MINUTES
BUDGET P=
UBLIC
HEARING
TUESDAY,=
APRIL
25, 2005, 7:00 P.M.
PRESENT: = &nb= sp; Elaine Adams
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Antonio Guerrera
=
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; Robert Kane
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Carl Mancini
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Joseph Pawlak, Chairman
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Suzan Plowman
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Primini
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Rinaldi, Vice Chairman
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Jack Walton
ABSENT: &nb= sp; = None
OTHERS PRESENT: &=
nbsp; Maureen
Caine, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mary
Colangelo, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mary
Dzioba, Chairman, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Joseph
Erardi, Interim Superintendent of Schools
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Todd
Griffin, Secretary, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Chris
Lafferty, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Thomas
Lambert, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Jim
Marks, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Richard
Mazzamaro, Board of Education
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Frank
Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director
1.&nb=
sp; Call
Meeting to Order
Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.
&=
nbsp; Mr.
Pawlak, Chairman, read aloud the Notice of Budget Public Hearing as follows=
:
“NOTICE OF BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
FISCAL YEAR 2006-2007 BUDGETS
TOWN OF
&=
nbsp; The
Legal Voters of the Town of
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
2
&=
nbsp; The
Town Council proposes:
&=
nbsp; Town
General Fund &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $19,694,835
&=
nbsp; School
General Fund &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $31,561,823
&=
nbsp; General
Fund Total &nb=
sp; =
$52,256,658
&=
nbsp;
&=
nbsp; Water
Operations &nb=
sp; =
$ 1,419,606
&=
nbsp; Water
Capital =
&nb=
sp; 124,=
900
&=
nbsp; Water
Extension &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; $ 125,800
&=
nbsp; Sewer
Operations &nb=
sp; =
$ 2,003,951
&=
nbsp; Sewer
Capital =
&nb=
sp; $
&=
nbsp; Sewer
Extension &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; $ 110,085
&=
nbsp; Water
and Sewer Debt =
; $ 206,900
&=
nbsp; Crestbro=
ok
Golf Operations &nbs=
p; $ 780,974
&=
nbsp; Crestbro=
ok
Improvement Trust =
$ 52,5=
00
&=
nbsp; Local
Capital Improvement =
$ 155,849
&=
nbsp; Copies
of the proposed budgets will be available at the Budget Public Hearing and =
also
may be picked up during business hours at the Town Hall Annex,
&=
nbsp; Dated
at
RETURN OF WARNING
TOWN OF
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
&=
nbsp; I
hereby certify that on April 13, 2006 I left a duplicate copy of the attach=
ed
Notice of Public Hearing,
&=
nbsp; I
further certify that on April 13, 2006 I caused a copy of said Notice of Pu=
blic
Hearing to be published in the Waterbury Republican, which newspaper has a
substantial circulation in said Town.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
3
&=
nbsp; I
further certify that on April 13, 2006 I caused to be set upon the signpost=
or
other exterior places nearest the office of the Town Clerk and all other pl=
aces
and signposts designated by the Town, a written copy of said Notice of Publ=
ic
Hearing signed by the Town Manager of the Town of
&=
nbsp; I
further certify, that all the above acts were done at least five (5) days
before the holding of the Public Hearing on April 25, 2006.
&=
nbsp; Dated
at
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
_____________________________
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
Meredith
S. Robson
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
Town
Manager
TOWN CLERK’S
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING AND RETURN OF NOTICE
&=
nbsp; I
hereby certify that the attached Notice of Public Hearing and the foregoing
Return of Notice of Public Hearing are duly recorded in the records of the =
Town
of Watertown, CT and that Joseph Pawlak was Chairman of the Watertown Town
Council on the date the Notice was signed and that Meredith S. Robson was T=
own
Manager on the date the Return of Notice was signed.
&=
nbsp; Dated
at
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
_____________________________
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
Virginia
Russo, Assistant Town Clerk”
&=
nbsp; Mr. Pawlak: I would ask if any of =
you
have blackberries or cell phones, turn off the ringers, put them on vibrate=
or
pulse. The public hearing is =
open
and the first thing I'm going to do is ask the Superintendent of Schools Joe
Erardi, to make the presentation for the Board of Education.
&=
nbsp; Mr. Erardi: I'd like to start by
recognizing the Board of Education who is responsible for sending forward t=
he
Board of Education budget 06/07 to the Town Council this evening. All of our board members are here =
that
could be. We have one board m=
ember,
Gina Calabrese, who is out of state for the week at this time. Mary Dzioba, our Board of Education
Chairman, Maureen Caine, the Vice Chair of the Board of Education, Todd
Griffin, the Secretary of the Board of Education, and also the Chair of the
Budget Subcommittee, Mary Colangelo, member of the Board of Education, Chris
Lafferty, Tom Lambert, Jim Marks, and Rich Mazzamaro.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
4
&=
nbsp; I'd
like to again preface my remarks by recognizing, I don't think there is a m=
ore
difficult place to present that the
&=
nbsp; The
administration has prepared a very brief presentation this evening, 5-7
minutes, of an overview of what we felt were critical points to establish a=
nd
prioritize and to set markers for the 06/07 plan. The design behind tonight's presen=
ting
is to share factual data. Wha=
t you
see on the overhead tells you that within169 school districts in the State =
of
&nb=
sp; I
thought it was also important for this community to recognize and to realize
what's taken place over the past 5 years.&=
nbsp;
IN particular the lat 3 years.
This is very difficult to read, but when you have a chance to review=
it
I hope you pay very close attention to the this and the next overhead. It will tell you that in the past 3
years, despite an increase in student enrollment, the Watertown Board of
Education, due to budge reductions, has lost in excess of 27 full time teac=
hing
positions. Let me clarify, th=
is is
not a retiring teacher being replaced.&nbs=
p;
This is a loss of 27 full time positions with no replacement. Alone with the position cuts of 27=
plus positions
over 3 years, we've lost entire programs.&=
nbsp;
I think this community took great pride in its talented and gifted
program which no longer exists.
This community took great pride I having a dropout rate that was nex=
t to
nil and with the loss of the alternative program cited by the New England A=
ssociation
of Schools and Colleges, is the alarming increase in the number of
dropouts. Along with the cert=
ified position
we moved backwards with custodial help, maintenance, help, paraprofessional=
help
and safety and security with hall monitors at
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
5
&=
nbsp; The
budget that was presented to the Town Council looked to preserve the integr=
ity
of teaching and learning. I'v=
e been
here for a year and I can tel=
l you
that I've been to other places and been in the business for about 25 and th=
at
if you haven't realized it, t=
he
Watertown school district has perhaps certainly the finest school
administration in fact I've ever worked with. That's how this place has stayed t=
ogether. It's not with fiscal support, it's=
with
the backbone of your teachers and your administrators. What you see in front of you is the
projection for class size which sadly ranks as one o the highest class size=
averages
in the State of
&=
nbsp; Alack
of depth in the program of studies.
