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04/24/2018 04:00 PMThe Board of Finance (BOF) has had a change of heart on its estimate of state funding the town will receive, voting April 16 to return its estimated Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) revenue to match the latest figures from the state, returning $1,597,449 to the revenue line it had cut just five days earlier. If the BOF estimate is correct, the current budget if adopted at referendum on Wednesday, May 9 would mean taxpayers would see a 4.9 percent increase in their mill rate, not the 8.45 percent increase that would have resulted if the town planned on the state sending a reduced grant.
In discussion of the BOF’s forecast of greater money coming from the state, BOF Chairman John Olsen said that as 2018 is an election year for the state legislature, the incumbents will direct the state to give towns the ECS money it had promised.
In the 2016-’17 budget year, Clinton received $6,334,159 in ECS funding; in 2017-’18, it received $5,484,287, though it budgeted receiving just $3,345,090. ECS is the state’s primary grant to offset towns’ cost of education.
While the current state budget proposal sends a $5,729,482 ECS grant to Clinton for 2018-’19, Governor Dannel Malloy’s proposal is to reduce that number to $5,097,449.
Following a public hearing on the town’s proposed budgets on April 11, the BOF voted to reduce the estimated ECS revenue for 2018-’19 from $5,097,449 to $3,500,000. The motion to reduce the money was made by Republican Douglas Traynor and passed with only opposition from Democrat John Olsen.
On April 16, this decision was reversed when the BOF voted 4-2 to restore the funding, with Democrats Olsen, Dara Onofrio, Jane Scully Welch, and Michael Smith all voting “Yes” and Republicans Traynor and Ona Nejdl voting no.
During the discussion of the motion to restore the money to the budget on April 16, Nejdl, who voted against the motion to restore the ECS money, said, “I won’t put my name close to that. It’s sinful.”
Traynor expressed a hope that if the state does indeed provide the funding in full, the town will put the excess money into a capital reserve fund for future use.
Both Traynor and Nejdl shared fears that if the town counted on receiving the full amount of ECS funding and the state then cut its contribution, the town would have to send out an extra tax bill later in the fiscal year.
Budget Vote on May 6
The restoration of the ECS money does not affect the proposed budgets, only the proposed tax levy. The proposed town budget is $18,313,449, a $805,759 increase (about 4.6 percent) from the budget voters approved in 2017, while the proposed education budget is $35,853,322, an increase of $1,432,870 or 4.16 percent. The total combined budget proposed is $54,166,771, an increase of $2,238,629, or 4.3 percent, from the 2017-’18 budget.
Following the ECS restoration decision, the amount to be raised in taxes this year is $47,153,076, or about a 4.89 percent increase in taxes.
Voters will have their say on both budgets at the referendum on Wednesday, May 9. To be eligible to vote in Clinton’s budget referendum, a person must be a registered voter in the town or own a property or a vehicle assessed at more than $1,000. Absentee ballots are now available through the Town Clerk’s Office; for more information, call 860-669-9101 or visit clintonct.org.