Jack Davis’ Budget Committee Report to the RTM on the 2016-2017 Town Budget

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The Representative Town Meeting’s Finance & Budget Committee report to the full RTM, delivered by F&B Committee Chairman Jack Davis, explained why the committee recommended a 2016-2017 town budget that increases taxes by 2.74 percent. 

The report was delivered in pieces, before each of several votes by the RTM that overwhelmingly approved the committee’s recommendations. Some parts of Davis’ report (dealing specifically with the Board of Selectmen’s town operating budget and the education budget) are published in separate articles on Darienite.com. Overall Budget Remarks
(16-12) RTM RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING THE

JULY, 1 2015 TO JUNE 30, 2016 BUDGET

I am Jack Davis, District 3 and Chair of the Finance and Budget Committee. I move “Section A” of RTM Resolution (16-12) Authorizing and Approving the July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 Budget. Is there a second?

Jon Zagrodzky Board of Finance 12-16

Board of Finance Recommends Town Budget Changes to Deal With State Grant Cuts

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Board of Finance Chairman Jon Zagrodzky wrote this explanation for his board’s proposed budget and a recommendation for the Representative Town Meeting, and sent it to RTM members, who also heard it read before the RTM vote. The RTM’s vote followed the recommendations of the Board of Finance and the RTM’s own Finance & Budget (F&B) Committee. Zagrodzky himself was unable to be at the RTM meeting, so board Vice Chairman Frank Huck read it to the RTM on Monday night. Here’s the full text:

On April 7, the Board of Finance (BOF) voted to submit a 2016-2017 budget to the RTM with a 15.73 mill rate or a 2.48 percent increase. Subsequent to this vote, the governor proposed eliminating Education Cost Reimbursement and MRSA [Municipal Revenue Sharing Act] grants for Darien, with a negative impact on the submitted budget of $1,317,925.

Michael Harman thumbnail

Remarks on the Education Budget from Town Officials

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Before the The Darien Public Schools budget was approved by the Representative Town Meeting, three speakers gave their remarks on it. Here are their speeches (as prepared):
Dennis Maroney’s Education Committee Report
Good evening, I am Dennis Maroney of district 3 and I am chairman of the Education committee.  I would like to move 16-12 B, an appropriation in the General Fund to the Education operating Budget of $93,847,816, may I have a second? The Board of Education budget increases over the past four years have ranged between 2.93% and 5.90% with an average budget increase of 4.42%.  The proposed budget for 2016-2017 requested increase is for 3.44%. The main driver of the recommended increase, is as usual Health/Insurance and Personal RC, (Responsibility center.)  This accounts for 77% of the entire budget. There is a projected increase of 10 students this year in the district.  As an aside, I have a graduating senior and when she entered the school district in 2003 there were 4,116 students enrolled in Darien public schools, the projected number for 2016-2017 is 4,857.  That is a net increase of 741 students.  From the turn of the century that number is 1,058.  Yes over 1,000 more students in 16 years.  A 27.8% increase over the past 16 years.

Jack Davis RTM 5-9-16

RTM Passes $140.6 Million Budget, 2.74% Tax Increase to 15.77 Mills

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With a series of overwhelming votes and no dissenting voices, the Representative Town Meeting passed a budget that raised taxes by 2.74 percent, to 15.77 mills ($15.77 per $1,000 of assessed value). The new 2016-2017 Fiscal Year budget of $140,596,508 starts on July 1 and runs for 12 months. The approved budget includes:

The Board of Education budget of $93,847,816
The Board of Selectmen budget of $$46,748,692

The RTM made one adjustment from the budget passed by the Board of Finance on April 18 — it includes $171,485 in revenue expected from the Municipal Revenue Sharing Act program (MRSA) which reimburses the town for sales taxes collected within Darien and some other revenues collected here. Town Budget Changes in Reaction to State Aid Cuts

The Board of Finance had passed its April 18 budget assuming Darien would get no funding from the state for the upcoming fiscal year, since all funding had seemed tentative without an approved plan between the governor and the state Legislature. (The board had initially passed a budget on April 7 that contained the assumption the town would get about $1.1 million in state funding and a mill rate of 15.73.)

Although an announced state budget agreement between Gov. Dannel Malloy and Democrats in the Legislature hasn’t been voted on, the state has a legal obligation to give municipalities money from that particular fund, said Jack Davis, chairman of the Finance & Budget Committee of the RTM.

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

__________

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.

Robbie Gaaserud

School Budget Change: It Looks Like Freshmen Will Get New Team Uniforms

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It looks like Robbie Gaaserud, captain of the freshman soccer team at Darien High School, will get the school district to buy new uniforms for the team, along with two other underclassmen sports teams at the school. Although the budget wasn’t changed to reflect it, the school district will spend money in the next fiscal year to provide new uniforms for the boys soccer team, Schools Superintendent Dan Brenner said Tuesday night at  Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting. Two other, unidentified freshmen teams also will get uniforms, he said. A week before, on Tuesday, Feb. 2, the 14-year-old ninth grader was one of the members of the public who spoke to the Board of Education about next year’s schools budget at a public hearing in Town Hall.

