Last night's Finance meeting was a 4 1/2 hour affair where the main topic was kids. For the first hour, the Committee listened to the Board of Ed's presentation on their $96 million request for funds to teach Meriden's children. That's a lot of money for readin', writin', and 'rithmetic, but the schools of today are charged with so much more that the days of the one-room school. The committee grilled the BOE (which crafted their budget this year as a committee of the whole) on several line items that showed significant increases over last year. We were also advised that unexpected cuts from the Federal government in key grants, as well as uncertainty over the final state grant through ECS, already has the Board preparing for program cuts that will not please parents. No Child Left Behind was also discussed, especially as to its impact on the budget. No one disagreed with NCLB's main premise, but the lack of funding by the Feds to support the required (and detested) testing requires taking money from other critical educational line items. Tuitions for students who go out of District (this includes Edison Middle School, vo-ag students, and approximately 140+ with unique special education requirements that cannot be provided in the City) topped $10 million. A brief dialogue on the perennial BOE vehicles took place, with the Mayor and Board President Frank Kogut agreeing to sit together for a more detailed talk. The City Manager's budget cuts the BOE's request to $94+ million. The Finance Committee will work this number even more.
The next major agenda item was the proposed Falcon Field turfed complex. Representatives from Wethersfield High and Central CT State University, both institutions with turfed fields, gave an overview of how the fields are constructed, maintained, and what they've done for their respective programs. Again, from my perspective the financial analysis, as well as parking, traffic and neighborhoo impact, was of most interest. I've asked the Finance Director to prepare a more detailed pro forma for the Council to see before it votes on the Committee report. The annual cost to the City will be approximately $120,000 over the next 15 years, plus maintenance, where there will be significant savings against today's program. The committee unanimously approved the project with an amendment I proposed: that this project would be applied against the City's self-imposed bonding cap, regardless if we could exempt it according to state guidelines. This means that the City Council will have to make harder choices on other spending priorities that are generally bonded (street paving, sidewalks, equipment purchases, building maintainance, etc). Nevertheless, the proposal since it was first introduced as a function the state grant procured by Senator Gaffey has undergone a tremendous amount of research, scrutiny and debate. I imagine some people will be surprised by Brian Kogut's and my vote in favor, but our concerns were met.
Our final item was the Capital Improvement Plan, where we earmarked $20,000 to provide seed money for the Hubbard Park Playscape Committee, who are raising funds to provide a new, safer, and handicap-accessible playscape in our jewel park.
This was a long post, but it was a long meeting. Over $98 million on the table considered for Meriden's kids. You can't say we don't care.
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4 comments:
To: Finance Committee Members
From: Tom Ryan
Re: Thursday’s Meeting
NOBLE
Is there a better word to describe your efforts last
night?
My wife and I talked about the meeting in the wee
small hours of the morning. She asked how I felt and
if I was surprised by the unanimous vote. I said,
“weird” to the first question and “no” to the second
but that I was “taken” by the whole affair:
Professional
Honest
Intelligent
Focused
Caring
Tough
Gentle
Organized
Humorous
Sad
Compassionate
Did I attend a heavyweight fight or a love-feast? Or
both?
Did I watch Marcus Welby or The Twighlight Zone? Or
both?
Did someone actually say that Jim Frederick has charm?
I hope you are proud of yourself and your fellow
committee members. You served the citizens of Meriden
at an extremely high level.
I think it's time to really sharpen those pencil points and start cutting that BOE outrageous request. With the above mentioned loss of state grant funding, the BOE is going to be really singing the "show me the money" song. Yeah, yeah, we'll all hear the standard "it's the increase in fixed costs (teacher salaries, benefits, fuel, etc)" that we have no control over." To make effective cuts, you need to go after the number one expense, that sacred cow, personnel. There are plenty of places to increase class size in various courses (high school, middle school), overall classroom size in certain elementary schools, or just simply eliminate some classes/programs; then lower the ax on a few positions. You'll be amazed at the savings realized. I'm already bracing for the annual BOE response, "we're going to cut athletics", and then the requisite outcry from students, parents, coaches, etc., followed by the amazing "finding" or "shifting" of funds to cover the shortfall. Don't be afraid to make the tough decisions, you may be surprised at the support you will get! Thanks
I am always willing to admit when I am wrong and in the previous post of the complex I was wrong about Brian Kogut!
Way to go you did the right thing!
The field is a good idea. Howver, is the cost projection right and accurate. Are there more infrastructure costs not fatored in?
Thanks to the City Council, they are looking into these aspects. Senator gaffey only cares about recognition, not what the long term effects on th etaxpayers could be.
All he cares about is that the complext be named after him. Thank god all our politicians aren't self-centered like senator gaffey.
Thanks City Council
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