Democrats Propose Restoring Full Library Funding, Animal Control Officer and Town Positions

By Democratic Town Council Members
Stephanie Philips, D-2
Jason Santi, D-4
David Fuller, D-6
and, Kimberly Meuse, D-7

We understand that with rising energy & health care costs, and little economic development, it would be fiscally irresponsible to expect a zero mill increase as many of us would have wished.  And we certainly heard the public’s request not to force any school closures at this late date.  In fact, we commend the Mayor’s willingness to work with the Board of Education (BOE) to avoid school closures.

On the other hand, we believe the mayor’s proposed 1.66 mill increase combined with a further loss of services and employees is a burden that is too much for taxpayers to bear. 

As Democrats and the minority on the Town Council, we have demonstrated our willingness to work across the aisle with civility and recommendations for the betterment of Stratford. In the spirit of representative government we ask and hope that our majority friends and the Mayor will include some of our ideas in their budget. 

We offer an alternative that reduces the Mayor’s planned increase to .98 mills as our first goal. 

Second, we offer a responsibly conservative budget, without cutting town services or eliminating needed positions.

Our third goal was to prevent any school closures or reduced BOE funding. 

And lastly, we believe the town should focus its cost reductions on the items that spiral uncontrollably each year such as Call-Back, Overtime, Workmen’s Compensation, Health Claims, and Legal Fees.  

Specifically, we feel that eliminating positions that provide direct services and do not incur overtime such as the Senior Services Clerk, Animal Control Officer, Public Health Nurse and the Library do not address the real chronic problems, but penalize the average taxpayer. 

Eliminating a tax assessor and tax collector significantly reduces the town’s ability to investigate, locate, and then collect on taxable property. 

Instead we encourage the town to implement an aggressive wellness & safety program to reduce workmen’s comp & medical claims; lower overtime with better priorities or hiring.

Accelerate technology improvements to eliminate inefficiencies from inadequate record-keeping, lack of electronic communications, poor or slow access to information, and implement typical online conveniences.  We suggest not funding vacant positions such as the Building Superintendent, or costly positions in EMS, and eliminating non-contractual pay increases. 

In other words, “do more with less.”

After discussions with the Governor’s Office of Policy and Management, we feel confident that Stratford will receive at least the projected $1 million MME PILOT State reimbursement.  Furthermore, pending a final legislative vote, Stratford has been designated to receive $1.8 million in additional PILOT state funding that is not currently included in Mayor’s or our recommendations, below. 

We hope the Mayor will devote the majority of those additional funds towards capital improvement projects, thus reducing our dependency on bonding. The town will also receive $450,000 from the state’s revenue cost sharing program. 

In summary, our recommendation will reduce the average taxes based on the Mayor’s budget from an increase of $308 to $181 per household – without eliminating services. 

PROPOSED DEMOCRATIC ADD-BACKS

• $10,000 -  Restore Arts Commission 
• $96,000 - Restore Highways Supt.  
• $236,000 - Restore Library Funding         
• $36,000 - Restore P/T Public Health Nurse 
• $20,000 - Restore Parents Place            
• $50,000 - Restore Clerk for Police     
• $150,000 - Restore (3) Public Works employees
• $63,000 - Restore - Mechanic                                   
• $50,000 - Tree Replacement/Removal            
• $20,000 - Restore Reserve Weather Events       
• $65,000 - Restore Senior Center Clerk        
• $48,000 - Restore Tax Assessor Position        
• $43,000 - Restore Tax Collector Position  
• $42,000 - Restore Animal Control Officer 
• $4,000 - Sterling House                                 

            TOTAL ADD BACKS             $ 933,000

 
PROPOSED DEMOCRATIC CUTS 

• ($1,173,000) - Fire Dept Callback/OT            
• ($ 785,000) - Contingency                            
• ($ 590,000) - Employee Benefits                   
• ($ 584,567) - Public Works OT/ Workmen’s comp
• ($ 205,000) - Town Attorney               
• ($ 158,000) - Police Dept                          
• ($ 125,000) - Gas & Oil, Electricity (Town-wide)
• ($ 110,000) - Human Resources         
• ($ 258,000) - Other Line items                

           CUTS PROPOSED                    ($3,988,567)

Net Cut to Mayor’s Budget Proposal                ($ 3,055,567)