ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2010
A Community Conversation was held in the School Cafeteria of the John F. Kennedy Middle School, 155 Raffia Road, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, March 29, 2010. Chairman Kaupin began the Community Conversation at 7:05 p.m.
Present from the Enfield Town Council were Councilmen Bosco, Dumont, Edgar, Hall, Kaupin, Keller, Kiner, Lee, Mangini and Nelson. Councilman Crowley was absent.
Present from the Enfield Board of Education were Superintendent of Schools, Dr. John Gallacher; John F. Kennedy Principal, Timothy Neville; Board of Education members Gregory Stokes, Donna Szewczak and Peter Jonaitis
Also present were Town Manager, Matthew Coppler; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Director of Libraries, Henry Dutcher; Chief of Police, Carl Sferrazza and Director of Finance, Lynn Nenni
PRESENTATION OF TOWN MANAGER BUDGET
Mr. Coppler stated the biggest negative impact on the budget is the state funding. He stated there’s an approximately $600,000 loss over what was budgeted for 2009-2010 versus what is being budgeted.
He noted he distributed to the Council this evening documentation from the Connecticut Municipal Association, which indicates the state is accounting for revenue that they normally gave to the town, but now it’s only going to be for the schools. He stated this amounts to about $669,000, which will have to come out of the Town budget as they go forward. He noted that will be checked to be sure that’s the implication of what has recently been announced, but it does appear the Town will be losing another $669,000 out the revenue stream, however, that will be made available to the schools.
Mr. Coppler stated in the last couple years, the Town actually budgeted the excess cost revenues coming to the Town as revenue for the schools. He explained that’s a revenue available to the schools, but it will not be accounted for on the Town side. He noted unfortunately, that opens up another $825,000 of funding that the Town is no longer receiving and for which they have to make provisions for in the upcoming budget.
He stated the Grand List did grow this year, and they’re projecting about a $29 million dollar increase in the value of the Grand List, and that will generate about $600,000 in revenue for the Town.
Mr. Coppler stated on the expenditure side, some of the debt service will be going off the books for 2010-2011, and they also did a refunding of some of the outstanding bonds that generated about $500,000 in new cost containment. He noted they also had reductions in pension costs. He stated the stock market performance has been good for the past 12 months, and that has caused the return to be a lot greater, which means the payment for the pension for both the regular employee pension as well as the police pension goes down. He noted they’re estimating that reduction to be around $300,000 for the upcoming year.
He stated health care costs have gone up. He noted the Town budgeted a 10% increase in the proposed budget, and that equates to about $400,000 on the Town side of increased costs.
Mr. Coppler referred to a slide that shows where the Town gets its revenue for all of the General Fund. He noted the taxes raised amounts to 67% of the total revenue in the General Fund. He pointed out the General Fund is the driver of all the services for the Town as well as for the School System. He stated the next biggest sum of money is from intergovernmental revenues, which is state funding. He noted this makes up about 29% of the total revenues that they receive for the upcoming budget. He stated the Town is most concerned about this area. He explained with the financial problems at the state level, this area is constantly under attack by the state. He noted the state has been talking about significant cuts for the 2012 budget. He pointed out a decrease of even 3% is nearly a million dollars for the Town and the Schools. He noted the Town is keeping a very close eye on this area. He added it seems that one of the ways that the state is going to be getting out of the financial problems they have is by attacking municipal aid to towns and schools.
He stated 2% of the revenue comes from licenses, fees and bonds.
Mr. Coppler stated the Town is proposing to budget $2.5 million dollars out of the Fund Balance this year.
He then reviewed expenditures proposed in this budget, which amount to $112,815,804. He noted this shows about a 6.2% decrease on the Town side, and the School budget is frozen at the current levels. He noted overall they have a decrease of 2.8%.
Mr. Coppler broke out the expenditures on the Town side and noted the largest portion is General Government, which is made up of all the administrative programs within the Town, but it also takes in the transfers, the debt service and the non-departmental employee costs. He stated about $10 million dollars is in the transfers and another $3 million dollars is in the debt service. He noted the next most expensive is Public Works coming in at $15.4 million dollars, and Public Safety comes in at around $11.2 million dollars. He stated Public Safety includes emergency management and the communications department. He went on to note the library department is at $1.5 million dollars and Development Services is at $1.1 million dollars. He explained Development Services includes Economic Development, Community Development, Planning and Building Code Enforcement.
Mr. Coppler reviewed a graph that showed expenditure trends as a function of what was actually budgeted, not what was actually spent at the end of the year. He noted the graph shows the General Fund expands in 2005 and peaks in 2009. He stated it then starts trending back down.
