Superintendent Defends Budget Before City Council

At tonight's City Council Budget Meeting, several departments presented their 2011-2021 budgets to the City Council. All departments were directed by the Mayor to prepare level funded budgets from last year except where legislated increases were mandated. For example, the Probate Budget went up 1/2 of 1% (or $239.00) because Middletown's share of these costs increased. Probate Judge Joseph Marino seemed surprised when Councilman Thomas Serra pointed out that his budget had actually been cut by the Mayor. Marino then laughed and said his budget was mandated by state statute so he really hadn't paid attention to what the Mayor did.

Town Clerk Sandra Russo-Driska told the Council that her department is working on a project to make land documents available on-line for $1 a page, and that the current revenue from this project is $150 per month. Once fully operational, the expected revenue will be $500-$700 a month. Russo-Driska also told the Council that her goal is to move toward a paperless system.

Tom Hartley, Director of Parking, told the Council that since January, 116,000 transactions have been recorded between the new parking lot next to City Hall and the Arcade lot. Even though the parking fee was dropped from $1 per hour to $.75 per hour, there has been a 300% increase in revenue. New IPS meters are scheduled to be installed on Main Street starting at the end of May, and these meters will be able to accept cash or credit card, and they will also be able to record usage data. Hartley commented: "We're finally getting our lots up to industry standards," and he told the Council that this will be good for both customers and merchants on Main Street. The increased parking revenues will be used to pay off the bonds used to fund the new parking lot construction and the new meters. Hartley was grilled about several increases in his budget (postage and cell phones for parking attendants, for example) but he replied that he has a new billing process and that the phones are part of the new technology that came with an automated parking system and new parking meters.

Justin Carbonella, Director of Youth Services, promoted a new website, www.assetpromise.org, that seeks to link Middletown's youth to a Developmental Assets program. This program ultimately focuses on building community by teaching "characteristics and behaviors that reflect positive internal growth and development of young people." Also on Carbonella's agenda for next year is a focus on Bullying and on teaching youth about using social networks responsibly. Although he too is at the same funding level from last year, Carbonella pointed out a few changes to his budget. Specifically, he was asked to include a line-item for the sell-back of 30% of unused sick time. This represents a $2300 cut that he had to account for in other places.

The remainder of the evening's meeting was dedicated to Superintendent Michael Frechette's presentation of the 2011-2012 School Budget. There is a $2.4 million dollar difference between the Mayor's budget and the Board of Education's budget. While Governor Malloy has promised to fund the state's educational cost sharing at last year's level (meaning the state will replace the federal stimulus funds that came last year but ran out this year), the BOE budget is a 3.45% increase over last year's budget. The majority of this increase comes from contractual increases such as salaries, and Superintendent Frechette told the Council that he made a 0% budget increase work the last two years, but that it wouldn't work for a third year: "Middletown is the only district out of 18 districts listed as needing improvement to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress on the CMTs (Connecticut Mastery Test) this past year....I would like to think that our instructional quality would continue even if the budget is cut, but it will mean higher class sizes, a greater work/stress load on our teachers, and a lot less opportunities for our students." Frechette read a "draft" list of budget cuts to the Council, and roughly 20 teaching positions, summer school at all schools, middle school athletics and several other support staff positions (included special education and duty aides) are tentatively targeted for elimination should the Council not fully fund the BOE budget as requested.

Councilman Pessina commented, "I'm really disappointed that you would even consider reducing staff," and Superintendent Frechette replied, "I know all the reasons not to, but 88% of our budget is labor-related. How or where else can I make these kinds of cuts?" Pessina continued: "It's just mind-boggling to me...we need to reach deep and save these positions but at the same time, we need to answer to the taxpayers and be responsible with their money." Frechette responded: "The Board of Education has done its part for the last two years by having a zero-increase budget, but we can't do it another year."

There were several questions regarding budget specifics like why there is such an increase in the diesel fuel budget (fuel for this year was pre-paid from last year's budget, so there was no fuel budget for 2010-11); what's the difference between a travel allowance and travel reimbursement (one requires specific receipt documentation and one doesn't); and will any of the Superintendent's "wish list items" happen if funding is restored (no, any additional funding will go first to restoring teaching positions).

While the conversational tone between the Council and the Superintendent was generally polite, there were bits of strain and frustration that peeked through lines of questioning over how the BOE decides to spend left-over funds at the end of the year and what money does or doesn't get returned to the City. Superintendent Frechette told the Council in his opening remarks that he returned $50, 776 to the city last year, but Councilman Pessina challenged this: "How come the Finance Department has no record of this return?" Frechette replied, "I can't speak for the Finance Department."

Several Council members tried to get the Superintendent to say specifically how the quality of education would be impacted if the school budget isn't fully funded, and Councilman Serra tried to get the Superintendent to say what specific amount of money (less than the $2.4 million asked for) he could function with. Dr. Frechette would only reply, "I'm not going to undercut the budget we've asked for....any additional funds I receive will go first to re-instating teachers."

In the end, Councilman Streeto asked the Superintendent for a copy of his "nightmare list" as soon as possible as the Council wants to see the specifics of what will be cut to accomplish a $2.4 million budget reduction in a $69 million+ budget. Superintendent Frechette told the Council he'll propose this list to the Board of Ed at its May 10 meeting, and then he could share whatever the BOE decides it will do to make the cuts. The Council will decide on its budget on May 15, and council members asked for every possible moment to be able to consider what they can fund or not. Board of Education Chairman Ted Raczka had a chance to address the Council: "Unless the funding for this budget is fulfilled, the momentum this district has gained will be lost....The bedrock of economic stability in this community is the school system, and you're fooling yourself if you don't believe a good school system is the key to maintaining a healthy economy here....please join us in making a commitment to preserving our community."

There is a public hearing on the budget THIS THURSDAY (4/28) in Council Chambers at City Hall at 7pm. The most recent BOE Spotlight on Education was on the proposed 2011-2012 budget, and this video is available by clicking the link on the District website. Also available on the same page is the Budget Book in pdf format. The BOE Budget Committee will meet at 4pm on Monday, May 9, at the District Office on Huntington Ave. The next BOE meeting is on Tuesday, May 10 at 7pm.