What does that mean? T=
here
just simply are not enough teachers at
&=
nbsp; Facility
Needs - we have energy management needs, structural needs.
&=
nbsp;
&=
nbsp; Our
response to NEASC by this Board of Education was to set at the highest prio=
rity
approximately $340,000 that begins to address our warning status. In the present proposed budget to =
the
Town Council we have a $35,000 prearchitectural and preengineering study, we
have 3 additional teachers, we have additional funds for technology , we ha=
ve
additional support for technology and we have enhancement in our library th=
at
is in woeful need of an enhancement.
&=
nbsp; The
next slide simply shares with you that the present formula for the education
cost sharing for local communities is about 2:1. That for every $3.00 spent we're r=
esponsible
for about $2.00. I'd be more =
than
happy to talk further about that with anyone who would like to give me a ca=
ll
to better understand it.
&=
nbsp; Lastly
you can see that we are a people business and it's not a surprise that the
majority of the expenditures on the Board of Education, not only in
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
6
&=
nbsp; In
very abbreviated executive summary form, if you leave with nothing else from
this short presentation, the 7.1% original request looked to maintain the
following:
·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = To recapture the beginning stages of the loss of 27 instructors over 3 years.<= o:p>
·<=
span
style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> =
To
recognize that despite the belief that our school district is getting small=
er,
it's not. We've had an additi=
onal
21 students over the past 3 years.
·<=
span
style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> =
As
factual information, our per pupil expenditure is 168 of 169.
&=
nbsp; I
hope through the interpretation of that is that with what we are given the
stretch that takes place and the classrooms that we send our children to is
simply enormous.
&=
nbsp; The
priorities that the Board set for the 06/07 operational plan was to immedia=
tely
address with a detailed, thoughtful fiscally sound plan that NEASC concern =
at
this High School, and in a broader sense the facility concerns within our
school district.
&=
nbsp; Where
are we today? Upon review by =
Town Council
there was a reduction of $348,726.
the Board of Education has looked at that reduction in 2 ways. After the meeting with the Town
Council's Finance Subcommittee, I was fortunate to receive a call from the =
Town
Hall's sharing with me that there may be and perhaps will be ;local relief =
to
assist our community with energy management. Every community has struggled with=
gas,
oil, diesel and electricity and there is a proposed plan in
&=
nbsp; In
closing I'd like to share a final comment that I've shared in the paper and
with the Town Council. I talk=
ed about
my years of service in education.
My comment both in writing and publicly a week ago, I don't think th=
at,
I know that I've never been in a position at a greater crossroads for a
particular community than this town is in right now for their public
schools. And the crossroad th=
at I
see that we're at, is the opportunity to incrementally move forward to a sc=
hool
district of excellence. I'm n=
ot
interested in an average school district nor should you be. A school district of excellence.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
7
&=
nbsp; Mr.
Griffin: Thank you Dr. Er=
ardi,
and thank you to everyone in the audience who took the time to come out and
gather the information you will need to make an informed decision on this
year's budget. As we are all =
aware,
the budget season is particularly strenuous time for the members of our
community. No one likes to be
encumbered with the thought of paying additional taxes, including myself,
however the facts are that over the past 3 years there have been extremely =
deep
cuts made to our education system.
Cuts such as 27 teaching positions, an alternative program that serv=
ed
English, Social Studies, Math, Biology, Computers, the elimination of Level=
1
classes forcing our students into higher level courses, setting them up for
possible failure. The elimina=
tion
of the talented and gifted program for Grades K-8. the elimination of Developmental
Kindergarten. The elimination=
of Transitional
First Grade. The introduction=
of
Pay to Play now at a cost of $110 per student. The limited availability of langua=
ges at
Swift at a time when other districts are adding languages such as Chinese a=
nd Japanese,
we are cutting French and Spanish forcing our students into more study
halls. And lastly, larger cla=
ssroom
sizes. The last item I will m=
ention
is the funding for the proper care and maintenance of our facilities. You a=
re
all sitting in a school that is in jeopardy of losing its accreditation.
&=
nbsp; Ms.
Dzioba: Thank you, Todd, =
and
thank you to everyone who took the opportunity to come out and show their
support tonight. I'd like to first say to the Town Council that I absolutely
respect them and the decisions that they have to make, and the cuts that th=
ey
are forced to cut budgets, but I'm also going to ask them to please let out
budget go to the public without any cuts.&=
nbsp;
The effects of the cuts that have been listed by Todd and the
Superintendent over the last couple of years will affect our children for t=
he
rest of their lives You can t=
ell a
first grader this year that they have to be in a larger class, but it's oka=
y,
we'll probably catch up with you in the 4th grade because the damage is alr=
eady
done to them in what they don't receive in early years. You can't tell high school student=
s now
to lower their expectations of the colleges to which they will apply because
their high school may not be accredited if we don't follow the NEASC
recommendations. The services=
we
provide to our students now will save us money in the future, in that as lo=
ng
as we provide what they need in the early years and as they are at the level
that they are to learn it wil=
l save
us in special services to help them catch up later. I just wanted to say that being se=
cond
to last in per pupil spending is not something to be proud of. I wouldn't be
able to sleep at night if I new the nursing home that my mother was in was
second to last in per patient spending in the State of
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
8
&=
nbsp; Mr. Pawlak: Thank you Joe, Todd, Mary. I was remiss when I opened the mee=
ting,
I forgot to thank all of you for taking the time to show up for these public
meetings, particularly this one I
would urged you to make the effort to show up for all of the public meeting=
s,
of the boards of this commissions, whether it's Town Council, Board of Educ=
ation,
Police Commission, Planning and Zoning; it shows interest, support, and con=
cern. As has been said the number of hou=
rs and
the dedication of the individuals who have worked on these budgets, both on=
the
Board of Education's side and on the Town's side, is almost incalculable, I
know I've lost track of it and I think my wife has unfortunately kept track=
of
it. The town Manager, the
department heads, the town council members and their various assistants have
spent countless hours developing these budgets and as Town Council members
we've been going over them and looking for ways to make them work and fit w=
ith
the Town. I just wanted to ma=
ke
that statement. I'm going to =
ask
Carl Mancini to present the budget, both for the Town as a whole and to
highlight some specific areas where we've tried to address some issues for
you. So Carl, if you would ta=
ke
over please.
&=
nbsp; Mr.
