http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.bet4mar24,0,3496497.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By John Nickerson
Staff Writer
March 24, 2006
NORWALK -- After weeks of analysis, the Board of Estimate and Taxation last night recommended a spending cap of $250.5 million for the city's 2006-07 operating budget -- a $16 million increase in spending over the current year.
The added spending means that taxes charged to residents and businesses will have to increase by $11 million.
The recommendation will increase taxes paid by the average homeowner in the Fourth Taxing District by under $200.
The recommendation, which will now go to the Common Council for approval by April 18, allows for hiring three new police officers, a dispatch supervisor, a grants coordinator, an aquifer protection officer, recreation and parks secretary, an assistant tax collector, a lawyer in the corporation counsel's office and a new staff member to help with Freedom of Information Act requests in the Building and Planning and Zoning departments.
The board recommended a capital budget spending cap of almost $12.8 million, $220,000 more than what Finance Director Thomas Hamilton recommended earlier this year. The capital budget approved for the current year is $10.3 million. The BET's recommended operating budget cap is $332,000 less than what was recommended by Hamilton.
The board recommended trimming $1.3 million from the Board of Education's requested budget of $138.6 million.
Mayor Richard Moccia said he recently discussed the school budget with Superintendent Salvatore Corda, who assured him that any unspent or surplus money from his budget would be returned to the city as in the past.
But Hamilton said further analysis after he made his budget recommendation last month showed the Board of Education's requested budget for 2006-07, which was $5.8 million more than the current year, had $1.8 million more than it would probably need.
Hamilton said the school board overestimated what it would pay in health insurance and custodial wages, and didn't take into account how much money it would save in retirements during the coming year. He suggested the BET remove $1.8 million from the request.
But Moccia said he felt more comfortable removing $1.3 million.
"I think they are overestimating concerns about some of their anticipated costs on some items," he said.
BET Chairman Friedrich Wilms said the recommended cut in the request was not aimed at any particular educational program or staff reductions.
The BET added some expenditures to Hamilton's recommended budget including the positions of assistant tax collector, lawyer and FOI officer. It recommends funding a $250,000 project to clear obstructions from stormwater drainage pipes.
In the capital budget, the BET added in $750,000 to fix hot water pipes at the former Ben Franklin School building. That addition will be partly offset by using other funds to pay for Water Pollution Control Authority's projects.
The BET's capital budget recommends funding the school board's $862,000 request for technology improvements at Norwalk High School and four middle schools at $600,000 level.
The cuts will put a serious dent in the district's five-year technology plan, which is approaching its third year, Corda said earlier this week.
Norwalk High School and four middle schools will likely have fewer computers and mobile labs next year as a result.
The capital budget recommends funding a controversial $1.7 million request by fire Chief Denis McCarthy to design a new fire headquarters and tear down the Charles A. Volk Central Fire Station on Connecticut Avenue.
Democrats on the Common Council are questioning the wisdom of building a new fire house. They cite a study conducted last year that suggested that a $4.1 million investment could renovate the Volk fire station and convert a former bus barn for fire department use.
In a letter aimed at convincing "decision makers," McCarthy yesterday argued in favor of building a new $14 million fire headquarters at the bus barn site on Fairfield Avenue. He said the earlier renovation plan would be both more expensive and inadequate for the fire department over the next 10 years.
McCarthy said the plan to renovate the Volk fire house and convert the bus barn would inflate to $11.5 million.
By comparison, McCarthy estimated building a fire headquarters at the site of the former bus barn would be offset by selling the Volk station for an estimated $4.3 million.
At last night's BET meeting, Hamilton said that the capital budget was a well-thought-out and well-crafted plan that will in all likelihood allow the city to maintain its AAA bond rating.
Moccia said the capital budget is "responsible from a taxpayer point of view and a functional city point of view."
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.