding the BOF brought it down to $99.4 million.

Democrats objected to a last-minute effort to introduce a motion to greatly change the budget hours before the town charter requires it be enacted. Both sides sit on various RTM committees and had worked in recent months to achieve agreement on the numbers.

David Baker (pictured), the RTM Democrat majority leader, was succinct. ​“You are trashing what the RTM committees do,” he said, adding he attended virtually every meeting and witnessed both sides coming together. Then he observed: ​“We didn’t start off with a cap.”

Riccio did not want to give figures though ultimately he admitted he was seeking a $400,000 cut. He did not distinguish between the town’s operating and capital budgets. 

“I’m a macro guy not a micro guy,” he explained. To reduce the budget the RTM must reduce by line items. Riccio cited no line items.
Brooks, a Democrat, told Riccio that for him ​“to support the motion,” he would need to know what line items would be changed ​“with regard to the committee recommendations.”

“Take two cents from every line item. That’s how we can do it,” Riccio said. 

“I want to remind everyone, especially my colleagues on the Democratic side, that in the last five years the town budget has increased $11 million,” Riccio said, again blaming the increase on the ​“DaRos-Campbell” administration. Democrats noted that union increases across the board, including funding for a new union representing many of the town’s department heads, are the biggest cost items in the budget and are mandated by contract.

RTM Chairs React

The chairs of various RTM committees and members from both sides of the aisle have spent months listening to town department heads, librarians, health officials and other groups. The committees have analyzed costs, moved some items, rejected others and restored others.

Rep. Doug Hanlon (pictured), the Democratic chair of the Public Services Committee, reminded Riccio the budget had been approved by the BOF in March. ​“It has gone by through an apolitical process. …We do our best with what we have to do. If you want to change the way that it is, such as implementing a fixed amount, it is a little bit late in the game to be doing that. I have no problem listening to your ideas. I don’t want to hear them on the night of the RTM when we have to approve a budget.

“The Board of Finance knows what it is doing. So, I would like to think, does the RTM. We have a Triple A rating for a reason. But you can’t come to the game at this late hour and say now we are going to change the rules,” Hanlon said of Riccio’s attempt to set an unexpected cap. He said he would not throw away his committee’s budget process. ​“If you want to talk about this next year, that’s fine.” 

Rep. Marianne Amore who chairs the RTM education committee, said: ​“I will not support this motion. It is disrespectful to us to bring it up tonight.” She said the action ​“almost seems to me to be posturing. It is disrespectful and it doesn’t feel right to me to do this tonight.”

“I will vote no for this motion,” said Brooks. This doesn’t hold water. Every single committee report was unified. Your side agreed to these decisions in committee,” he said.

Rep. Yvette Larrieu, the Democratic chair of the Ways and Means Committee, agreed with her colleagues. ​“This feels very disingenuous,” she said, calling it ​“political ploy” to seek political attention in an election year. First Selectman Unk DaRos will not seek reelection in November. So his seat, along with 30 RTM seats, the town clerk and tax collector, among others, are all up for grabs.

Rep. Joseph Selvaggio observed that the RTM committees consisted of ​“a lot of deliberations, a lot of questioning. There were very good questions, they do bring in department heads to explain budgets. They ask detailed questions. This budget was not just passed along. It involved a lot of deliberation.”

Rep. Richard Greenalch, Jr. (pictured), a longtime Republican on the RTM, said this was his 15th budget. ​“What we have always done is work from bottom up. … We have a state budget that is and I hate to say it in horrendous shape. We are looking to cap growth of the town’s spending. I understand that much of the budget is contractual and they would have to take that into account but this is nothing different than every household budget.” It was time, he said ​“for the town to make hard choices.”

Dennis Flanagan, the Republican RTM clerk and the longest-serving member with 28 years on the RTM, said one major issue was the failure of the town to produce commercial development in the town. Without it, he said, ​“we have to go to the taxpayer.”

Items that Made the News

Over the course of the budget hearings several items grabbed the headlines. One was funding for a new school resource officer (SRO) for Walsh Intermediate School. Hernandez told the BOE at last week’s meeting that funds were moved from contingency back into the police chief’s budget.

Hernandez said he will speak with the police chief about the proposed position, and hopes that an officer could be in place by the end of the calendar year.

Hanlon said the Fire Department’s request for a supervisor to oversee a part of its ambulance service was important and would produce considerable revenue for the town. He asked the RTM to restore funds from contingency and the RTM did so unanimously.

The Branford Early Childhood Collaborative, (BECC) a leader in organizing agencies and organizations in addressing safety and early educational needs of the town’s children, sought $10,000 from the town budget, an amount that will enable the non-profit group to seek matching foundation and state funds totaling $75,000. 

Branford, along with many towns and cities across the nation, often funds nonprofit organizations because they provide ​“essential services” to the community. Initially the BECC ran into unexpected resistance because some critics feared funding one non-profit opens the doors to others.

The BOF dismissed that idea and so did the RTM, all of whose members voted for the BECC funds. The town supports other non-profits besides the BECC if an organization provides an essential service to the town. 

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