The Courant reported that
A proposed $219.1 million budget that officials say reflects the anemic reality of recession was given to the town council Tuesday night for review.Most likely those "eliminated positions" were not going to be filled anyway - so where are the real cuts? What about all those "teachers" on the payroll who do not really "teach" any classes? And what about all those classes that have less than 12 students in them?
If adopted as submitted by Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle, the 2010-11 budget would require a 3.6 percent hike in the tax rate to 38.91 mills, effective July 1. Town officials who put together the proposal said the money sought will allow the town to continue essential services, meet contractual obligations and maintain property, without any new services or programs.
-and-
The proposal eliminates 27 school and five town government positions to hold down expenses.
A 3.6% tax rate increase in this economy? Are they serious? What part of global recession and unemployment do they not get? With 7% unemployment rate in West Hartford alone, do they seriously think this isn't going to go down in flames? Did anyone in town get a 3.6% raise (that is, if they are still working).
You better believe they will be analyzing portions of this budget in the coming weeks until April adoption!
The Courant went on to say:
Mayor Scott Slifka said the council and the school board will be checking the proposals in meetings and will seek public comment in hearings next month.The school portion of the budget is 56% of the total.
"People can attend the subcommittee meetings to discuss the proposal, go to the hearings, send us e-mails, call or write us," Slifka said. Council hearings on the proposal are scheduled for April 6 at 2 p.m. and April 8 at 6 p.m. in town hall.
The town council is scheduled to adopt a final budget in late April and set a tax rate.
Van Winkle said the proposed budget continues a town hiring freeze, travel restrictions and other steps imposed a year ago to contain costs as the recession deepened.
The school portion of the proposal is $121.92 million, up $4.2 million from the current education budget. The town government portion is $65.8 million, up $1.29 million for the current budget.
The long-term liability portion — for town and school pensions, retiree health care and capital financing — is $31.4 million, up $3.22 million.
The plan seeks $8.73 million more than the current $212.5 million budget. Most of the increase is sought to make up for decreased investment, state aid and other non-tax revenues and to cover increased wage, pension and health costs.
The Teachers Union and the Board of Education once again refuse to help the town's financial situation.
The Board of Education can easily eliminate millions of dollars of waste and duplication in their programs, if they would only listen to ideas already being offered by people in the community - but they are steadfastly refusing.
They believe West Hartford taxpayers have more money stashed under their mattresses.
It's going to be one helluva Budget Season here in West Hartford.
21 WH Responses:
Looks like you're right on!
Last nights BOE workshop was not looking for ideas. Their desire is to keep coming back to the dry trough for more.
The BOE wasted a precious year that could have been used for much needed budget analysis. The ARRA money bought them time which they wasted.
The rest of the budget workshops will probably be the same.
Next the presentation of the devastation of proposed budget cuts in the event of a referendum.
The way this is going so far woulld seem to indicate a referendum is inevitable!
The Board of Education can easily eliminate millions of dollars of waste and duplication in their programs, if they would only listen to ideas already being offered by people in the community - but they are steadfastly refusing.
Anyone who has watched the budget proceedings knows that this is not true.
Please post line items from the budget that represent "millions of dollars in waste and duplication".
Please post the "ideas being offered by the community" that the board "refuses" to consider.
The biggest driver in the budget is benefits (+12% medical costs, REQUIRED contributions to pension and retiree medical reserve fund).
But of course you've been lobbying Congress to enact health care reform, haven't you!
You never seem to mention that parents clamor for educational programs and services. It's as if the BOE are big meanies to the taxpayer because...just because?
Oh - but Anonymous it IS true.
Waste and duplication is there - how about reading the budget for yourself.
Good citizens like John Hardy, Robert Sisk, Kathy Wilson and others have been offering suggestions that have been falling on deaf ears.
Ideas being offered by the community have already been suggested at budget forums - meetings with the Superintendent and BOE members etc.
Yes - The biggest driver in the budget is benefits (+12% medical costs, REQUIRED contributions to pension and retiree medical reserve fund).
We could eliminate programs that are unnecessary and redundant.
For starters...Want to tell me how many people on staff are listed as teachers who do not do any teaching?
and excuse me but what does health care reform have to do with anything ... you sound like Robert Slate (iBlog) same old healthcare broken record.
