Politics & Government

Somers Budget Process Moving Forward

The town has presented its budget to the Board of Finance, and now it is the Board of Education's turn.

In Somers, the budget process is moving along.

On Tuesday, the town officially presented its $29,031,201 budget to the Board of Finance and on Monday, the school budget will officially be presented to the board.

The next regular meeting of the Board of Finance will be on March 26.  

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At this date the proposed budget is $29,031,201 which breaks down as follows:


Budget Dollar Increase Percent Change Board of Education $19,827,174 $492,857 2.55 increase Town $6,532,645 $113,823 1.77 increase Debt Service $1,946,382 11.58 decrease Capital Projects $725,000

First Selectwoman Lisa Pellegrini feels that the budget is very proactive and fiscally sound. The town plans to continue addressing infrastructure repairs and improvements, as well as address fire safety in all of the town buildings. 

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“We were able to have a minimal increase of $113,000 (on the town side of the budget) because we addressed items such as waste tipping fees, negotiating for a much better contract, increasing our recycling efforts in town buildings and streamlining operations,” she said.

Pellegrini said that there is an alternate to the proposed budget being considered that would include the use of an additional $210,000 of Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCIP) funding for roadwork. 

“This would allow the road maintenance budget line to increase from $310,00 to $460,000,” she said. “The addition of the LoCIP funding would increase the proposed budget to $29,241,201.” 

She added that $210,000 would essentially be added to the town budget, however the increase would still only be $113,823 because you are adding $210,000 to both revenue and expenditures. 

“Thus, the $210,000 is neutral with regard to a potential mil increase,” Pellegrini said. “It is a creative way to increase roads maintenance without adding potential for a tax increase.”

Pellegrini said that the town has approximately $423,000 in LoCIP funds that were gained from previous years and were never used. They are strictly for capital improvement projects and the projects must be approved by the state before the funds can be used. 

“We must also pay for the work and then apply for reimbursement,” she said. “It is a relatively easy process. Incorporated in this year’s budget is about $91,000. We estimate that we will receive $92,000 in the upcoming year. From what I am hearing we need to start using the money. There are rumblings that in 2013 pots of money not used will be closely looked at. And it makes sense to use the money because we have lots of projects that need to get done.”

According to Pellegrini, the Board of Finance has asked for information regarding the bonding of both fire trucks and road repair. Proposals were given, however the board has not decided if they are going to bond.

“This budget does not include bonding costs of $60,000 but does include $120,000 in CIP (capital improvements) for a pumper truck,” she said. “The Board of Finance has not decided if they will bond in the upcoming future. If they do decide to bond, then $60,000 should be added for bonding costs and the $120,000 for a pumper truck should be removed from the CIP list.” 

The budget includes fully funding CIP at $725,000. 

“In the past we have only funded $300,000, and this is why we are in such a dilemma now with regard to fire trucks, DPW trucks, repairs to buildings, etc.,” Pellegrini said. “Not fully funding your CIP will only lead to greater costs down the road. We maintain that we have a plan - let’s follow the plan.”

She said that it is important to realize that within the budget is $85,500 for separation pay. This is a $45,500 increase from last year. 

“We could have eliminated it but that would have been the wrong thing to do,” Pellegrini said. 

She said that there was also an increase in building maintenance from $1,000 to $25,000. 

“Not bad considering we have 15 buildings to care for,” Pellegrini said.

Before addressing any type of mil increase, the Board of Education will need to present its budget to the Board of Finance.

Important dates to remember are:

April 23 - The Public Hearing

May 8 - The Annual Town Meeting

May 22 - The Referendum Vote 


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