The Board of Finance (BOF) has forwarded a combined town budget—both education and town operations—of $30,660,362, an increase of 1.8 percent, to a Tuesday, May 7 Town Meeting vote at Westbrook High School.

At the April 22 meeting attended by about 50 people, Finance Director Donna Castracane and Superintendent of Schools Pat Ciccone presented overviews of the town and education budgets, respectively.

The total proposed town operating budget is $9,973,562, up 4.8 percent or $459,156. Debt service will go down by 3.9 percent or $102,506, to $2,510,763. Taken together, the proposed town budget is $12,484,325, for an increase of $356,650 or 2.9 percent.

The proposed education budget is $18,176,037, up $194,218 or 1.1 percent.

Town Operations

According to Castracane, the town’s fund balance is a healthy 15.7 percent. Fund balances provide towns not only with contingency funding but with the ability to transition to the start of a new fiscal year without having to resort to short-term borrowing. Occasionally, fund balances are used to cushion tax increases in order to lessen their impact on residents.

The town’s Moody’s credit rating is Aa2, indicating high quality and low credit risk, according to Moody’s description of its credit ratings.

In addition, Westbrook’s tax collection rate is more than 99 percent, according to Castracane, and its dependence on state funding a minimal 2.4 percent. Town employee pensions are funded in full.

Debt service is nine percent of the town budget. The 3.9 percent decrease in debt service this year does not take into consideration the bond refunding planned for September, the intent of which is to lower the town’s debt service by more than $300,000 over the next eight years.

“The reason for the lower debt service is because the town has not bonded in a few years (not adding any new debt) so we are just paying off the debt we have already incurred,” Castracane said in an email.

The town, she pointed out, will not have details about the potential savings from the bond refunding until June, at the earliest.

The largest increase in the proposed budget, $483,245, or 17.6 percent over the current fiscal year, is in the category of Non-Departmental, which includes employee benefits and pensions. This is somewhat offset by reductions in other areas, for an ultimate town budget increase of less than one percent.

Questions from the public about the town budget centered largely on the $63,952 reduction in police funding. After one of the two state troopers announced that he would be moving to a new assignment, the Board of Selectmen decided not to hire a replacement but instead hire a full-time constable. According to First Selectman Noel Bishop, the town will try this arrangement for one year and then revisit it.

Despite the state trooper line item showing a decrease in $137,976, added benefits earned by that position mean the cost to the town is around $200,000 per year, according to Bishop. In response to a resident’s question expressing concern about coverage during late-night and early-morning hours, Bishop said that, once the full-time constable is hired, the town will be covered on a 24-hour basis.

The line item for constables shows an addition of $68,024 for the hiring of one full-time constable, whose actual salary may be lower, depending on who is hired, Castracane explained. If the town hires a former state trooper, Westbrook will benefit from the employee’s higher level of training as well as his or her state-paid health coverage, thereby saving the town that cost, Bishop said. Hiring a candidate who is not a Connecticut State Police retiree and who does not have independently funded health insurance will add approximately 15 to 35 percent to the town’s cost, according to Castracane.

Education

The largest driver of the proposed education budget—62 percent of the total—is employee compensation, which this year shows a $492,281 or 4.52 percent increase. The cost of employee benefits will increase by 5.85 percent, or $159,108. Reductions in purchased services, tuition, transportation, and supplies/utilities total $539,517.

In response to questions, Ciccone addressed the decrease in district enrollment, which currently totals around 700 students across all three Westbrook schools. The decline is consistent with most Middlesex County towns, she explained, and she expects it to stabilize in the coming years. The enrollment for pre-K for the 2019–’20 academic year has increased from the previous year.

The reconstruction of the Lynn Road Bridge, which is expected to begin in early May and end before Christmas, was a concern for parents, but Ciccone explained that very few students will face lengthier bus rides to and from school as a result of the bridge closure.

The next Westbrook budget meeting, followed by the a vote on the total combined budget, will take place on Tuesday, May 7, at 7 p.m. at Westbrook High School.