Anonymous has to be kidding.
Diane Mudge, Lib Spinella, John Hardy, the Tax Payers
Association and others have all made suggestions. The Board spends its' time finding ways to shoot down each and every idea rather than consider them.
How many years did West Hartford subsidize Hartford for the Special Ed services for Open Choice kids until the problem was made public. We are finally getting reimbursed, but no one knows how it is being calculated since the figure has not changed.
The Board treated itself to routine meals. No line item in the budget for meals. The Board refused to end this practice until it was made public.
The Town has an unemployment rate of 7%, there were something like 40 foreclosures in town last year and 17 in process this year (3 foreclosures in todays paper) and it is only March.
The pre-school program is supposed to be self supporting but the numbers don't include benefits which are buried in the Budget
The Board has to start controlling spending, the Town can no longeer support the same old ways.
Diane Mudge, Lib Spinella, John Hardy, the Tax Payers
Association and others have all made suggestions.
Excellent. Then you should have no problem naming a few of these suggestions so they can be discussed.
Oh they will be discussed before too long.
Anonymous - what suggestions do YOU have?
How would you cut 5 million from this over bloated budget? and what will YOU propose to fill the 10 million budget deficit for next year?
Or is YOUR brilliant solution just to raise taxes?
Classic ToWH! Unable to give a straight answer to a straight question, ToWH changes the subject.
Cynic claimed there is "millions of dollars in waste and duplication" in the education budget, and YOU, ToWH, jumped in to support that claim.
I asked for specifics on the line items representing millions of dollars of waste and duplication.
"Read the budget for yourself" is not an answer.
Changing the subject to an entirely different aspect of the issue is not an answer.
Do you have an answer, or don't you?
The ideas have been presented to the Administration. They are to busy trying to explain why they can't do with less. The BOE knows they are taking us to referendum.
I believe they are also being passed to the Town Council since they control the purse strings.
But, Talk of West Hartford asks a good question. Where do you propose to find funds. The tax payers are tapped out. Foreclosures are up, no one except Teachers are getting raises in Town.
The economic picture for the State is not looking bright as more business' look to leave, the latest being UTC, and all our legislators in Hartford can do is make the State less hospitable with more increases in taxes and mandates on business'
In defense of TOWH (boy does that sound strange, given our past relationship), I have given multiple sensible suggestions for "choices" of cuts I'd make if forced to do so, and - perhaps more important - elements of the WHPS programming, budget and operations that I think are ripe for closer examination.
If you aren't aware of all that, then you haven't been paying attention. You'll be hearing more from me as this budget season progresses.
Final note, to those who have not paid attention: I am not a member of WHTA by anyone's stretch of the imagination (though who knows, the way things are going), and I was present for the formative meetings of WHFIRST. It's my view that I can be an "education supporter" as well as encouraging good stewardship of the public's money.
So let's try to work together, huh? We've got several tough financial years ahead and need to focus on attaining consensus so to protect this Town and this school system from the same fate as some of our neighbors.
John Hardy
Classic Anonymous - Hiding behind redundant questions and not contributing any of his/her own solutions.
Anonymous wants everyone else to do his/her homework for him.
Many others - like John Hardy - have done the hard work and analysis, and Anonymous just wants to sit on his/her hands and complain about healthcare and whine about how (and what) opinions are expressed here.
By the way Mr. Hardy, you are to be commended for your diligent work, and many of us in this community look forward to your input. The same to you Cynic.
It is TOWH's hope that we can all work together to get this Board of Education and Town leadership to understand that there ARE better ways to deal with these budget issues, especially in these very difficult financial times.
I think it can be agreed that NO ONE wants to slash and burn what we have here in town. What we do want to see is responsible spending and budgeting, especially as it relates to how we run our programs and operations.
I am certain Anonymous does not see that the expense for flat screen TV's in Hall high school is an example of the waste TOWH and others have been talking about, and TOWH wonders if Anonymous could locate that expense in last year's budget numbers.
John Hardy posted this link on Facebook. It is the Town Managers' sobering assessment of the problems the Town is facing.
http://mywesthartfordlife.com/news.php?cid=2&id=444
Amy Berquist on her blog had a piece comparing W.H. to Glastonbury with a shift of buyer interest towards Glastonbury.
