Zagrodsky 3-4-16

Finance Board’s Budget: Mill Rate Would Go Up 2.5%, to $15.73

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The Board of Finance passed a $141,399,008 budget that would raise Darien taxes 2.48 percent to a new mill rate of $15.73 (per $1,000 of assessed value). All votes at the board’s Thursday night meeting were unanimous, 5-0. The budget figures approved by the board are by no means final — the Representative Town Meeting will have the last word on the budget and taxes for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, which starts July 1. The 2016-2017 education budget, set by the Board of Education and also up for RTM approval, is $93,847,816, a 3.44 percent increase from the budget approved for this fiscal year.  

The town operating budget (covering everything but education spending and not including debt service or capital projects) is $30,519,897 for next year’s budget, which is down 0.45 percent from the budget for this year.

Michael Harman 3-6-16

Board of Ed Chairman: Spending Increase Due to Personnel, Training, Tech

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Higher personnel costs, together with more teacher training and the introduction of more technology into classrooms accounts for three quarters of the 3.44 percent increase in proposed school spending, according to the chairman of the Board of Education. Michael Harman, chairperson of the Board of Education, spoke early last week to the Board of Finance, as did First Selectman Jayme Stevenson at the official hand-off of their budget proposals for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The Board of Finance will gather more information this month and later decide whether to cut or increase the budgets before sending them both to the Representative Town Meeting for final approval. The next 12-month fiscal year starts July 1. __________

See also:

2016-17 Budget Proposals Presented to Darien Board of Finance
Stevenson Presents Selectmen’s Budget with New Proposals, New Cost Savings

Budget document: Board of Selectmen’s proposed 2016-2017 budget
Budget document: Board of Education’s proposed 2016-2017 budgetRevised school district Capital Projects Plan description

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The Board of Education’s budget request of $93,847,816 is an increase of 3.44 percent over the 2015-2016 budget approved last year by the Representative Town Meeting.

Stevenson Presents Selectmen’s Budget with New Proposals, New Cost Savings

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A readjustment in retirement and retirement health-insurance payments helped lower this year’s Board of Selectmen’s proposed budget by 4.49 percent, according to the proposal presented by First Selectman Jayme Stevenson this week. Lower costs for heating fuel also made room for a bit more spending on other programs, Stevenson told the Board of Finance on Tuesday, when she presented the selectmen’s proposed 2016-2017 budget, which proposes $44,943,031 in town spending (a drop of $2,111,996 from this year). Here is Stevenson’s presentation (word for word, but with a bit removed), including many of the slides she used to illustrate it. To see and hear the full presentation, see the 39-minute Darien TV79 video (below) and the full set of slides here. Stevenson’s 2016-2017 budget presentation
[…] This year’s Board of Selectmen budget proposal follows on the Board of Selectmen’s theme over my administration of budgeting restraint and limiting requests to what we need to run our local government services and respond to the requests of taxpayers.

Zagrodsky 3-4-16

2016-17 Budget Proposals Presented to Darien Board of Finance

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First Selectman Jayme Stevenson and Board of Education Chairperson Michael Harman this week described what they want to spend more (and in some cases, less) money on in the 12 months starting July 1. Providing more room for Darien High School students, who now have a crowded cafeteria, more digital devices for students in various grades and more money for ongoing teacher training were among the priorities for more spending in the schools, Harman told the Board of Finance on Tuesday when he officially presented the budget to them. “The [school district] administration and the board are committed to providing an excellent education for all our children in Darien,” Harman said. “We continue to need the support of our parents and our community to fund the ever-increasing cost of education and the unfunded mandates of the state and federal governments.” The Board of Selectmen won’t need to spend as much money on pension and retiree medical costs, after an adjustment in calculations for what needs to be invested in that fund, but the board wants money for projects like renovating the public works garage, build more sidewalks and buy two new police cars, Stevenson said.