Courier Staff Writer

On Feb. 16 the town and the Board of Education (BOE) presented their fiscal year 2017-’18 budgets to the Board of Finance (BOF). Combining both operating budgets and the debt service, the proposed budget totals $95,388,169, a $1,952,589 or 2.09 percent increase in spending over last year.

The proposed town operating budget is $28,738,999—a $664,742 or 2.37 percent increase in spending. Combined with debt service—much of which is tied to the new high school—the total town budget comes to $36,618,033, an increase of 3.06 percent. The total debt for the coming fiscal year is $7,879,034, an increase of 5.67 percent over last year.

The BOE proposed budget is $58,770,136, a 1.49 percent increase compared to current spending. Representing one of the lowest requested increases in recent history, the 1.49 percent increase was achieved after the BOE shaved $289,000 off of the superintendent’s proposed budget.

The budgets were only received, not discussed at the BOF meeting, but both the town and the BOE were given the chance to present their numbers to the BOF.

The BOE budget accounts for cuts made anticipating retirements, pension costs, and small reductions in administrative and custodial positions. Additionally, the budget makes additionss math coaching, other academic opportunities such as the new International Baccalaureate program at Guilford High School, and athletics, including the return of a cheerleading team and the addition of a boys and girls swim team.

BOE Chair Bill Bloss said the budget increase of 1.49 percent is below the rate of inflation for next year. Bloss said it is important to remember, especially for those who do not have students in the Guilford School system, that there are financial benefits to having good schools in town.

“One reason, putting aside the value of making sure the next generation is educated, is the value of your house is directly related to the quality of your schools,” he said.

The town budget, presented by First Selectman Joe Mazza, includes investments in infrastructure, economic development, recommended funding levels for the town’s pension plan, continual funding for the senior tax freeze program, and funds to maintain the town’s level of services.

Increases in the town budget fall in the salary, employee benefits, operating, and capital lines. Mazza said the 2.37 percent increase was determined after the BOS reduced the department budget requests by $986,688.

“This budget is not built on a house of cards,” he said. “It is built on sound financial judgment in spite of unprecedented reductions in state funding.”

The reduction in state aid outlined in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget released Feb. 8 was a key point of discussion as the budgets were presented to the BOF.

In Malloy’s budget, municipalities would see a redistribution of state aid and would be required to pick up one-third of the state’s teacher pensions, which municipalities have never had to fund. For Guilford, that would mean a reduction of close to $2.2 million in state aid and a pension contribution of approximately $2.9 million.

The governor’s proposal is just the first step in the budget process and Guilford officials say the numbers are likely to change.

“I am going to make a proposal tonight that we neither act as if a bomb has just been thrown into the middle of the room nor that nothing is happening,” said Bloss. “That we take some time, catch our breaths, try to get as much information as we can from the state legislature, and acknowledge that we may need to make some additional changes.”

Bloss said there is not enough support in the General Assembly for the governor’s version of the budget. However, if there are cuts in state aid in some form, Bloss said he wants to see the number of unfunded mandates—services or requirements municipalities are required to fulfill—reduced.

“I think there is a moral sense that if you are not giving us any or much money, then you should just leave us alone,” he said. “We are going to propose to our delegation that if there is a reduction in state funding, there should be a dollar-for-dollar reduction in unfunded state mandates.”

Mazza said he has spoken with representatives who believe this budget is dead on arrival. He said he has told legislators that Guilford cannot stand this level of cut, but Mazza built certain reduction assumptions into the town revenue budget concerning the Education Cost Sharing Grant (ECS). In the governor’s proposed budget, Guilford is slated to lose 100 percent of its $2.7 million ECS funds, but Mazza is currently estimating only a 15 percent reduction in ECS.

BOF Chair Matt Hoey said the 15 percent anticipated reduction is a good starting point, but all boards will need to be in conversation this year. The state will not finalize their budget until June, but Guilford goes to referendum in April per the town charter, so Hoey said at some point the board is going to have to make some assumptions on the final size of the cut.

“This is going to be a collaborative decision, reasonable conclusions and assumptions as to how we should proceed,” he said. “These are uncharted times and uncharted waters but we are going to have to make some kind of accommodation for some pain and some cuts.”

The Board of Finance holds its first budget public hearing Tuesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center, 32 Church Street.