Ellington Budget Hearings: Round One

The finance board has held the first of three budget hearings scheduled for this month, a sure sign that taxpayers will soon have a chance to vote on the proposals.

The Board heard from nine departments and went through six other board and commission budgets on March 15.

Prior to anyone speaking finance board Chairman Robert Clements gave the department heads and board chairmen a warning: “I hope they’re reasonable,” he said of the budget requests.

For the most part the budgets were be about the same when compared to the current year. This was all due, in part, to an earlier Board of Finance request that expenditures be kept to the current year’s level.

Here is a quick run down of each presentation:

• Crystal Lake Fire Department presented its budget first. Members did not request an increase their budget because they believed that was fair. Clements responded by saying, “There’s nothing nicer than a brief presentation.”
• Ellington Volunteer Fire Department officials said the department’s budget increased slightly - by $8,000 - primarily because of a few things: the cost o propane is up and the weather this winter required a lot of “stand-bys” at the firehouse, meaning the price of food and meals rose.
• Officials from the town’s dispatch center said their budget was similar to previous years, except for a $755 difference due to the town population increase. 
• Ellington Volunteer Ambulance had some fluctuation in its proposed budget, but an official said it will be offset by charging fees. Members also told the finance board that next year they would need a new ambulance. There were issues with the budget numbers given by the Volunteer Ambulance for the 2011-12 fiscal year. There was a few hundred dollars missing in the offset that was eventually found after recalculating the figures. “The problem was your addition was off,” Finance Officer and Treasurer Nicholas DiCorleto said.
• Hall Memorial Library appeared to have a couple increases in their budget. There was an increase in salary for a custodian, resulting in $5,000. The library is also working towards an HVAC upgrade to begin by this summer, bonding for which was just approved at a recent special town meeting. Aside from those two items, the library budget stayed the same.
• The Parks and Recreation Department, along with Cultural Arts, presented their budget to the Board of Finance. They are now mandated to perform background checks on all of their 350-plus volunteers. These background checks would cost the department a total of $2,600, which they added to their budget. The recreation department also hopes to rotate their fields more. The town is in “drastic need” for more fields, without more money, director of the department, Robert Tedford, said.
• Human Services, the Senior Center and Youth Services didn’t mention much about budget aside from the $15,000 requested by the Senior Center to start the process towards a new facility. Instead, the Human Services presentation focused on the issue of space for both seniors and youth programs. 
• The Registrars of Voters budget was reasonable as well, said town officials, considering they now have to pay for maintenance of the five voting machines. Previously, the state paid the $1,000 fee, but that now is put on the registrars’ department. “We’re just not going to ask for it,” the representative from the registrar’s office said. She believed they could handle the cost.
• The last department to present to the Board was the Planning department. Planning officials didn’t see much difference in their budgets, either.

Finance officials went through six additional boards and commissions budgets, but they too were mostly the same. 

DiCorleto said, “Most of these I do myself…they’re small budgets.” 

The next budget hearing is scheduled for March 22 at 7:30 p.m. At that time the Board of Selectmen will present its budget. The school board will the last hearing later this month. Once the hearings are complete taxpayers will have a chance to vote on the overall proposal in May.