Mancini: Thank you Joe. Good Evening, My name is Carl Manc=
ini
and I'm the Chairman of the Town Council Finance Subcommittee. On the committee is Joe Pawlak, Rob
Kane, and what we're going to do tonight is show you how, this is going to =
be
the budget status being presented by the Town Council's Finance Subcommitte=
e.
&=
nbsp; I
hope everyone has one of these, if you don't, they're down in front. It's t=
he
proposed budget for
&=
nbsp; Bullet
#2 has the current mill rate at 21.35 mills. Our proposed mill rate would incre=
ase to
22.47 mills, an increase of 1.12 mills, or a tax increase which would equal
5.2%. the exact is 5.24%.
&=
nbsp; Bullet
#3 bonding costs have increased $1,405,957 this year, or .88 mills. This is trying to show you how muc=
h this
costs us. Our mill rate incre=
ase is
1.12 mills of which the mill rate portion that's attributed to bonding is .=
88
mills, that's for the school and the firehouse, that's something that we al=
l voted
on at last year's referendum and approved, that's .88 mills that has to be =
paid
that's been approved last year. If we
didn't have that our increase this year, the new mill at increase would only
have been .24 mills, a quarter of a percent of a mill, that's what we're
proposing for an increase, plus the .88 that we have to pay for.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
9
&nbs=
p; <=
span
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Giving you some background, on dollar a=
mount
cuts from the originally proposed budgets to the final approved budget for =
the
past few years, if you go back to 2002/2003, we've cut $639,000. I'm just going to give you round f=
igures
here. For 2003/04 $719,000, 2=
004/05
it was $2,100,000, 05/06 was $1,073,000 and the proposed cut this year is
$1,398,000. Percentage increa=
ses in
mill rates, in the final approved budgets over the past years:
&=
nbsp; 2002/2003 &=
nbsp; 1.43%
increase
&=
nbsp; 2003/2004 &=
nbsp; 4.01%
increase
&=
nbsp; 2004/2005 &=
nbsp; (Tape
#1, Side A ended - may have missed some.)
&=
nbsp; Mr.
Pawlak: that was actually
reduced bout 25 and change, Frank?
&nbs=
p; Mr.
Nardelli: No, that's the actual percentage d=
ecrease
in the mill rate because of revaluation.
&nbs=
p; Mr.
Pawlak: Okay, I'm sorry. That was revaluation kicked in so =
that
skewed it.
&nbs=
p; Mr.
Mancini:
&=
nbsp; 2005/2006 &=
nbsp; 4.81%
increase.
&=
nbsp; And
this year if you wanted to see the figure this year, it would be a 5.2 like=
I
said earlier.
&=
nbsp; We're
being criticized that we're not spending money in Town but we're showing you
that expenditures for paving, crack seal, chip seal, including general fund,
town road aid and local capital improvements over the past few years:
&=
nbsp; 2002/2003 &=
nbsp; $759,000=
&=
nbsp; 2003/2004 &=
nbsp; $661,000=
&=
nbsp; 2004/2005 &=
nbsp; $379,000=
&=
nbsp; 2005/2006 &=
nbsp; $625,000=
&=
nbsp; 2006/2007 &=
nbsp; $539,000=
&=
nbsp; The
Fire Department - Vehicle Replacement Fund - we recommended eliminating
$125,000 at this time. WE fel=
t that
it was not a current need. I'=
m not
saying that we're not going to need that fire truck in the future, but it's=
not
a permanent, it's not a need at this time, we don't have to buy that fire t=
ruck
this year. Firehouse Station =
#1
renovation and expansion - just to show that the firemen are being taken ca=
re of,
you all voted for t his last year, $6,175,047 is being spent on the
firehouse. The firemen also w=
anted
$21,800 for repair of some body work and we realized that if we didn't do t=
his
year it would probably cost us double next year cause it would have gotten
worse so we gave them the $21,800.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
10
&=
nbsp; The
Police Department - this is an area where this committee took a little bit =
of a
beating from a lot of different people.&nb=
sp;
I want to show you what was spent in years past and what we're spend=
ing
this year.
&= nbsp; Fiscal Year 03/04 there were two vehicles that year. New police officers hired - zero.<= o:p>
&=
nbsp; 04/05 =
No
vehicles were purchased that year. <=
/span>Officers
hired - none.
&=
nbsp; 05/06 =
2
vehicles purchased that year.
Officers hired - none.
&=
nbsp; 06/07 =
This
year, even though we've been criticized by different people saying we're not
spending any money and we don't care about the police department and we sho=
uld
put our antennas up cause we're not listening to the people, in 06/07 we
recommended purchasing 2 vehicles.
Officers hired, we're recommending that they add another police
officer. First time in 10 yea=
s that
a Town Council has recommended or appropriated money for an additional poli=
ce
officer. The last time an
additional officer was added was fiscal year 1996/97 and that was paid for =
by
federal funds, a FAST COPP Grant I believe it was called,
&=
nbsp; We
were told back in December that if we gave the police department the money =
for
maintenance, they needed about $9,000 to fix 2 motors in 2 cars, we were to=
ld
that if we gave them the money that would be equivalent to putting 2 more n=
ew
cards on the roads for 3 more years.
So this year we feel that we have 2 vehicles that were given money to
buy 2 brand new vehicles, plus the money for motors for 2 new cars.
&=
nbsp; Tasers
- this is another issue in the police department. We were told that they only had 5 =
taser
guns in town and they wanted 5 more.
We asked the police department how many officers are on duty at one
time, at any given time, and we were told 6, so we said we'll given them 2 =
more
tasers so that they'd have a total of 7.&n=
bsp;
during some research we found out that the police department already=
has
10 tasers, and Chief tell me if I'm wrong there, cause we were told you hav=
e 10
already, but we're still giving them enough money for 2 more taser guns.
&=
nbsp; Board
of Education - this is where I really go beat up and I can understand why, =
but
again I was told I didn't listen to the presentation by the Board of Educat=
ion
but I really did.
&=
nbsp; Board
of Education budget increases last four years compared to the proposed fisc=
al
year 2006/07 budget.
&=
nbsp; 2002/2003 &=
nbsp; there
was an increase of $710,000, 2.64%
&=
nbsp; 2003/2004 &=
nbsp; $722,000,
2.61%
&=
nbsp; 2004/2005 &=
nbsp; $941,000,
3.32%
&=
nbsp; 2005/2006 &=
nbsp; $475,000,
1.62%
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
11
&=
nbsp; The
budget that we're proposing this year is $1,786,518 increase, 6%.
