Common Council Restores Board of Education Funding

In an meeting where bipartisan agreement set an affable tone, Thursday the Common Council voted to pass an amended $130.2 million budget, set the annual mill rate at 26.1.

The budget funding for Middletown schools by $1.2 million over the mayor's proposed cuts of $2.5 million.   The approved amount is $1.2 million less than the Board of Education requested.  According to Democrats who proposed the amended budget, the BOE shortfall will be made up through savings, specifically in insurance costs.

In a prepared statement, Democratic Councilman Dan Drew said that in addition to the restored funds, "We were able to identify $1.14 million in savings through a combination of reduced insurance costs, attrition through a retirement incentive and an unexpected grant from the State of Connecticut,"

The statement goes on to say that the savings and the restored dollars, "brings the schools to their full funding request."

However, Drew admitted, in a phone interview Friday, that savings through attrition at an estimated $500,000 means that teaching postions will be eliminated though layoffs are unlikely.  

As of 1:45 PM Friday, Superintendent of Schools Michael Frechette said that he did not have enough information on which to base a comment.

"I don't have any information on it," Frechette said.  "We've been trying to get it all day, so I don't know what their referring to."

In returning funds to the Board of Education, several council members warned that they would be keeping an eye on BOE spending, and encouraged cooperation from the Board in reporting on spending, and preparing next year's budget.

An anonymous source said that savings through attrition on the city side might be double what has been projected in the amended budget.

The mill rate increase proposed by the Democrats is .2 mills less than that proposed by the mayor, and will mean a .3 mill decrease from the current tax rate.

The democrats also restored funding cut from the mayor's budget for children's arts and youth sports, and for the hiring of three new police officers.

In the vote, Council members also increased the budget by $5000 for the placement of plaques on memorial trees. 

While two Republican Council members, David Bauer and Deborah Kleckowski, voted against the amended budget, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano accepted the amendments vowing not to veto the budget as he has in past years.

"I feel if I voted for this, I would be supporting the budget blindly," Kleckowski said, referring to the fact that the amended budget was delivered to council members on shortly before the meeting.

"We have a budget," the mayor said.  "We have some tax relief for the citizens and we will get through the next fiscal year."

The Council spent a good deal of time praising Council members Hope Kasper, Grady Faulkner and Dan Drew who worked on the amended budget, and despite the serious financial talk, members resorted to some good natured cross-party ribbing.

"There's a lot of hope in this budget," Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said looking at Council member Hope Kasper. "Both literally and figuratively."

"We didn't sell the Remington Rand building, I want to point that out," Ron Klattenburg said to the mayor, laughing, indicating a failed method of projecting revenue that Democratic council member proposed in the past.

"But we might yet," Council member Gerry Daley said, getting in on the joke.

Referring to the public's support to fully fund the BOE, Council member Jim Streeto referred to the budget hearing on the topic as one that went long into the evening.

"That meeting went late," Streeto said.  'I know that because the Wendy's Drive-thru window was closed by the time I got there, and that's my measure of when a meeting goes late."

Thursday, Streeto likely made it through the drive-thru window on time as debate and voting on all budget items wrapped up around 9 PM.