East Lyme Board of Finance reduces proposed budget
East Lyme — A total 2018-19 spending plan of $71,787,140, which includes both the town budget and education budget, will be sent to public hearing later this month.
The total proposed budget represents a 1.35 percent increase over the plan for the current year approved at last year's referendum.
The budget comprises $18,045,025 for general government; $5,369,986 for debt service; $795,186 for capital projects and $47,576,943 for the Board of Education.
During deliberations on Monday, the Board of Finance reduced by $200,000 the education budget approved by the school board and cut by $49,000 the general government budget. The finance board approved the overall budget numbers on Wednesday.
Board of Finance members Camille Alberti and Lisa Picarazzi voted against the education number.
During Wednesday's deliberations, Picarazzi proposed further reducing spending as there is less revenue from the state. She proposed reducing the Board of Education's budget further, pointing out that it has increased by more than 25 percent from 2011 to 2018.
"Unless we take more out of the Board of Ed budget, I think we're going to price ourselves right out of town," she said.
But Board of Finance Chairman William Weber said that while he doesn't like that the education budget continuously increases, he and others have gone through the budget line by line and "without significant decreases in services, losing staff, losing programs, I don't see anywhere to make cuts."
Superintendent Jeffrey Newton said the school district has had contracts and rising health insurance costs.
The Board of Finance also discussed the challenges of creating a budget as the town faces projected reductions in state aid but doesn't yet know the final numbers. Weber suggested that the town consider a grant writer, among other ways to build revenue.
The public hearing is planned for 7 p.m. Monday, April 30, at the East Lyme Middle School cafeteria. The hearing will be followed by a special Board of Finance meeting in the middle school media center, in which the board can make changes to the budget before sending it to the annual town meeting on May 14 at East Lyme High School.
A townwide referendum on the budget will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 24 at the East Lyme Community Center. The finance board is slated to set the tax rate at a special meeting scheduled for May 30.
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