&=
nbsp; Revenue
from the State of
&=
nbsp; 2004/2005 &=
nbsp; $339,000=
&=
nbsp; 2005/2006 &=
nbsp; $331,000=
2006/2007 &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; $ 27,000 (about $300,000 less than we
received last year and we plan on giving the Board of Education $1,300,000 =
more
than last year.
&=
nbsp; Total
General obligation bonds and indebtedness - We're in debt to the tune of
$43,975,000. of which the school portion of the bond indebtedness is
$29,131,000.
&=
nbsp; 2006/2007
Bond principal an interest expenditures - we're paying $4,791,651 or the
equivalent of 3 mills for the total bond indebtedness. The school portion of the bond
indebtedness is $3,240,132 about 2 mills of which we're going to get back f=
rom
the State $1,093,000. I belie=
ve
that this is an honest and fair budget and hope that this budget is passed =
on
May 23rd. Thank you.
&nbs=
p; Wi=
lliam
Zeman, 644b
&nbs=
p; Mr.
Zeman: 'Mark Twain once said "out of public school grows the greatness =
of a
nation". There is someth=
ing to
be said for public education. It's
a wonderful idea, an institution designed to teach all, to educate tomorrow=
's
citizens today. I think I can state categorically that everyone here likes =
the
idea of teaching others, that we can all agree education is important. The problem of course arises when =
we try
to determine how important. W=
E try
to quantify our desire for public education, we try to determine how much
education means to us. Is it =
worth
a tax increase? Is it worthy =
my
money? We all have different
opinions and that's a good thing.
It's good that there are people here right now that are willing to
disagree, willing to go against the grain, but we also have to unite on one
thing, public education matters.
The school is asking for money. The administrators are asking for
money. The students are askin=
g for
money. I'm one of those
students. I don't make the
decisions and that's probably for the best. But there is one thing that I'd li=
ke to
impress on the people who do =
make
the decisions, don't abandon public education. The system needs fiscal
support. NEASC has put us on
warning; after that comes probation.
After that a
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
12
&=
nbsp; I
know a man who has done great things.
He's saved villages, he saved people's lives, he's been honored more
times in more ways than I can imagine.&nbs=
p;
We all know someone like him.
Someone who is the true American success story who has done deeds ot=
hers
of us I know me only wish we had the will to accomplish. I asked him once w=
hat
his greatest achievement was, what great thing had he done that stands out
above all others. I was expec=
ting a
story about a village in
<= o:p>
M=
att
Dzioba,
Mr. =
Dzioba: =
First
off I would just like to thank everybody for coming here tonight. I was not expecting this many peop=
le and
I think it's awesome that so many citizens of this town care enough to come=
out
and have an open forum discussion in this way. I am the representative from the S=
tudent
Council to the Board of Education and for the past year have had the honor =
to
work with these fine people and I've been able to watch as the meeting they
presented the status of the budget
I come to you and the members of this community as a messenger and a
representative for the student population of Watertown High. Tonight we are all discussing much=
more
than the numbers you see that lay before you. Tonight we also speak of the prior=
ities
of our community and the strength of our school system. This year's school budget, like ev=
ery
year reflects the hard work of the various members of the school administra=
tors
and the board of education that you see before you. This year in particular=
the
high school administration and the Board of Ed have faced the possible
devastating effects of
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
13
I s=
peak in
particular of the past year's visit of the NEASC panel, the New England
Association of Schools and Colleges who came to our high school last Spring=
to
partake in an in depth investigation of our high school, not only by examin=
ing
the daily working s of the students and faculties within these walls, but a=
lso
taking a close look at the interaction between the school and town communit=
ies. NEASC is recognized across the wor=
ld for
its accreditation procedure and schools and colleges around the nation use =
the
NEASC report as an indicator of the legitimacy of our school system and the
quality of education that backs every
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
14
Monica Rinaldi,
Ms. Rinaldi: I'm her to talk about school spirit at
G=
uy
Bizzano,
Mr. Bizzano: I'd just like to add my
support for restoring the education budget back to the level that was submi=
tted
in March, less perhaps any subsidy you'd receive for energy costs. I believe that budget is a reasona=
ble,
disciplined, and conservative approach that barely addresses the very serous
issues we've been discussing here tonight.=
Reducing it only imperils our children's future and their education,=
so please
give
N=
adine
Savage, linkfield Road, Watertown, CT
06795
Ms.
Savage: In reading many items regarding the budget, several disturbing things
have come to my attention. The
first is the Council's total disregard for the safety of the citizens of
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
15
Fir=
st let's
address the Police Department. Last
yearn there were 36 unanswered calls.
To me that's 36 too many. Do
you want to be the one who has placed an emergency call to the Police
Department only to have a vehicle break down on the way, or worse yet go
unanswered because there are not enough police officers. How dare you put the lives of the
citizens of this town, my family or me in danger. To me it appears as though you hav=
e a
total disregard for the lives of the very people you ere elected to
represent. With regard to the=
Fire
Department, their annual budge allowance of $125,000 for truck purchase is
good, long term fiscal planning. To
cut this line item and let future Council's deal with that issue is poor fi=
scal
responsibility. I addition ba=
sed on
The=
last
item I would like to address is the budget cut to the Board of Education
budget. Our Superintendent has
worked very hard with a very limited budget to provide our children what th=
ey
need to meet their educational requirements, a difficult task at best given=
how
the Board of Education budget is always cut. Our high school has already receiv=
ed a
warning regarding its accreditation.
This warning was not because of the dedicated teachers who so many l=
ove
to bash so often it is probably because of them that we're not on probation
that we're not on probation right now.&nbs=
p;
It's
Gary Stewart,
Mr. Stewart: I have to go on record as saying that I agree with every word that was
just said. With regard to the
Police Department, as everybody probably in the room and the community is
aware, we get so many inquiries at the Police Commission in regards to spee=
ding
and a myriad of other issues. We do
not have a proper enrollment in the Police Department; we do not have enough
officers. We can't possibly a=
ddress
speeding issues adequately in this town, I don’t care what road it's
on. We can't do it adequately=
with
the force that we have. As wa=
s just
mentioned there were 36 calls for service that went unanswered. That's unacceptable and I call on
anybody to tell me that that's acceptable, or tell me that 1 unanswered cal=
l is
an acceptable level. I don't =
think
so.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
16
I w=
ould ask
that the Council go back to the original request of the police department w=
ith
insofar as the manpower is concerned and add the officers that were asked f=
or
originally. There are other i=
ssues
aside from just being understaffed.
There's issues of retirements that are in the offing that the Police
Department needs to prepare for.
