Finance: Keep budgets down

SALISBURY — The Board of Finance took a look at preliminary budgets from the Board of Education and the selectmen at a meeting Thursday, March 4.

The budget for Salisbury Central School (SCS), for the moment, is $4,785,607 — an increase of $181,154 or 3.93 percent.

For the time being, the municipal spending plan comes in at $4,852,817 — up $73,317 or 1.5 percent.

Education budget

The central school budget includes an additional full-time classroom teacher, which will allow the third grade (with 37 students) to be split into three sections of 12, 12 and 13 students apiece. The same group, now in the second grade, is in two sections of 18 and 19 students.

With 23 teachers, the problem of whether or not to have two sections of either the rising third grade or fifth grade (also 37 students) is avoided. Parents have been outspoken about keeping class sizes small.

Board chairman Roger Rawlings, who had been skeptical about the issue, said at the Board of Education meeting Feb. 22 that he had changed his mind because of the (to him) suprisingly large number of students in the two classes who need additional help under the Scientific Research-Based Intervention model.

At the Feb. 22 meeting, the board began its discussion with a version of the budget that projected an increase of 5.69 percent or $262,020, for a total of $4,866,473.

They then eliminated some building improvement items that were not deemed high priority, which eliminated about $25,000 in spending and brought the increase down to 5.15 percent or $237,178, for a total of $4,841,631.

The budget committee of the Board of Education continued to whittle away to arrive at the current number.

There are still several unknowns in the school budget. Kindergarten registration took place March 1 and 2, and the final numbers for the Region One health insurance plan, which includes SCS and town employees, are not yet ready. Early indications from Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick are that Anthem, the current provider, has reduced its premium increase by a substantial figure. Board of Education Chairman Rawlings speculated the final amount for health insurance could be as much as $40,000 less.

“Initially, it looks like a substantial increase,� Board of Finance chairman Bill Willis told Rawlings, fellow board members Brian Batram and Jennifer Weigel and SCS principal Chris Butwill.

“We realize you have obligations to the students,� he continued. “We hope you’ll go back and look again� for additional savings.

“We have some more pencil sharpening to do,� replied Rawlings. “But we also have 312 kids to educate.�

Town budget

Willis said the finance board would be considering the town’s income and noted that “we are still dealing with uncertainty� from the state of Connecticut as far as grants for things like road repair.

On Friday, March 5, the governor’s office announced the state bond commission will meet March 16. Some $30 million in Town Aid Road grants — including almost $146,000 for Salisbury — and $10 million for local capital improvement projects are expected to be approved.

The selectmen’s budget contains 3-percent raises for town employees and budgets $33,841 for legal fees. First Selectman Curtis Rand called the legal line “a bit of a wild card� and said the expenditure in 2009 of $75,440.75 was unusual and reflected a particularly complicated situation involving a home on Lake Wonsocopomuc.

Since that case was resolved, Rand said, “Legal fees have been remarkably low.�

“We’ve learned a lot� from recent court cases, Mat Kiefer of the finance board said.

Much of the selectmen’s budget is the same or similar to last year’s. Rand noted that grants to nonprofits (such as the library) were the same, and Selectman Jim Dresser, who voted to keep the grants flat this year,  expressed concern that a freeze maintained over a period of years amounts to a cut in funding.

Carl Williams of the Board of Finance agreed, and said that services provided by volunteer organizations ultimately help keep town taxes down.

The selectmen made one significant addition: a $25,000 line for a housing coordinator. Dresser, who represents the selectmen on the 16-member Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, said the final report of that group, due next month, would almost certainly include a recommendation to establish a position of housing coordinator — part-time and not eligible for benefits, he added. While he said he was reluctant to put the cart before the horse, the selectmen believed it important to make some provision for such a job rather than waiting through another budget cycle.

The $25,000 comes from the existing land capital fund, which will also be used for the Salisbury Winter Sports Association credit support plan, approved at a town meeting Friday, March 5.

Rand said the town is in better financial shape than many others, in large part due to the practice of building up capital reserves.

Willis agreed, and then issued much the same statement he gave earlier to the Board of Education, asking the selectmen to go through the numbers again and look for any possible savings.

The Board of Finance’s next regular quarterly meeting is Monday, April 12. The board receives the final selectmen’s budget the next evening, Tuesday, April 13, and the final school budget Thursday, April 15. At the April 15 meeting the board will vote to present the two budgets at a public hearing Monday, April 26.

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