He stated at the last meeting, the Council inquired about what it would take in terms of a mill rate increase to close the gap of what they were spending versus what they’re expending in the proposed budget, as well as what would be the mill rate necessary to include the increase that the School System requested, which is a little over $700,000. He noted the proposed budget is the same mill rate as the current mill rate, which is 23.88 mills. He stated to fund the gap between the $53 million dollars that the Town is spending versus the $50 million dollars, it would take an increase of 1.05 or about a 4.41% increase in the mill rate. He noted to add on the $700,000 that the school is requesting would increase that mill rate up 1.30 or about 5.4%. As to how this would effect residential properties with different assessed values, to fill a gap of about $3.2 million dollars, the taxes would be about $210 per year on a home valued at $200,000. He noted if they add in the funding requested by the School System, that goes up to $260 per year.
Mr. Coppler stated residents aren’t the only people paying taxes. He referred to the top ten largest taxpayers in Enfield. He noted the most expensive assessed taxable value is at $61 million dollars. He noted the increase for that business would be an additional $64,000 per year.
He stated in order not to have a tax increase, they flat funded the schools at $62,711,007; they eliminated 25 positions within Town operations; proposed elimination of annual curbside leaf collection; proposed reduction in funding for outside agencies, mainly through the Social Service Fund; proposed elimination of funding for the School Crossing Guard Program; proposed reduction of services within the framework of Social Services.
Mr. Coppler reviewed the history of the mill rate.
PUBLIC COMMENT AND DISCUSSION
Ben Perrault, 24 Iroquois Road
Expressed his appreciation to the Town of Enfield for providing a great Enfield Senior Citizens Center.
Mr. Perrault stated he’s the founder and coordinator of the Enfield Singles Senior group working out of the Enfield Senior Center. He noted this group has been very successful. He stated quite a few members work full or part-time and are only able to meet in the evenings. He voiced concern this group will fall apart if they aren’t able to meet in the evenings. He stated his hope this group can survive. He questioned the possibility of using meeting rooms in one of the high schools.
Mr. Coppler stated his belief it’s definitely possible that a meeting room might be available in one of the schools.
Bill Gallagher, 17 Carmela Terrace
Expressed his appreciation for all the services provided by the Enfield Senior Center. He noted he and his wife are counselors for “Choices”, and they’re available weekly and in the evenings. He stated to reduce current hours of operation of the senior center would be counter-productive since revenue and social programs will be non-existent. He noted an attempt to raise additional funds through donations and increased fees appears to be the best opportunity for increased funding. He stated his impression the neediest people in the Town are the prime targets when budget reductions are made. He urged the Council again review the senior budget, visit the center and evaluate those services.
William Creedon, 57 Cottage Road
Voiced his concern about the loss of engineering personnel. He noted most of the development in Enfield is normally reviewed by professional in-house staff. He stated his belief the Town’s engineering job has been doing a great job. He raised the question of who will be doing reviews, the bonding, and inspections. He pointed out if there isn’t the proper staff to do this work, it will have to be farmed out and that will cost money.
Mr. Coppler stated the one employee being kept is the person that does most of the development review for the Town. He noted they’re definitely going to change the model for how the Town delivers engineering services as they go forward. He stated right now, large projects are farmed out. He noted some of the smaller projects, i.e., drainage and erosion projects, have been done in-house. He stated they may be doing a little bit less as it relates to those, or they may be looking at the model of farming some of that work out to engineering firms. Chairman Kaupin questioned if that money to farm out is within the budget, and Mr. Coppler responded yes, and that money would be found in the CIP Fund where there’s actually an architectural/engineering services line for this.
Reginald Leonard, 42 Fairfield Road
Agreed with Mr. Creedon’s comments. He noted the Engineering Department watches for wetland problems and building problems. He stated he went to a very good presentation by the Town about a year ago concerning all the problems Enfield has with land in Enfield, i.e., erosion, wetlands, sinkholes, etc. He questioned how the Town will regulate such problems. He questioned who will provide Commissions with the expert advice from the Town that they need to run Enfield.
Mr. Coppler stated the Planning Director is certified to do the Inland/Wetlands piece. Mr. Leonard questioned if this means that one person is going to handle two commissions that handle serious issues within Enfield. Mr. Coppler responded that’s correct.
Jack Sheridan, 7 Buchanan Road
Thanked the Council for keeping the taxes down for the last several years. He noted seniors had children in the school system many years ago, and they don’t mind paying their share for education. He noted seniors are subsidizing education for Enfield parents. He stated the cost per student is $14,500. He noted that doesn’t include the $1,065,000 the Town appropriated from the Council’s side of the CIP. He stated if they were to add the money from the CIP, the cost per student would be $14,627.