It's not just a matter of increasing enrollment. I don't know how anybody can look =
at it
and come up with any other conclusion that it's understaffed. With regard to the Fire Department=
, I
totally agree. I do not see a=
ny
reason why, how can it be fiscally irresponsible to put away money in an
orderly fashion on a yearly basis to cover a known expense that's going to =
come
up in the future. What are we=
going
to do in 4 or 5 years when we're short $125,000? On the Council's presentation it t=
alked
about and I'm going from memory now, a .88 mill increase due to bonding cos=
ts I
believe it was. I wish I coul=
d make
that same presentation in 4 years and say well it would have been .60% incr=
ease
but because we have to buy a fire truck it's 2 mill increase or whatever the
numbers worked out to be. I d=
on't
find that to be fiscally responsible.
I think we should plan for our future needs. The other thing I just
wanted to mention is I noticed a sense of arrogance in the presentation with
regard to the Police Department. I
don't know what's going on with regard to how many tasers that the police
department owned or didn't owned, but I don't think this is the forum for t=
hat
kind of arrogance. Thank you.=
F=
ran
Palmer,
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
17
Rec=
ently in
the newspaper it was stated that the taxpayers in
Mary Meyer,
Ms. Meyer: I (inaudible)
M=
arcia
Moriarty,
Ms.
Moriarty: As President of the Watertown Education
Association, as a taxpayer in this Town for over 35 years, I stand before y=
ou
tonight to urge you to keep the budget totally in tact as presented in all
areas. For too long this Town=
has
allowed the negative or apathetic groups to control the fate of our
people. We need to pass this =
budget
this, we need to keep all the areas of the budget in tact. The Police need more officers. With a town growing by leaps and b=
ounds,
with building skyrocketing, the police are stretched and doing the work of
today with a force the same size that they had when I came to Town over 35
years ago. This is
unconscionable. The Fire Depa=
rtment
needs to continue the vehicle replacement policy as its done in the past.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
18
Thi=
s school
system has taken hit after hit after hit, year after year. The buildings are in disrepair.
Ray Hebert,
Mr. Hebert:
For 6 years I was invo=
lved
in the budget process for the Town, so I know full well the challenges that=
are
aced both by the Board and the Council subcommittee and the Council
itself. I have read a couple =
of things
this year, and have not attended the budget meetings because I had a real g=
ood
idea of what was going to happen from previous history and that has been bo=
rne
out by what I've see tonight. One
of the first things that bothers me is the elimination of the fire Departme=
nt's
Vehicle Replacement Fund. Tha=
t was
established because there were years that multiple vehicles had to be repla=
ced
and the mill rate would jump significantly. That program has worked fine. To say that we don't need to be ho=
lding
money I don't understand where that came from. I believe you don't eliminate prog=
rams
that work, but we seem to be doing that all the time; this one you cannot
do. But the price of vehicles
exceeding $400,000 to $1,00,000 may increase every year, we need to establi=
sh a
savings account. The Police
Department - vehicles need to be replaced on a regular basis. You have to replace motors and too=
ls,
that is a band aid approach.
Vehicles need to be replaced and rotated. Cruisers (inaudible) when they're =
on duty
they're running all the time and they need to be rested. Police Officers, for 6 years on the
Council people came to us and said there's a problem, there's a problem with
the 36 calls that went unanswered, there's a problem with speeding and othe=
r issues
throughout the town. That has=
to be
addressed.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
19
I h=
ave said
this for year, pay now or pay me later.&nb=
sp;
Well I hate to say it folks, but later is here. Town Hall is falling
down and is in various bad disrepair.
You haven't addressed any issues with
M=
ark
Raimo, President,
Mr. =
Raimo: A few months ago we presented the =
Town Council
with a package, a small study the
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
20
We had an officer rear ended on Straits Turnp=
ike
this past week, he was on a motor vehicle stop. The Town wants a lot of mot=
or
vehicle work done, I understand, I yell at speeders on my street all the
time. An officer makes a motor
vehicle stop, is rear ended and sent to the hospital. Our complete department was shut
down. There was nobody else
available to respond. How are=
we
supposed to take care of business?
We are very fortunate that nothing else went on in Town that was ser=
ious
in nature. As far as the motor
vehicles are concerned, you cannot expect us to drive 1997 vehicles whether
it's detective or patrolmen to a call.&nbs=
p;
WE drive at high rates of speed, we're expected to do all types of
maneuvers and motor vehicle stops and chases, and you want us to go in
substandard equipment. It's n=
ot
acceptable. I'm asking that y=
ou
replace the Police Department budget back to its original as requested by t=
he
Chief of Police. Thank you.
Marilu Lerz,
Ms. Lerz:=
I am here tonight to
represent the Watertown Administrator's Association. WE stand united in favor of no fur=
ther
budget cuts being made to any portion of this budget. Over time our schools have taken a
beating, year after year as teaching positions have been cut and not replac=
ed,
as programs have been eliminated and not reinstated all at the same time th=
at
our enrollment has been rising. We
are now under strict mandates from both the State and Federal level and are
expected to meet new standards with even less support that before. WE simply cannot comply. A fact made startlingly clear from=
the
recent review by the NEASC Board that threatened the accreditation of our h=
igh
school. All of this might be
acceptable if we lived in a poor community with little or no resources. In fact our Town is more than capa=
ble of
supporting our schools, so why do our children sit in overcrowded classroom=
s,
utilizing antiquated furniture and equipment? Have too many study halls, have to=
pay
to participate, and worse of all has to worry that their high school
accreditation is on the line? WE
are proud of our staff members and all of our students who come to school e=
ach
and every day and give their best despite the conditions they are faced
with. Don't they deserve the =
best
we can offer? Don't we owe it=
to
our dedicated students, the children of this Town, to provide the best
education we can? Education benefits not only the students but the entire T=
own
as well. In
Joan Canca Focaretta,
Ms. Focaretta: About 5 years ago my h=
usband
and I made a conscious effort to reside and stay in Town and not move
away. WE both work in this To=
wn,
went to college, got married, and returned back to our town. WE have a sense of pride, and deci=
ded to
raise our children here because of the standards that we had experienced in
this Town. I'm asking you to
restore a lot of the funds in the budget that have been requested so that we
can feel that our children will also have that pride that we had and hopefu=
lly
stay in our Town and come to love it as we have. Thank you.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
21
Eric Brown, Attorney, Representing
Atty. Brown: One of the key questions you face in this budget season, in fact
literally the $64,000 question before you, is whether or not the Town of
Ove=
r the
last 10 years, the Town of
The
agreements have been made on a non-partisan basis and they have been made
because in the conclusion of Democrats and Republicans, taxpayers and emplo=
yees,
they were a good deal for all involved.
