Budgets Set for ATBM, April 23

Weston Today photo

Budgets approved by the Board of Finance will be taken up at the Annual Town Budget Meeting (ATBM) on Wednesday evening, April 23 in the Weston High School auditorium.

The meeting is called to order at 8:00 pm. Check-in with the Registrars of Voters begins at 7:00 pm.

As adopted by the board, increases to operating budgets for the Town and Board of Education, plus roughly $3.2 million for capital expenditures, and just under $500,000 for debt service represent a potential 1.83 percent mill rate increase.

Budgets proposed to voters:

Town operating: $16,436,317
Board of Education operating: $61,098,689
Capital: $3,259,098

Pressure points

Operating budgets for both the Town and school district reflect inevitable increases for wages and benefits and both are subject to higher mandatory pension fund contributions and double-digit rises in health insurance rates. The district avoided the worst of the latter by returning coverage to the State Partnership Plan.

Both also experience a reduction of state revenue. The Town no longer qualifies for reimbursement of motor vehicle taxes lost to the state ceiling, because the big reduction last year brought the mill rate down well below the cap. And the school district sees a significant reduction to the percentage of excess special education costs eligible for reimbursement by the state.

The school district budget is also affected by higher costs for utilities, and the Town budget was hit by an unexpected 38 percent hike in funding that must be provided to the Georgetown Fire District.

Adjustments

In their April 10 meeting, the Board of Finance deliberated and voted unanimously on all three budgets after making a few changes.

A majority of the board voted down a motion to arbitrarily cut $200,000 from the school district operating budget. A 5–2 majority voted to preserve the Town’s request, which had passed unanimously by the selectmen, to add a facilities maintainer position to the Public Works staff.

First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor had wanted the position last year, but it did not survive budget reductions. The problem, she said, is that the Town has seven buildings but no one to maintain them. Some work is contracted out, often at considerable expense, and some isn’t done at all, at least not until conditions become irretrievably dire or OSHA steps in.

In addition, said Ms. Nestor, the position would oversee major projects, ensuring that specifications and plans are adhered to and monitoring the quality and progress of work. Without it, she said, the added expense of contracting a clerk of the works could add 20 percent to the price of each project, eventually costing taxpayers far more than the salary and benefits of a Town employee.

The board voted to draw $300,000 from the unreserved fund balance, but not, as the selectmen had requested, to offset operating costs and bring the mill rate increase down a notch. Instead, the money will be used to offset capital expenditures, which accomplishes the same end.

Capital items

Between the Town and Board of Education, 34 projects appear in the proposed fiscal 2025-26 capital budget. On the Town side, a few are mandatory (such as upgrading equipment in police cruisers), several are scheduled vehicle replacements for the police and Public Works, and many are long-deferred maintenance needs.

The two largest Town items are $500,000 being set aside to partly fund replacement of an aged-out fire truck and $287,500 to replace the large, broken door at the DPW storage facility.

The Town got a little lucky on the latter item. Initial estimates put the cost at $350,000, but actual quotes were $62,500 lower. The budget was adjusted accordingly.

Not so much luck is likely to be around for future fire truck purchases. Prices have skyrocketed, delivery takes around four years, and Weston will eventually need three to replace apparatus that already are or soon will be at the age they must be retired.

School projects

Many of the Board of Education’s capital projects are also oldies: an assortment of playground renovations and replacements of boilers, valves, pumps and electronics.

The largest is replacement of the HVAC system at Hurlbutt Elementary’s North House, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at the budget. The work is estimated to eventually cost $1.75 million, but only $142,000 is budgeted this year.

The project’s road through the budget process has been a bit twisty. Costs for the item and several others were listed as “TBD” when the administration’s request was first presented on January 6. Three weeks later, the other shoe dropped, and what had looked like a relatively modest capital ask tripled.

After a considerable period of uncertainty about the solidity of estimates and the timing of when work could be done, consensus finally emerged in discussions with the Board of Finance that it is too soon to budget for the entire project (as the school board had voted) or even half of it, as the selectmen had voted (a little less than half, to be precise).

It was agreed that, while the $1.75 million estimate may turn out to be right, the only way to be sure is to issue requests for proposals from contractors, which can’t be done until an engineering design is drawn up. So, the finance board allocated $142,000 for that purpose, to be augmented by $80,000 that had been budgeted several years ago but never spent.

There appears to be an understanding that toward the end of the calendar year, with design and quotes in hand the selectmen and finance board would welcome a request to draw from reserves an amount needed to at least get the project started next summer. No one disputes that replacing the North House HVAC needs to be done.

With the reduced allocation for that item, the Board of Finance restored funding to replace HVAC at the high school locker room and for cafeteria tables at the intermediate school, furniture needed in various parts of the campus, and site work at Revson Field. The total for all four comes to $296,000.

How the ATBM works

If a quorum of at least 130 qualified voters is present when the ATBM is called to order at 8:00 pm on April 23, discussion on the budgets ensues. Those who wish to speak typically have three minutes. Motions can be made to reduce, but not increase any budget item.

The Town operating budget comes first, line by line for each department. Then the Board of Education operating budget, but only the total amount. Then, capital items, line by line. The debt service budget is not on the agenda of an ATBM.

Whether the budgets presented by the Board of Finance are amended or not, they are the budgets voters must approve by casting ballots in the Budget Referendum. Voting machines are available as soon as the ATBM adjourns (not later than 11:00 pm). Referendum voting resumes on Saturday, May 3 in the Town Hall Meeting Room from 12:00 noon until 8:00 pm.

In the photo above, the Board of Finance budget hearing on April 8. From left to right, Michael Imber (chair), Chris Bryant, Jeffrey Farr (vice chair), Rone Baldwin, Theresa Brasco, Daniel Gershburg, Jeff Goldstein.