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Guilford Budget Voted Down

The proposed 2016-2017 budget was voted down April 19 by a total of 40 votes. A total of 1,060 votes were cast in opposition of the budget and 1,020 were cast in favor. With no approved budget, town officials are now going back to the books to make adjustments.

First Selectman Joe Mazza said the next steps in reducing the budget will come from the Board of Finance (BOF).

“The BOF has to meet and then they decide what the next step is as far as reducing the budget, for both the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen,” he said.

“They can say they want to cut a lump sum from both budgets, or they can go by line item,” he continued. “If they cut by lump sum, then we would get the courtesy of cutting our own” budget.

The initial proposed budget put to referendum included a 4.17 percent, or $3.8 million, increase, bringing the total budget number to $94,485,581. The proposed $28,372,576 Board of Selectman (BOS) budget for the upcoming fiscal year reflected a 2.5 percent increase in the town operating budget. The $58,656,791 Board of Education (BOE) budget came in with 1.99 percent spending increase.

This proposed budget also included a significant hike in debt service. With a 35.42 percent increase from last year, the debt service is budgeted at $7,456,214. A majority of the increase can be attributed to the new $92 million Guilford High School that was completed in fall 2015.

The budget that was denied was finalized before the town learned that it could possibly lose $111,800 in state education grants. Officials will now have a chance to account for the possible decrease in revenue when crafting a new budget for voters.

For now the BOS has complied a suggested list of line-item cuts ranging from approximately $100,000 to $150,000. Mazza said this method would help protect departments that he does not want to see cut.

“I am not going to touch emergency services,” he said. “I am not going to put the safety of the town in danger.”

Mazza said the suggested cuts came from a collaborative effort between himself and department heads to ensure no single department took too big a cut.

“We will make it work to operate the town,” he said.

After making adjustments, the next step will be to re-present the budget to the voters. A revised budget proposal could go to a town meeting as early as Tuesday, May 10 followed by referendum on Tuesday, May 17.

In the next referendum, Mazza said he hopes to see a higher voter turn out. Voter turnout for the referendum was 14.74 percent of the 14,112 registered voters coming out to the polls.

“We were disappointed at the turn out when you are dealing with a $94 million budget,” he said. “I hope that there wasn’t any confusion between the primary and the budget vote.”

The Board of Finance was to meet April 26 (after press time) to begin adjusting the budget.