#MIDDLEBURY #BUDGET
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
Middlebury voters will go to the polls again Wednesday, May 18, two weeks after the proposed 2016-2017 town budget was defeated by 11 votes. The vote tally at the May 4 referendum was 646 votes for the budget and 657 votes against it. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and voting will be at Shepardson Community Center at 1172 Whittemore Road in Middlebury.
It’s unknown whether or not Middlebury Selectman Michael McCormack’s letter to the editor published in the daily newspaper May 3 influenced voters. McCormack, who stepped down as chairman of the Board of Finance to become a selectman, urged voters to defeat the $10.4 million budget, which was an increase of 2.7 percent over the current budget. He said the increase came at a time when there is “virtually no inflation.”
The website usinflationcalculator.com states inflation was 0.7 percent in 2015 and is 0.9 percent for the first three months of 2016. Individual months this year are January 1.4 percent, February 1.0 percent and March 0.9 percent. The proposed budget starts July 1, 2016.
The revised budget amount is an increase of 2.47 percent over the current budget. It also is $10.4 million when it is rounded. Dispensing with rounding numbers in accordance with AP style, the May 18 proposed budget will be $10,404,408. The May 4 proposed budget was $10,427,174. The May 18 budget is $22,766 lower than the May 4 budget. This is a 0.22 percent decrease from the original proposal. The mil rate will be 31.01 compared to the May 4 mil rate, which would have been 31.17.
Following the budget’s May 4 defeat, the Board of Finance held two meetings to arrive at a new budget number. They held a special meeting Tuesday, May 10, and a regular meeting Wednesday, May 11.
During public comments at the May 10 meeting, McCormack said he felt the revised budget needed to come in $75,000 to $85,000 lower, so the increase would be less than 2 percent. Among his recommendations were cutting town funding for the employee health savings account for a savings of around $45,000 and eliminating the salary for the town treasurer. Under McCormack’s leadership, the BoF eliminated the town treasurer’s salary. After he stepped down, it was restored to the budget.
BoF Chairman Bill Stowell said he asked First Selectman Edward B. St. John to go to the department heads and ask them to go through their budgets. St. John presented those changes at the May 10 meeting; they included both decreases and increases in line items.
Decreases were listed for items such as postage, personal audits, office supplies, telephones and GPS units. Increases were listed for items such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, janitorial supplies and indexing in the town clerk’s office.
BoF member Vinnie Cipriano said he was surprised to see increases. “I thought we would come back with something more than $24,000 (in the net decrease),” he said.
St. John said the increases were needed because fuel prices are in the budget at $1.50 a gallon, and even with the fuel consortium pricing, he believes they will rise to at least $2 a gallon.
BoF member Steve Ruccio said, “I think less than 2 percent is the price taxpayers will vote for.”
Both Cipriano and Ruccio asked why there wasn’t leftover snow and ice removal material after the mild winter we had. BoF member Rita Smith said she would discuss this with Public Works Director Dan Norton and report on it at the May 11 meeting. She followed up on this May 11 with a detailed report explaining why materials were not left over.
BoF alternate Anastasia Persico, sitting in for Ann Feinberg, questioned legal expenses and asked why we have higher fees per resident than Southbury. Stowell said legal fees don’t have anything to do with how many people live in a town.
Chief Financial Officer Larry Hutvagner said the town pays a fixed fee retainer for the labor negotiations portion of the legal fees. “That hasn’t changed in years,” he said.
McCormack asked if the town goes out to bid for legal services. Hutvagner said the town does not and it is not required to go out to bid for professional services.
Resident Bob Dawes said the town takes away from employees to benefit the town. “We can’t keep cutting and cutting and cutting, especially for our employees,” he said.
The upcoming lease of downstairs space at the library also was discussed, and $19,600 was listed as revenue on that budget line. Stowell said the lease will start in September, but it calls for no payments the first three months. That leaves seven payments of $2,800 each for the remainder of the 2016-2017 budget year. The lease is subject to approval at a town meeting.
Stowell also commented that he hopes whoever works on the next charter revision changes the requirement that the BoF get a revised budget to the voters two weeks after a defeat.
At the May 11 meeting, Persico, again sitting in for Feinberg, suggested the salary for the treasurer be removed. She said it is an elected position without pay. Stowell referred the matter to town attorney Bob Smith. Persico’s motion to reduce the line item was defeated by a vote of two for and four against.
Two other motions by Persico to reduce line items failed to get a second.
Following the BoF May 11 vote on the new proposed budget, McCormack said, “I expected more than less than a quarter of a percent savings. I think this is an insult to voters.”
Stowell said this was a 2.47 percent increase. He pulled out a copy of an email McCormack sent to St. John’s assistant, Barbara Whitaker, on Jan. 26, 2016. In that email, McCormack said he was unable to attend the Jan. 27 meeting. He said he would strongly oppose a budget increase of more than 2.5 percent.