The
agreements have specified that each of the department heads received as par=
t of
a total compensation package a certain percentage of their wages applied to=
a
deferred compensation plan. A=
nd it
was determined over that 10 year timeframe that this was a good deal for
everybody because not only did it keep wages in check for these department
heads, but it helped them to defer a certain amount of compensation in lieu=
of
wages towards a retirement program.
Now, after 10 years of these agreements to provide this deferred
compensation as part of the overall compensation package for these departme=
nt
heads, it is suggested in this budget that the deferred compensation be
removed. The net effect will be a 10% decrease in the wages and compensation
that are paid to our department heads.&nbs=
p;
No employee in this town from the Town Manager on down, has been ask=
ed
to take a 10% cut in compensation, but that is what is being suggested for
these department heads. The
proposal is wrong for a number of reasons.=
First the Town is asking one of the few groups of employees who have
volunteered to pay a portion of their health insurance premiums to take a w=
age
and benefit cut. These are the
employees who came to the table and said they would agree to pay a portion =
of
their medical insurance premiums.
They're one of the few groups in town that does that. Now they're being told we apprecia=
te
what you gave back last year, give us more. It's not right.
Sec=
ondly
for at least one of these department heads, the deferred compensation packa=
ge
is the only retirement plan he has.
He's not a beneficiary of any defined benefit plan. His only retirement will come out =
of the
deferred compensation package, and now the Town wants to take that away.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
22
Thi=
rd,
while the cost to the effected employees is disproportionately huge, 10% of
their income, the cost to the average taxpayer will be $8.00 per year. We cannot balance this budget on t=
he
backs of a few employees, if that is what is suggested by this cut. These department heads are the con=
stants
in this Town. They continue t=
o come
to work, whether there's a Republican or a Democratic Administration in
place. They continue to come =
to
work regardless of who the Town Manager is and they steady and provide
stability to this Town. This =
Town
has made contractual agreements with these department heads over each of the
past 10 years and promised them a certain percentage of their income be
deferred compensation. That
deferred compensation has to stay in the budget and this Town has to honor =
the
agreement it has made with these people.&n=
bsp;
It has to do the honorable thing.&n=
bsp;
Thank you.
Cheryl Morgan,
Ms. Morgan:
'I work for the Watert=
own
Board of Ed, I am the President of the Watertown Educational Secretary's
Association, and I apologize that I'm not as prepared to speak as the stude=
nts
who have spoken before me. I
graduated from this high school in the first graduating class when it was b=
rand
new and it was a wonderful school to attend, I have many, many fond memorie=
s of
my years in
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
23
Kevin Killeen,
Mr. Killeen: I would like to comment=
first
of all on the Excellency of the public participation tonight. I would also =
like
to emphasize that I has been one voice and one voice only and that is to re=
store
the budget the way that it was initially suggested. Now we've gone down a slippery slo=
pe here.
I'm concerned, because we have an excellent board of education here who made
recommendations on what they felt was necessary to get the mission (inaudib=
le). You have a NEASC review that puts =
the
school in jeopardy. A couple =
of
years ago Dr. Ramos gave a professional public presentation as I've ever se=
en,
describing which way education for the Town of Watertown has gone, it was
outstanding in every year, yet the budget still went down. I don't think they're going down be=
cause
of too much spending, in some case it may be the case that it's too
little. The thing that I woul=
d ask
you to do is to hear the people's voice here tonight and let that be your
conscience. When you walk out=
of here
is this a building of pride? =
Is
this something that we can say it's moving the town forward? In terms of education we must give=
our
children some form of future and I don't think we're doing that, I really
don't. I'm making an impassio=
ned
plea that you come down from your position, your recommendations you have in
this budget, and revert to the budget that we had before which in all
likelihood is still inadequate. You
mentioned something about the tasers that the State Police owned versus the=
per
number of law enforcement officials that the Town of
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
24
Tom Murphy,
Mr. Murphy: I think everybody common
being here is not that the people in this Town are not doing a good job, I
think it should be looked upon as what can this Town do if they're given the
adequate resources instead of having a department and every division runnin=
g on
a shoestring budget. The Poli=
ce Department
with 2 additional police officer wouldn't be enough just to cover the prese=
nce
they can use in the schools to help these kids. If anybody has gone into Chubba's =
or
Jimmy's on a weekday morning and tried to pull out of there at 8:00 a.m.,
there's time you wait from 5 to 10 minutes to get out because the traffic i=
s so
heavy. That’s is a dire=
ct
impact on the police as well as the firemen. Saturdays forget it. If you have to do an errand in Town you m=
ight
as well ride your bike or walk because you're not going to get around and t=
hat's
the price we're paying for development and growth, part of it is because
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
25
T=
APE #3 -
SIDE B - DID NOT RECORD
A=
lex Sklyar,
Mr. Sklyar spoke in favor of the budget.
Arielle Polaitis,
Ms.=
Polaitis
spoke in favor of the budget.
MaryAnn Rosa,
Ms.=
Rosa
spoke in favor of the budget.
Nick Graziano,
Mr.=
Graziano
spoke in favor of the budget.
Peg Germaine,
Ms.
Germaine spoke in favor of the budget.
Lisa Taccardi,
Ms.=
Taccardi
spoke in favor of the budget.
Robert Gireau,
Mr.=
Gireau
spoke in favor of the budget.
Denise Russ,
Ms.=
Russ
spoke against restoring money to the budget.
Eric Palladio,
Mr.
Palladino spoke against restoring money to the budget.
Gary Stewart,
Mr.=
Stewart
spoke in favor of the budget.
A
discussion ensued between Mr. Pawlak, Mr. Palladino:
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
26
Mary Dzioba, Chairman, Board of Educati=
on
Ms.=
Dzioba
spoke in favor of the budget.
Joseph Erardi, Superintendent of School=
s
Mr.=
Erardi
spoke in favor of the budget.
Charlotte Morrow,
Ms.=
Morrow
spoke in favor of the budget.
TAPE #4
Janice Pond,
Ms. Pond: (Inaudible). We're classless. Bring the class back. And I think you people are
listening. Maybe one person o=
n the
Council isn't, because I watch. I
watch. Watch like I used to w=
atch
my kids. If I'm talking look,=
or
you're not listening, but most of you are listening and everyone is saying =
put
the money back. To the Police=
, God
Bless them. To the Fire Depar=
tment,
God Bless them. And guess wha=
t? We need the Police in many of our
schools. I've been around a l=
ong
time; it's not the same. We h=
ave
excellent kids. Thank you. Gary Stewart, Mr.
Stewart: I am republican and =
this
is not political. The inferen=
ce
that it may be. You know what=
? I've become in recent weeks and mo=
nths
more aware of the effects of mold.
