Ahead of the Wednesday, April 7 public hearing on the combined town and schools budget, the Harbor News took closer look at the Board of Education (BOE) and town sides of the proposed budget.

The BOE budget forwarded on March 2 by the Town Council proposes a schools budget of $37,147,016, a $434,742 or 1.18 percent increase over current spending, along with a town budget of $21,261,916, a $1,693,214 or 8.65 percent increase over current spending. The combined budget of $58,408,932, a $2,129,344 or a 3.78 percent increase from last year’s budget, now goes to a public hearing on April 7.

While town and schools spending does increase, under the proposed budget the tax rate will decrease. If the proposed budgets are approved, the mill rate would drop to 30.84, a reduction of 0.95 mills or 3.04 percent. This is the second year in a row the mill rate will not increase. Due to the impact of the pandemic last year, the council adopted a budget that kept the mill rate at 31.25, the same as the year prior.

The Education Budget

The proposed education budget is composed of an operating budget of $33,911,057 (a $710,666 or a 2.14 percent increase from last year), a debt of $3,136,159 (a $179,392 or 6.07 percent increase from last year), and a capital budget of $99,800 (a $314,326 or 75.60 percent decrease from last year).

Superintendent of Schools Maryann O’Donnell said that the budget does not change staffing levels. The budget does provide for some new services that will be adopted by the schools if the budget passes.

“The budget maintains our programs and plans for implementation of improved early literacy programming at Joel in grades K-2, our new middle school math program in grades 6-8, and middle school social studies. It also supports instructional software that will be used in our in-person classrooms next year to enhance student engagement in their learning,” O’Donnell said. “Finally, there is a small amount of funding to expand the after-school experiences for 4th graders at Joel and for middle school and high school students.”

The approved capital improvement plan in the budget only has one project: The replacement of the outdated public announcement system at Joel.

“The current system is failing and must be upgraded for integration with our safety alarm systems and for emergency communication,” said O’Donnell.

However, there may be more capital projects down the road using money the town already has earmarked for such projects.

In 2020 the Town Council opted to create a non-lapsing account for unspent funds from the BOE as a result of the pandemic. The fund was created to help respond to unanticipated special education costs and capital expenses. At a meeting in March to set the proposed budgets, the council decided to remove some education capital projects from the proposed BOE budget with the idea of using the money already in that non-lapsing account to pay for those capital projects when the time comes.

Asked for what kinds of projects will be eventually paid for using the non-lapsing account, O’Donnell said they include a replacement maintenance vehicle, an HVAC unit replacement at Eliot, and computer devices that are part of the district’s technology replacement cycle.

An Unusual Year

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last March, the school system was forced to make substantial changes. Students were not physically in school for the remainder of the 2020 year and periodically were forced to go to remote learning in the 2020-’21 school year. Upgrades had to be made to the building to allow for social distancing and increased sanitizing. However, O’Donnell said that there are no COVID-19 recovery expenses in this proposed budget, largely thanks to grant funding from the federal government.

“The district was able to apply federal grant funding to address our COVID needs in the areas of cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, gowns), furniture for appropriate spacing in our classrooms, plexiglass in our offices, outdoor campus safety, remote learning, and technology in the form of software, Chrome tablets, and Chromebooks at Joel,” O’Donnell said.

“We did not include any additional needs for COVID recovery in the 2021-’22 school year budget, as we will be receiving federal funds to focus on academic recovery needs, COVID mitigation strategies implementation, and social-emotional supports,” she added.

Overall, O’Donnell said that the theme of the budget was to balance providing Clinton’s students with a quality education while keeping costs as low as possible.

“This budget has been developed to minimize any increases in funding, but to ensure that it supports our students’ needs and the areas of improvement identified in our strategic plan. It maintains class sizes and the built-in supports for the social-emotional well-being of our students,” O’Donnell said.

“We know that returning to school in the fall will present challenges as we recover from the impacts of the pandemic on student learning and mental health, and this budget provides for the appropriate levels of staffing and instructional approaches to begin to meet those unique student needs,” she continued.

The Town Plan

The town side of the proposed budget contains a proposed operating budget of $16,519,943, (a $32,158 or 0.19 percent increase from last year) a debt of $2,025,259(a $256,785 or 11.25 percent decrease from last year), and a capital budget of $2,716,714 9 ($1,771,389 or 187.38 percent increase).

