A proposed $97.8 million spending package for the 2024-'25 fiscal year has begun making its way through budget season with a May 14 referendum on the horizon.

Representatives from the Board of Education (BOE) and the Board of Selectmen (BOS) presented their board-approved proposed spending plans to the Board of Finance (BOF) at a Feb. 28 public hearing. The proposed BOE budget, which represents approximately 65% of the town's overall budget, is seeking a $2.1 million increase over the current 2023-'24 budget, while the proposed Town operating budget seeks a $1,373,175 increase.

According to Superintendent of Madison Public Schools Dr. Craig Cooke, the BOE is requesting a budget of $63,885,156 for the upcoming fiscal year, a 3.41% increase from 2023-'24. Cook noted that the majority of the requested increase goes to staff salaries and health insurance, adding that 1.88% of the BOE's overall operating budget increase from 2023'-24 is related to personnel while 1.25% is related to health insurance increases.

"A school district is a people business, and so the majority of our funding goes directly to staffing," Cooke said. "We knew this was going to be a difficult budget year. We went into this knowing that our health insurance was going to be higher, that we were coming off a major grant that supported our work, and that we had four staffing positions that were very important to us."

Those four staffing positions, two social workers and two interventionists, were funded through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Funding for those positions, however, was set to expire before the start of the 2024-'25 academic year. In an effort to retain those four "important" positions, Cooke said that the BOE reduced its workforce by three full-time employees and a reduction in the physical education/health curriculum staff.

"We have four positions coming off [grant funding], and so we have decreased four positions going into next year," Cooke explained. "We have a reduction of force at the high school of three positions, and then we have a curriculum lead position that is ending their time in that position."

In addition to staffing costs, the district's health insurance costs have also increased over 2023-'24. According to Cooke's presentation, the cost is up $771,561, or 8.82%, over the previous year.

"Not too long ago, we saw a 0% increase. We've seen 2% increases, so this is a pretty big increase for us," Cooke said. "It represents 1.25% of our overall increase that we're asking for. About a third of that increase is just health insurance alone that we are contractually required by law to provide to our employees."

Despite substantial increases in staffing and insurance costs, the BOE's presented budget represents just a 3.41% increase from the current fiscal year budget. Off-setting much of those costs is expiring debt related to the construction of Daniel Hand High School for a total of $585,600. While the expiring debt helps lower the BOE's requested budget for 2024-'25, Cooke said that the benefit from the expiring debt is coming to an end.

"The 2025-'26 budget will be the last year that we have expiring debt at the high school, so we do benefit from that on our end," said Cooke. "It's a .95%, about 1%, of our budget. It [the budget] would be higher by that amount if we did not have expiring debt."

Like the BOE budget, First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said that the Town's budget is also heavily impacted by staffing and insurance costs. The overall Town operating budget, a requested $33,964,100, features a $1.4 million increase from 2023-'24. According to Lyons, approximately 51% of that increase is driven by personnel-related costs, with new public safety contracts as the main driver.

"Half of the Town budget is personnel costs," Lyons said. "Just like the Board of Ed., we saw big numbers this year."

In her presentation to the BOF, Lyons showed that personnel-related costs have increased by $701,825 over the current fiscal year. Two new police dispatch contracts are being added at a cost of $240,000, while healthcare accounts for $342,403 of the total personnel cost increase.

"In our salaries and benefits, we've also had some new union contracts, and a majority of that relates to our public safety contracts," said Lyons. "We've made an investment in our police, and we put in an attractive contract into place where we're now starting to see that come forward into this budget."

The BOS recommended a $26,531,945 operational budget, an increase of $793,447, or 3.1%, over the current fiscal year. Combined with the capital fund and debt service obligations, the total Town budget request is $33,964,100, an increase of $1,373,175, or 4.2% over 2023-'24. Lyons noted that the debt service increase is related to construction costs for the new Neck River Elementary School, expected to open at the start of the 2025-'26 school year.

While the mill rate for the upcoming fiscal year will be set by the BOF following the May 14 public hearing, Lyons said that, based on the proposed budgets, it could be as low as 22.09, 7.88 mills lower than the current rate.

"This is kind of an unusual year because of the revaluation, and I know there's been a lot of citizen concerns taxes are going to go crazy because of the reval, and so, we've said all along, the mill rate will go down," Lyons explained. "The mill rate will come down because we have a higher Grand List, and when you go through that calculation, it results in a lower mill rate."

The BOS and BOE budgets are only proposals at this stage, and both plans will go through a series of public hearings and workshops before the May 14 referendum. A budget workshop was held on March 13 (after press time), and a budget review, if needed, is scheduled for Monday, March 18.

The two budgets went to a budget workshop on March 13 (after press time), and a budget review is scheduled for Monday, March 18. The three boards will then spend roughly a month adjusting their proposals based on voter feedback before the two budgets head to a public hearing on Thursday, April 18, in which voters will once again weigh in on the plans. A BOF meeting immediately following will serve to recommend the final budget for the May 14 referendum.

"It's very important that we get public input. We do want to hear from the public," said BOF Chair John Picard. "We can't stress that enough."