Mr. Sheridan stated if the average homeowner pays $5,000 in taxes, this results in a $9,500 hole that is being subsidized. He noted that because the Council kept the taxes at bay seniors, can afford to remain in Enfield.
He encouraged the Town to continue to look for ways of doing things better and more efficiently because that’s how businesses survive. He stated his belief the Council is doing a great job. He suggested perhaps there’s a way to attract businesses through tax breaks. He stated his belief businesses are hurting enough, and the Town has to do what it can to keep them in town. He suggested perhaps they could reduce the business personal property tax.
Mr. Sheridan stated the Town Manager is very busy, however, he’s laying off his executive secretary, and he believes that’s wrong because the Town Manager needs that person.
Tom Walsh, 6 Rosanne Street
Stated his belief the Council is doing a great job.
Mr. Walsh stated Enfield has a massive amount of rentals, and multi-family homes are not bringing in as much in taxes because they may have several families with children in that apartment building. He referred to an apartment complex that pays about $90,000 in taxes, and this complex has 90 units. He noted this adds up to 1,000 per unit, and he pays $4,600 in taxes. He pointed out not everyone is paying their fair share. He suggested the cure might be a rental tax.
He concluded stating they can’t keep raising people’s salaries, and there has to be another way of raising revenue other than property tax.
Mr. Coppler stated he will look into the tax policy through the state concerning reducing business personal property tax. He added he will also look into the possibility of raising a special type of tax on a rental property.
Councilman Mangini stated the State of Connecticut is currently looking at alternate ways to creatively come up with better forms of taxation. She noted they’re looking at hotel tax and a kickback of sales tax to local municipalities to offset municipal budgets. She added there are also other streams of revenue that can be looked into. She noted no positives have come forward as yet, but they are brainstorming.
George Garen, 32 Spring Garden Road
Stated he has been trying to learn why the “tale is wagging the dog”. He noted the Board of Education enters into contracts with teachers and guarantees a salary. He stated they then come back to the Council and expect that salary to be covered. He noted this doesn’t make sense.
He stated he’s very happy with what the Council accomplished over the past couple years.
He stated he would like to see a special crossing light at Spring Garden Road for pedestrian safety. He noted one night, he was riding his bike and saw a radar unit set up on the other side of Washington Road. He suggested to the officer that it might be more meaningful if he sat in front of Henry Barnard School, and the officer responded negatively. He noted he is very happy with the Police Department, but with this kind of attitude, he doesn’t believe the Town is getting their value from such officers.
He stated he has noticed a lot of lighting at the senior center on nights when there are either no cars or maybe one car in the lot.
Mr. Garen stated his hope the senior center can remain open in the evenings because his wife very much enjoys the center.
Chairman Kaupin pointed out the Chief of Police is present this evening, therefore, he heard Mr. Garen’s comments.
As concerns Mr. Garen’s comment about the “tail wagging the dog”, Chairman Kaupin pointed out the Town Council works closely with the Board of Education in negotiating their contracts, and statutorily the Town and School Departments are responsible to negotiate their employees’ contracts. He pointed out the Town Council does have a Council liaison for any Board of Education contract bargaining sessions. He stated this is a very open process, and they’re kept informed throughout the entire process.
Margaret Jedziniak, 232 Abbe Road
Stated the only social life some seniors have is at the senior center, therefore, that shouldn’t be taken away from them. She went on to suggested the repertory theater group should be charged a fee because they use that building many nights, and it costs a significant amount to heat that building. She added that group charges an admission fee when they present their plays to the public.
Ms. Jedziniak stated her understanding the School System has a reading program that they pay $200,000 for and they don’t use it.
She stated her belief some of the old cruisers should be discarded.
Ms. Jedziniak stated the last time she checked, it was $750,000 for teachers’ days off. She noted substitutes should be paid, however, teachers should not get the difference between what the substitute gets and the teacher gets to fill out the rest of their salary. She stated her belief this isn’t right at all, and this should have been taken care of years ago.
Kim McCann, 2 Allen Street
Urged the Council support the Board of Education budget, preferably the budget proposed by Dr. Gallacher. She stated her belief the School System has been hit very hard for several years.
Ms. McCann questioned if it’s proposed to eliminate all school crossing guards, and Mr. Coppler responded that’s correct. Ms. McCann questioned what the children will do, and Mr. Coppler stated his belief there are opportunities for volunteer service rather than this being a paid service. Ms. McCann questioned if this will be left in the hands of the School Board. Mr. Coppler responded that’s a possibility, and possibly PTO’s could be tasked with coming up with a plan as well. Ms. McCann questioned if this is putting children in danger by doing this, and is there really thought behind that cut. Mr. Coppler stated there are other models across the country whereby this is a volunteer service and is not paid for by the community.