The situation the Town is facing is not pretty. If we want to preserve the Town and Schools everything has to be open and on the table for evaluation.
If the BOE wants to prevent a slash and burn budget they are going to have to change their way of doing things.
With all due respect, Mr. Hardy, "you haven't been paying attention", much like "go read the budget for yourself", is not an answer. In regard to the claim that the suggestions you and others have been making to trim "millions" from the education budget have "fallen on deaf ears": are you referring to your scrutiny of last year's budget, or do you have a new review of this year's budget? Have your proposals been widely circulated? Where can people read about your ideas? What is the casual reader of ToWH to make of lunch for the BoE and a flat screen at Hall? (Really?)
Last year one of your suggestions was to cut World Language K-5. The BoE is set to hatchet World Language. Deaf ears?
Another expressed doubts about the effectiveness of reading specialists. The administration made a report this past January on the effectiveness of reading specialists. Deaf ears?
What about high schools sports? The board proposes to raise the cost of pay-to-play. Etc.
I don't mean to be cavalier about your exemplary due diligence. But if I can cite some of these items, why can't Cynic and WH Talk? Is the purpose here to debate the options, or is it just to recycle the same old rhetoric about the Board of Ed.
Cynic cites the unemployment rate, but where's his "concern" for the employees laid off from the WHPS if the proposed budget is passed?
As for West Hartford Talk's breathtaking demand to know "what health care reform [has] to do with anything", well, as I said before, the cost of health care is one of the biggest drivers in the budget.
One problem here is fundamental disagreements about the district's educational goals. What, in your opinion, should they be?
The cost of healthcare is one of many drivers - it is not the only issue.
Anonymous you are a one issue pony on that regard.
TOWH supposes that you have the resources to pay any increase in taxes year after year after year. Not everyone is as fortunate.
What part of fiscal prudence do you not get? Can you please justify expenses like flat screen TV's in the hallways at Hall? or unnecessary bus routes? or Classrooms of 10 or less kids? or a host of other wasteful items in this budget? TOWH won't itemize them for you because you either know what they are already and accept them, or you haven't really bothered to look for yourself and are just as happy to criticize those who have.
You aren't willing to really look at costs are you? You aren't willing to look at how something should be done better and for less money. Just go with the status quo.
Those times are over pal.
Your whining about educational goals at any cost is short-sighted and unrealistic, and is a mentality that has created this whole fiscal problem in the first place.
Whether or not one has the resources to pay taxes is not really the question. There will always be those that can't afford taxes and will have to reconsider their circumstances. Perhaps they can be helped, perhaps not and they will have to move but this problem is not the primary driver of a budget.
A better question is are more people being forced into this category because of the economic situation and what is the effect of this shift on the budget. The Town Manager's presentation was grim. The Town is at 8% unemployment and we are seeing foreclosures at an unprecedented rate. Property values are shifting the tax burden to the lower value homes in Town as they increase in value while the more expensive homes drop in value.
Whether or not we are being taxed properly and appropriately is a better question. Is the town/Board wasting precious resources in tight economic times?
The Board of Ed wants 4.7% this year and will probably need close to 10% next year if things stay the way they are. Sorry, this is not a sustainable increase.
To Annonymous' question on teachers losing jobs. No one wants to see anyone losing jobs, but we also should not employee more than we need. The numbers must be looked at. We have something like 860 teachers for ~9600 students. Do we really need all the guidance counselors at the high school level? Can staffing levels be reduced if SRBI is fully implemented?
The kids laugh at the flat panel monitors at hall, whose idea was it? where is it in the budget?
John Hardy and a couple of others (I'll hold their names here) have spent hours going through THIS YEARS BUDGET. All questions raised are in regard to THIS YEARS BUDGET.
Ideas have been brought up to the Board, Claire says she is open to ideas and then refuses to consider any. Ideas are now being presented through the town manager instead, since the Town controls the purse strings.
West Hartford Talk--
You are being pretty rude and presumptuous.
That's funny about my "having resources". It's all relative, I guess. I don't think our taxes are too high, and I think we get a lot of bang for the buck in this town. But--some people are getting hit hard by the recession, and I sympathize.
