Residents Concerned With Education Budget

Few Ellington residents attended the public hearing on the proposed budget, but those that did were involved in the process.

The biggest concern on the night was the education portion of the budget – but not for the typical reasons. While people often complain about budgets being too high, a few residents expressed possible interest in increasing the budget.

The education portion of the budget is $33,133,990, which is a $1,451,394 – or 4.58 percent – increase over the 2011-12 budget.

It was discussed that Ellington is , and that concerned some residents. One wanted to take money from elsewhere in the budget and move it to the education side. Another proposed increasing the taxes.

Board of Education member Tracey Kiff-Judson told the audience about some of the areas within the schools where there are inadequacies – or where more could be done with more money. She also noted how some of these issues are made worse by the growing enrollment – also a factor that contributes to the low per pupil spending.

Board of Finance Chairman Robert Clements talked about how Ellington gets the short end of the financial stick, noting that if the state gave the town the same per pupil spending as Tolland, Ellington would receive $1.5 million more.

“I’m obsessed with fairness,” he said. “We’ve done everything right. The school department bends over backwards to maximize what they can do with the money they get, and what do they do, they cut the money back. That’s the way it seems. I just wish the state would get its act together and treat us fairly. We don’t have the worst results – we have fantastic results in this town and it’s all because these people (in the education department) do such a fantastic job.”

He did admit that the Board of Finance is partially to blame for the situation the education department is in. The desire to have a zero-increase budget every year has forced departments to become more responsible with their requests, but it also has not left much room for additions.

If Clements had it his way, more money would go to the education budget.

“I would love to come up with another half a million to throw at the education,” he said.

Clements said that it is a balancing act when it comes to putting together a budget that people will support and that provides everything that is needed.

“It’s a delicate balancing act and you have to have the right conditions,” he said. “This might be the time when we could push for a little more. I don’t know. Times are tough, there’s a lot of unemployment. As long as the economy is the way it is, you can’t raise taxes. That’s the pickle we’re in.”

As it stands, the proposed overall budget is $48,198,154, which is a $1,652,070 – or 3.55 percent – increase over the current budget.

According to First Selectman Maurice Blanchette, the numbers look like a modest increase in the property tax rate of 1.8 percent (from the current 27.5 mils to 28.0 mils) will support the proposed budget and leave Ellington very competitive with respect to other towns. 

Clements encouraged all residents to come out to the Board of Finance meetings on April 12 and April 17 to listen, learn, and let the board know what they want done with the budget.

“We cannot operate in a vacuum – we need people,” he said.