Town Manager Karl Kilduff said that the Water Pollution Control clerk position, which is currently vacant, will be moved from fulltime to part time. Additionally, the assistant public works director position, which is also vacant, was eliminated from the budget.

“It is never easy to reduce staff, especially as thin as it is in the town budget. However, these were opportunities to reduce headcount,” said Kilduff.

The proposed budget does include two new positions. Both positions have limited hours that Kilduff said will combine to slightly more than half of one fulltime position. One position is the creation of a senior services program coordinator, who will work to build a system of support for the town’s senior citizen population. The other position is an economic development coordinator, who will work to increase business outreach through a formal business outreach program.

“The intent of the position would be to better connect with existing businesses to understand their needs, growth opportunities and aid in navigating the process to foster expansion of existing businesses in Clinton. It builds on a process for the town to be a better partner with the business community,” said Kilduff.

The largest increase in the budget come on the capital side, which Kilduff said the town has worked to fund without bonding packages.

“The Capital Plan continues some of the practices started with the last budget, namely moving away from bonding projects which rightfully can be funded annually. Bond repayments are like a mortgage that must be paid. Bonding too much limits the ability of the town to control its financial future,” Kilduff said.

Two projects that are up for funding include paving projects and fire equipment replacement.

“In addition, body and dash cameras for the Police Department are in the capital plan in response to a state mandate. The Police Accountability Bill that was passed earlier in the year requires cameras to be in place by July 1, 2022. That means the town has to fund that purchase this year to comply with the law,” said Kilduff.

The plan also includes a down payment on a replacement radio and dispatch system for the Police, Fire, EMS, and Public Works departments.

“Both radios and dispatch are not being supported by the manufacturer. As a result, we need to replace the system to avoid a system failure, which would impact the public safety response. In many ways, it is a ‘must do’ project. The only flexibility is in how the project is financed,” said Kilduff.

“Capital budgeting is a challenge as the needs are so large and the items that have been repeatedly deferred reach the point where you cannot safely continue deferring them. Only high-priority items were included in the capital plan,” he continued.

Due to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in the area last March, the town was forced to radically change how it did business. The Town Hall was closed for a period of time as upgrades were made to keep people safe, there was increased sanitizing protocols, but there were also less people coming in and out of the building as meetings moved to virtual settings.

Kilduff said that the pandemic doesn’t have an “immediate impact” on this proposed budget. The upgrades to work areas due to COVID were covered by FEMA and the state and have a reimbursement to account for unforeseen expenses related to the pandemic.

“In terms of long-term impact, the lessons learned of delivering services at a distance provide opportunities for the town to better service the public online. Last year, the budget included funding to bring Land Use online. [This year’s proposed budget] includes additional funding to move that project to completion. In reviewing proposals from different firms, we were able to see the potential to expand online offerings to better serve the public. This is an opportunity to get greater efficiency in our operations and better serve taxpayers,” Kilduff said.

Prior to the Town Council approving the budget, the council held a series of budget workshops in which each department budget was reviewed line item by line item.

Kilduff said that in order to further reduce the budget in meaningful ways, further cuts must be done at a level that impacts the mill rate. For the current proposed budget, that means the cuts would have be made in increments of at least $16,182. Every cut of that amount would reduce the mill rate 0.01 mills.

“As a result, reducing the budget should be a thoughtful process to find efficiencies and savings opportunities as well as do so in a manner which reduces the mill rate. The math is the same on the education side since the mill rate is based on the total budget,” said Kilduff.

What’s Next

The virtual April 7 public hearing for the proposed budgets will begin at 6 p.m. A full budget sheet outlining each department’s line items is available on the town website clintonct.org.

At the public hearing, people can speak for or against either the proposed town and education budgets. Immediately following the public hearing, the Town Council will hold a special meeting at which any additional potential changes can be made to the proposed budgets.

Any changes made at that time will be sent to voters at a referendum in May. At the referendum, voters consider the town and education budgets separately, which that means it is possible for voters to pass one budget and reject the other in the same referendum.

If one or both of the budgets fail, it is revised by the Town Council immediately following the vote. Another public hearing is held the following week and another referendum is held the week after the public hearing.