That is also funny that you accuse me of being "a one-trick pony" with regard to health care. I mentioned it ONCE in this thread. You can't hold the BoE accountable for things beyond their control.
I don't know why Hall decided to install flat screens. If I were outraged about this, which I'm not, I would ask the principal about it. I'd like to think the TVs substitute for paper fliers to relay information, but I don't know.
As for bus routes, Tim Dunn seems like the most conscientious guy in the world. Didn't he report on the bus route issue recently? Maybe I'll go dig that up.
I have no problem with seminar-sized classes. In general I think they're a good thing. It all depends on the specifics.
It's bizarre you would accuse me of being "happy to criticize" people who scrutinize the budget for savings, especially since I just acknowledged that John Hardy's review was "exemplary due diligence". It's just as bizarre that you would think I, or anyone, would debate "something should be done better and for less money". Huh?
What you seem to want is to be able to say anything at all and not be questioned about it.
Anonymous - that's your problem right there - you don't think our taxes are too high.
Glad YOU don't think so.
As for being "rude and presumptuous" - well, that's your opinion, which is of little consequence to TOWH. And for the record, ad hominem attacks won't fly here.
You say: "But--some people are getting hit hard by the recession, and I sympathize." - That's crap - you would just as well see taxes go higher - screw the folks who can't afford it.
You were the one who brought up healthcare - and you know what? TOWH CAN hold the BoE accountable for things beyond their control because they created this monster! Now they have to deal with it. They approved these contracts - they approved the spending for ALL programs, THEY brought in pilot programs they could not sustain! Now that they have to deal with some reality they (and you) can't just abrogate the problem to someone else. IT IS the BOE's PROBLEM. The finger pointing is not going to be tolerated.
You Said: "I'd like to think the TVs substitute for paper fliers to relay information, but I don't know." You see, that is your problem - you just don't know. Nor do you care to know. Just spend boatloads of tax money and keep going back to the taxpayer for more.
So you trust Tim Dunn's analysis - the same guy who says we aren't losing money on Open Choice or preschool. Bet you believe there is an Easter bunny too.
You know what's bizarre "Anonymous"; what is bizarre is that you believe higher taxes are acceptable at a time when people in town are struggling. What's bizarre is that you seem to condone unsustainable spending when we obviously can do much better.
You are part of the problem.
The BOE is just remarkable!
It looks like they can find cuts to save World Language:
http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-language.artmar24,0,2551663.story
A week ago nothing could be cut.
Amazing how when they desire they can find fat in the budget.
The Board of ED tells us they want
budget ideas. When a 13 page list is presented by BOE members with the help of individuals on both political sides NOT ONE idea appeals to the Board, and they are dismissed out right. See the link.
http://www.whps.org/budget/1011/Suggestions%20for%20savings.pdf
They will look you in the eye and tell you that Pre-School is self funding. But when asked, they will tell you that Benefits and rental are not calculated into the number. Full pay families would have to pay $12K not $7K to cover all costs.
As per Chip Ward:
"We have been increasing full-pay tuition for
this program to capture revenue lost as grant
funding has ended. The tuition is increasing in
2010-11 to $7,200 from $5,500 in 2009-10 – a
31% increase. The tuition cost of the full pay
students would need to rise to $12,000 to cover
these additional costs. We do not charge the
preschool program for the use of the room in
our school buildings during the school day as
that use does not incur significant additional
expense."
So what else is obfuscation in the budget. What other numbers can't be trusted!
Aren't we at the end of the phase in? Mayor Slifka said several years ago that at the end of the phase in our mill rate would be 27. How can it possibly be in the high 30s when that was was it was before the last reval when all our property values increased dramatically. We are repeatedly told that Blue Back is out performing its earlier projections. Just where is all the money going?
I am so confused. Mayor Slifka said when the phase in was over our mill rate would be 27 so how can it possibly be going to 39? We keep being told that Blue Back is outperforming the original projections. So...just where is all the money going?...services continue to be cut...but we keep paying more and more money for less...maybe it is time for a change in the people who are making all the decisions
Tonight the Taxpayers Association voted to petition for referendum unless the Council comes in with a 1% budget.
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