Maybe there's mold under your chairs. I think paranoia is one of the
symptoms. Thank you. Budget
Public Hearing April
25, 2006 Page
27 Kevin Killeen, 430 Mr. Killeen: I'll keep this very brief.
Mike Lopes,
Mr. Lopes: Today I had a baseball=
game
in Wolcott and we had to switch 3 teams on a bus. We had kids sitting in the aisles,=
we
had kids everywhere else. We =
don't
have enough money to have another bus come and just because we had to go to=
Amber Wood,
Ms. Wood:=
It's 9:30 at night and=
all
of these students from the High School are sitting here listening to everyt=
hing
that everyone in the Town has to say and really just pleading with you to o=
pen
up your minds a little bit and listen to us. I mean everything that everyone ha=
s said
is so repetitive, and I'm sure you're all tired, we all are, and but it's a=
ll
just so true. My first homewo=
rk assignment
this year in Chemistry was to bring in 2 rolls of paper towels because we
couldn't afford any. I mean i=
t's
gotten that bad. I have to pa=
y for
so much out of my own pocket. I
have a job and haven't spent a dime on myself. Well I guess it's all been on myse=
lf but
it's all for school stuff. I'=
ve
never bought a shirt or went to the mall and went to the movies, it doesn't
happen, cause we have to pay for play, pay for the musical, pay for
everything. Do fundraisers fo=
r this
and that, and Holy Cross, all those other schools, they're calling our name=
s,
they're screaming for us to go there, cause those students get the same stu=
ff
plus more AP and Honors classes that we don't get to take. The music program that I'm very in=
volved
in has been shot down, all the classes that I would love to take just aren'=
t'
there. It's not fair to us
anymore. We've been trying to
shard. We're dedicate as we c=
an be
and I'm just pleading with you to let the Town vote cause I promised myself
that I would be out there at every mailbox telling people to vote, I don't =
care
if they vote yes or no, I know we have a huge problem with getting people to
come out in this Town. Will be
there, there fine folks here will be there, and I will promise my best that=
I
will try to get every member of our high school to get out there and let the
people know. There are so many
people here tonight that are going to be there, and I'm just begging you to
give the town a chance. Thank=
you.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
28
Joanne Chenkus,
Ms. Chenkus: Also a teacher at
Anthony Salerno,
Mr. Salerno: I come here tonight to say please don't cut any money to the schools
because right now, I'm part of the basketball team, we have schools coming =
to
our school to play a game and they have to go into our locker rooms, see the
conditions, see the condition of our gym, see the conditions of our building
and that is an embarrassment. Also for the track team, we just got a brand =
new
track but other kids come to our school; and see that we have two different
uniforms, like our JV team has a white uniform and our Varsity team has an
orange uniform. That may be t=
he
same for other sports teams, but we don't play as 2 sports teams, we play as
1. Also like what Mike Hill s=
aid
about the baseball, that can't really be because if the busses are over
capacitated, that is definitely a safety hazard. Thank you.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
29
Paul Rinaldi,
Mr. Rinaldi: I'm speaking as a resident; not a Council member. The first thing I want to say is I=
'm
pleased tonight to see the number of people that are ere, cause over the pa=
st
several years it's been dismal. So
I'm glad you're all here. A l=
ot of
people are leaving, I don't know if Desperate Housewives come on, but
(inaudible). Education is pro=
bably
the most important asset that any of us carry into the real world. We have to send a message that
Chris Lafferty,
Mr. Lafferty: Tonight I did not write
anything down as far as notes because I felt there would be enough motivati=
on
from the speakers tonight to guide me to say a little something. That brought me back to one thing<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> When Dr. Erardi spoke about the te=
achers
thinking there is no light at the end of the tunnel and that how we're tryi=
ng
to turn that around. I looked=
at
the faces of the few teachers in the crowd tonight and I saw them yelling y=
ou
just hit the nail on the head. That's
how it's been for many years, I've seen it, I spent 13 years, K-12 in the <=
st1:place
w:st=3D"on">
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
30
I a=
lso
think it's important at this time that I clarify some comments that we rema=
de
before and I'm going to be very polite and respectful of every opinion of e=
very
person in this room tonight. =
When I
say that I interrupted some comments that were interpreted by some as
disrespectful or political, I looked at it as well in years past we've had a
lot of people who made decisions that obviously were not passable in budgets
and regardless of what happened 15 years ago, a lot of negative problems ha=
ve
been facing Watertown for the past 15 years as a lot of us know, and a lot =
of
us weren't around for them to make decisions on, but a lot of us have seen
them, and I just hope that everyone in the room tonight knows that every me=
mber
at this table and that table is committed to making those past 15 years and
saying enough and now we're moving forwards, so the ones here tonight are
really the ones who are hearing you because we've given you this opportunit=
y to
speak which you guys earned cause you voted for us t come up here and help
serve you so I want to thank you all seriously for coming out because this =
is a
communication that we need to do our jobs effectively, and without it who k=
nows
where we would be, so I'm going to cut this short now and just say thank you
all for coming, this is communication that we need. Please do not hesitate to come tal=
k to
us in the future and give us your suggestions and we're going to move forwa=
rd because
enough is enough and every member here Republican or Democrat is here to do=
a
darn good job, and I think we all are, and thank you for coming tonight and
reinforcing that statement.
Maureen Caine, Board of Education
Ms. Caine: I'm speaking as a memb=
er of
the Board of Education and as a citizen of Watertown and I would ask each a=
nd
every member of the Town Council to take this unique opportunity to (1) exa=
mine
your conscience and decide what the right thing to do is and also avail you=
rself
of this delicious opportunity to show real leadership and real vision to th=
is
Town and make a very big difference in a lot of people's lives and very tru=
ly
in the future. Not too many p=
eople
get that chance and I think that it's yours and I’m sure hoping that =
you
take that chance to do the right thing in my opinion that would be to resto=
re
the budget to its former amount. Thank
you.
Rich Mazzamaro,
Mr. Mazzamaro: On election day I sto=
od out
in front of the polls at
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
31
Mary Dzioba,
Ms. Dzioba: I'd just like to remin=
d the
Town Council, the Swift referendum, I was on the Board at the time it was
coming through when we had to go back to the public to ask for an increase =
to
at least start the project and I was very scared for the project cause I di=
dn't
think it was going to pass. I=
was
very afraid of what was going to happen to Swift as one of our facilities if
the referendum didn't go through, and I think our new superintendent really
brought out the troops, I think he brought out the support, and it was
overwhelmingly approved, and I'm asking the Town Council as a taxpayer and =
as a
resident to please give him the opportunity, give us the opportunity and gi=
ve
all the students and parents and concerned citizens the opportunity to bring
out the vote and to start the new tone.&nb=
sp;
There is a new tone in town, it's not political, it's not Democrat or
Republican, it is united and let's get things done, let's do what's right f=
or
the community and that's what I'm asking you to do tonight. Thank you.