Ms. McCann questioned if the $660,000 and the $825,000 mentioned earlier is already in the School Budget. Mr. Coppler explained for the last couple years, the Town actually budgeted, as part of revenue, the excess costs as well as a couple other similar related funds that the Town gets from the state. He noted last year was the first year in a number of years that the School System exceeded costs and needed to tap into this money. He stated based on conversations with the School System, their desire is for that revenue not to be a part of what the Town budgets as revenue for them. He noted this money is available to the School System should they exceed their budgeted amount for excess costs.
Ms. McCann questioned if this money is typically held for a rainy day, and why wouldn’t they want to put that toward the School Budget. Mr. Coppler stated for the last two years they did that, and the School System made a decision that they did not want the Town doing this any longer, therefore, the Town had to cut that money out of their budget.
She concluded urging the Council give the School System a little more money for their budget so they don’t have to make all those cuts.
Councilman Lee questioned if the state is now saying additional funding will not flow through the General Fund but will go directly to the school system. Mr. Coppler stated his impression the excess cost monies can be tapped into by the School System at will based upon exceeding certain budgetary parameters for special education funding and placement.
Chairman Kaupin invited Dr. Gallacher to speak about the parameters around the excess costs. Dr. Gallacher explained excess costs are monies the state puts aside for special education. He noted the School System uses these monies as a buffer or cushion knowing that it’s possible someone can move into the community with special needs with a very high tuition bill. He stated a lot of Connecticut communities discuss this in their budget. He noted the Board is basically asking for access to that money whereby it comes straight through. He stated the Board’s intention is to look at how much of their special education placements can be paid out of that money next year. He stated his impression they’d probably be using all of it. Chairman Kaupin stated traditionally, the Board would budget based on prior years’ experiences. Dr. Gallacher stated traditionally, they budget on what they know are out of district placements that exceed costs.
Sara Levinthal-O’Farrell, 37 David Street
Stated she feels completely disheartened that the Superintendent, Board of Education, the Town Council and this community have placed education so low that they’re willing to accept a second-rate, deficient and very faulty system.
She questioned who should be held accountable for high class sizes, the lack of individual attention each student needs, the loss of the TLC Reading Program, the loss of guidance and support staff, the plummeting of CMT and CAPT scores, the decrease in No Child Left Behind status, students’ inability to get into good colleges and graduation requirements not being met.
Karen LaPlante, 166 North Maple Street
Stated she is a member of the Enfield Conservation Commission, and she’s deeply disturbed that this commission’s staff member may be cut. She noted the Planning Department had some serious issues when one of their staff was out sick for a month, and they could hardly keep up with that one member missing, never mind losing two staff members. She stated her belief this will create big problems.
Ms. LaPlante questioned if the teachers should be held accountable for not considering a give back. She noted just about everyone in the nation is trying to keep their jobs and taking pay cuts, however, nothing has been heard from the teachers about taking a pay cut, and she believes this needs to be done.
Doug Finger, 44 Buchanan Road
Questioned if there’s any stimulus money to help keep jobs in Enfield. Councilman Mangini stated there is a bill in Congress that was presented March 10th. She noted this bill is called, “The Jobs to Work” bill. She explained if a town is a recipient of CDBG funding, which Enfield is, they’d have the ability to apply for this funding to help stimulate job growth for a minimum of two years.
Mr. Finger stated there’s a lot of drainage work to do in Enfield, and if they cut the Highway Department personnel, things will get worse.
Carolyn Barnes, 5 South Meadow Lane
Stated the $14,500 per student figure is incorrect. She noted it’s well known special education costs are included in that figure. She pointed out one child can cost a quarter of a million dollars, and each town can have varying numbers of special education students. She stated she’s concerned this figure is continually used, and this is not helpful.
Ms. Barnes stated these budget cuts are impacting children and senior citizens. She noted cutting leaf pick-up definitely effects senior citizens, and a flat education budget definitely effects children in the coming year.
She stated just because the economy isn’t good shouldn’t mean children should get a lesser education.
Dr. Gallacher stated the Enfield School System is below the ERG, the State and magnet schools for per pupil costs. He noted he can show the numbers he has, and he can get that through the strategic school profile. He added he can meet with Mr. Sheridan to see what he’s including to come up with his figure.
Councilman Nelson questioned how they can determine what other towns are using in the per pupil calculation, i.e., do other towns include their custodians, building maintenance, etc. Dr. Gallacher stated it’s not consistent.
Chairman Kaupin suggested perhaps Dr. Gallacher and Mr. Sheridan can meet regarding these numbers and report back.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION #803 by Councilman Nelson, seconded by Councilman Kiner to adjourn.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #803 adopted 10-0-0, and the meeting stood adjourned at 8:37 p.m. |