State budget to have minimal impact on New London's proposed budget
New London – The bipartisan state budget passed last week does little to relieve cuts to personnel and services contained in the city’s proposed 2018-19 budget or reduce the cost for taxpayers.
But it doesn’t mean the City Council has quit trying to find money to shift around in the proposed $92.8 million budget. The council’s finance committee met on Monday for another in a series of budget deliberations.
The school district stands to gain the most from the state budget with a $678,591 boost to the $2.87 million expected in Alliance Grant funding, a designated portion of the Educational Cost Sharing grant program that provides funds directly to low performing school districts.
The state lumps the Alliance Grant funds in with ECS funding which is frozen at $22.9 million, said City Finance Director Don Gray.
School board Finance Committee Chairman Jefferey Hart said the extra Alliance money was “great news,” but even coupled with some recent reductions in proposed school expenses, the district faces a $1.4 million revenue gap that is likely to force more damaging cuts.
On the first of three budget votes, the City Council earlier this month funded the Board of Education’s budget at $42.93 million. The figure requires $488,000 more in taxpayer funds but is still well short of the $45.5 million the school board initially requested in part to accommodate a rise in the student population.
Revenue into the city’s general fund will be reduced overall by the state budget but can be absorbed without further need for cuts thanks to some conservative budget estimates, Gray said. The council has proposed a $49.86 million general government budget. Taxes would rise by .43 mills under the overall spending plan.
Under the state budget, the city stands to lose $350,155 from a municipal stabilization grant, $69,857 from the Pequot Mohegan Grant and $207,815 from the Local Capital Improvement Program but will gain $102,137 from the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program.
While it is a net loss on paper, Grey said the mayor’s proposed budget still has a $450,000 cushion in the event of further cuts at the state level.
“The city budgeted less than what the final state budget says because historically the state has come back with mid-year reductions,” Gray said. “There’s nothing to stop the state from doing what they did last year.”
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