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04/26/2024 12:32 PMClinton’s proposed town and education budgets will head to a referendum on Wednesday, May 8, at Town Hall. The Town Council unanimously voted to forward a proposed town budget of $23,761,131 and a proposed Board of Education (BOE) budget of $40,662,912 to voters.
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. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Green Room in Town Hall.
The combined proposal is $64,424,043, a $2,275,088, or a 3.6% increase over the current budget. On the town side, the proposed budget represents a $385,053, or a 1.64% increase, while the proposed BOE budget is a $1,890,035, or a 4.87% increase.
However, while spending increases at a higher rate, the tax rate is proposed to increase by 1.44%. Under the proposed budget, the mill rate would increase from 29.83. mils to 30.26.
What’s in the Budgets?
On the town side, the proposed town budget eliminates no staffing positions or town-provided services. On the BOE side, there are no changes to programming, but there is a reduction of a part-time position involved in special education secondary transition and the reduction of a nurse position that had been used to help with management during the pandemic. Additionally, two mental health staff positions previously funded by a grant are now included in the BOE budget.
Earlier this spring, Brown named inflation as the primary driver of the increase in the proposed town budget. Inflation affects the proposed BOE budget too, but Superintendent of Schools Maryann O’Donnell told the Harbor News last month, “The increases in the Board of Education’s budget request are related to salary and health benefit increases as well as a sharp increase in the costs for special education, which is attributed to transportation and costs for special needs student programming.”
As for capital projects on the town side, Town Council Chairperson Carrie Allen said the budget includes money for items like sidewalk installation, fire department equipment replacement, police vehicle replacement, paving, Eliot house exterior work, baseball field drainage, and transfer station waste. The capital improvement projects on the education side of the budget include projects like technology replacement, facilities security, painting, flooring, and field upgrades, window replacement, an HVAC replacement plan developed for Joel and Eliot, and addressing the building envelope and siding of the Joel Annex.
A complete breakdown of the budget can be found on the town’s website, clintonct.org.
Unlike some area towns, Clinton voters vote on the education and town budgets separately, as opposed to just the total budget. This means it is possible for voters to approve one budget and reject the other in the same referendum. Should the voters opt not to pass either proposed budget at the first referendum, the budget 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.
However, a public hearing over the budget in early April was sparsely attended when compared to previous years and no speakers at the hearing spoke negatively about either proposed budget.
Last year voters overwhelmingly approved the town budget by a margin of 926 in favor to 352 against and the education budget by a margin of 879 in favor compared with 398 against.