Darien Public Schools

Education Budget Increase of 3.44% Approved by Board of Ed

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The Board of Education on Tuesday passed a $93.8 million schools budget raising spending by 3.44 percent, an increase of $3,125,290. 

Before the board voted on any budget adjustments, Superintendent Dan Brenner suggested a collection of various budget cuts and changes that amounted to an overall reduction of $365,527. The board unanimously approved the change (board member Christa McNamara was absent). The largest of Brenner’s cuts came from $237,953 in lower spending on the district retirement fund. The Board of Education’s proposed budget for 2016-2017 is $93,847,816 — at 3.44 percent, a smaller increase over the budget passed a year ago than Brenner’s original proposal for a 3.85 percent increase. Much of the change in spending comes from previously negotiated wage increases as part of union and employment contracts.

Town Hall Sally Dibble mural

On School Spending, PART 5: Statements on the Early Learning Program from Budget Hearing

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Here are statements advocating support of the Early Learning Program, all from the Board of Education’s Feb. 2 public hearing on the school budget. Darienite.com will publish the full text of every statement from the public hearing that we receive by email If you didn’t give your statement to the CDSP, please email it to us at dave@darienite.com; we encourage readers to send in letters to the editor on this or any other topic by emailing to the same address. _______________

See also:

Superintendent Proposes 3.85% Increase in Darien Education Budget (Jan. 8)
Support for Early Learning Program, Teacher Training at Board of Ed Budget Hearing (main article, Feb.

Theresa Vogt

On School Spending, PART 4: Statements from Budget Hearing

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Here are statements on improving teaching, teaching the gifted and supporting Schools Superintendent Dan Brenner, all from the Board of Education’s Feb. 2 public hearing on the school budget. Darienite.com will publish the full text of every statement from the public hearing that we receive by email If you didn’t give your statement to the CDSP, please email it to us at dave@darienite.com; we encourage readers to send in letters to the editor on this or any other topic by emailing to the same address. _______________

See also:

Superintendent Proposes 3.85% Increase in Darien Education Budget (Jan. 8)
Support for Early Learning Program, Teacher Training at Board of Ed Budget Hearing (main article, Feb.

School budget public hearing 2-3-16

On School Spending, PART 3: Statements from Budget Hearing

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Here are several more statements from the Board of Education’s Feb. 2 public hearing on the school budget. All three of these statements were made on behalf of the Council of Darien School Parents. They were presented by Wendy Ward (on technology), Tara Ochman (on the capital budget) and Karen Wilber and Beth Lane on the World Language Program. Darienite.com will publish the full text of every statement from the public hearing that we receive by email If you didn’t give your statement to the CDSP, please email it to us at dave@darienite.com; we encourage readers to send in letters to the editor on this or any other topic by emailing to the same address.

public hearing school spending 2-3-16

On School Spending, PART 2: What Parent Groups Said About Special Ed at Feb 2 Hearing

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Here are more statements from parents and parent-teacher organizations about Darien special education spending, from the Feb. 2 Board of Education public hearing. These statements are from co-chairs of the Darien Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC) and from the Council of Darien School Parents special education subcommittee. Darienite.com will publish the full text of every statement from the public hearing that we receive by email If you didn’t give your statement to the CDSP, please email it to us at dave@darienite.com; we encourage readers to send in letters to the editor on this or any other topic by emailing to the same address. _______________

See also:

Superintendent Proposes 3.85% Increase in Darien Education Budget (Jan.

Jill McCammon

On School Spending, PART 1: Statements at Feb 2 Budget Hearing

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You can get some insight into the priorities and concerns of Darien parents and parent-teacher organizations from these statements made at the Feb. 2 public hearing on the superintendent’s proposed budget. Here are statements from Cathy Butcher, budget chair for the Council of Darien School Parents (CDSP); Jill McCammon and Shelly Skoglund, co-chairs of the CDSP; and Peter Orphanos, speaking for the Darien High School Parents Association. Darienite.com will publish every statement from the public hearing that we receive by email (if you didn’t give your statement to the CDSP, please email it to us at dave@darienite.com; we encourage readers to send in letters to the editor on this or any other topic by emailing to the same address; statements may not necessarily be published on the home page). ____________

See also:

Support for Early Learning Program, Teacher Training at Board of Ed Budget Hearing (main article, Feb.

Mother of Autistic Child Explains How Early Learning Program Changed His Life [VIDEO]

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At Tuesday evening’s Board of Education public hearing on the proposed school district budget, Sivan Hong gave a brief, particularly moving account about how important the Early Learning Program was to her autistic child, and she urged the board to keep it well funded. Here’s part of what she said in words, and, on video, nearly her entire statement:

“ELP has played a critical role in shifting the trajectory of my child’s life,” said the woman, whose name Darienite.com could not find out before publishing this article (although we don’t think you need to know her name). “And if my emotional thanks is not enough to convince you to strengthen your support of ELP, then think about this: Without ELP, Benjamin would have likely had to go to a private school for children with autism, costing the district far more over the next 12 years than the two years that he’s had in ELP, and it would have resulted in an even greater expense on society to have to support him long-term. “Early intervention works. […] He will grow up to be a productive member of society, thanks to ELP.