Jim Marks,
Mr. Marks:
My dad died 25 years a=
go and
you get smarter every day that I survive him and he told me a long time ago
that when people find themselves in a difficult situation, too many people
spend all their time thinking how did we get here and whop was responsible,=
but
wise people say, how do we fix the problem. And I'm hoping we're all going to =
[prove
we're wise people. Thank you.=
Lisa Taccardi,
Ms. Taccardi: The reason I got up he=
re was
to represent the Chamber of Commerce, and it's a good thing I didn't and To=
mmy
you better not print those swear words in the newspaper. I just quickly want to say from a
business standpoint, as the Chairperson for the Chamber of Commerce, honest=
to
God guys, if our community and the infrastructure continues to fail, no
businesses are going to want to come here.=
If we don't have a strong infrastructure and an educational system, =
what
will be the draw of a business to come here hoping to bring families to the
community? We're always cryin=
g we
don't have enough money for our budget, but we need to rely more on our
businesses to help feed the tax base, if you will, so as we continue to cru=
mble
as a community, in the long run, or in the very short run, it will have a v=
ery
adverse 4effect. Our business
community will continue to decline.
The business economy is already struggling. WE want to be a community they want to come to, =
we
want to restore what we used to be, and have people not going to Oxford for
different reasons but to come back to Watertown, so please from a business
standpoint, we need to restore our community. Than you.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
32
Gary Stewart,
Mr. Stewart: The previous speaker j=
ust
mentioned that they believe there is a new tone in town and I would echo th=
at
sentiment. I do believe that =
people
are coming around to a different way of thinking, insofar as spending. Probably I guess maybe a month ago=
we
had an editorial in the Town Times who's not very well known for making tho=
se
kinds of pointed editorials regarding the town hall and its deplorable
condition and how it got to be that way, and it did not get to the that way
because of Democrats or Republicans, we all share in it. I was on the Council for 6 years a=
nd we
had issues come up regarding that very building that we didn't act on. We're all guilty in that regard, a=
nd I
do think there's a new tone in town, I think there's been a number of things
that have come up, infrastructure, town buildings, education system, all dw=
indling,
and I think people are coming to realize that and I think that they're beco=
ming
more willing to open their pocketbook and pay. I would urge the Council to recons=
ider
the recommended budget and I would just offer this as a personal opinion of=
how
we reached the numbers that were presented tonight. In the past it's been our impressi=
on
that Councils have taken in the information and basically said okay, this is
what our department heads believe we need, they told us a convincing story,
this is the budget we can recommend, this is the budget that the Town Manag=
er
recommended and that's what we pay that person to do, is to go through those
figures and come up with a reasonable number, the numbers that are actually=
the
numbers that that person, the Town Manager, whomever it is, believes are
necessary to run the various departments, and we put it out to referendum a=
nd
we let the people decide. And=
yea,
we go through a number of referendums, that's the way
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
33
Todd Lambert,
Mr. Lambert: All I want to say to t=
he
people out here who spoke up, don't lose hope. We're at a point now where we have=
a
great superintendent of schools, very progress by, really coming up with so=
me
great ideas, one thing I've learned on this Board is we have some fine
educators in this town, we ought to applaud them. I don't think this board is politi=
cal,
pretty much every vote has been unanimous on this board, there are some fine
gentlemen and women on the Town Council who think nothing is too good for t=
his
Town. Every time I've talked =
to any
member of that Council they agree that they really do want to move
forward. We are at a crossroa=
ds, we
have to do something now. Loo=
k at
these fine young men and young children here that spoke up. Very, very eloquent, I'm very, very
proud of them and we really do have
to move now. Please be cheerl=
eaders
for this system, please go out get your friends and neighbors to please vot=
e in
this next referendum. WE need=
your
help now. Thank you.
Dan Everitt,
Mr. Everitt: Please don't throw stones, but all I heard was a lot of sweet talk
here. I have budgets with al =
kinds
of thousands of dollars proposed, I have not seen the Grand List, I have se=
en
houses going up for $500,000, $700,000, cars at $30,000, $40,000 which is
income to the Town somehow. I=
got a
sticker for the dump for $10.00, now I can't afford to dump anything up the=
re
because they want a fortune to take anything up there. The people of the Town are very (i=
naudible),
they're trying to cut the Police and Fire of course, like they always do.
Mr. Pawlak: Let's show a little re=
spect;
everybody has their opinion.
Mr. Everitt: I knew this would happ=
en
because all I heard was sweet talk.
Now where is the problem?
Where is the Grand List, the amount of money taken in by this town?<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Is it being spent somewhere else t=
hat we
don't see? We don't see the e=
xpenditures
of everything, all we see is what you want, and I'm sure these people wou8ld
pay anything you want, they're not cheap like I heard, because this town has
always been good, and I'm 70 years ld and I've been here for 70 years and
there's never been a problem. Is it
the town management, the CEO that the business has gone bankrupt, that he g=
oes
out with $450,000,000 or something?
Where is the problem?>
That's all I'd like to know.
Thank you.
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
34
William Hosking,
Mr. Hosking: As a very recent graduate of Watertown High School, someone who went =
away
to school, someone who's friends I speak to every day and are constantly as=
king
me first (inaudible) why are you going to Watertown High School. Secondly why would you ever come b=
ack to
Eric Palladino,
Mr. Palladino: I do agree with Mr. Stewart, we are all guilty. This has taken several years to ha=
ppen
and we're to the point where we are, and now there is an issue with the Boa=
rd
of Ed that maybe it needed to come to this point to be a wakeful call for t=
his community
and hopefully it will be much easier to pass budgets this year and in the
future. And no matter what the
Council does with the budget tonight, I certainly will support it, and as y=
ou
know, you were elected by the majority of the townspeople, the voters, and =
you
are the highest fiscal authority, so whatever you decide I will support.
Fran Palmer,
Ms. Palmer: Just two questions, if=
you
choose to change the budget that you propose, when will that happen and wil=
l it
change the May 23rd date?
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
35
Mr. Pawlak:
It will happen tonight=
and
no, it won't. It won't change=
the
date. Anyone else? I'm going to take this opportunity=
to
speak last. I'd like to just
mention a couple of things that have in fact been said already. It's been said many times that whe=
re we
are now at this point in time has taken many years, and quite frankly throu=
gh
many Council administrations, but budgets, both Town and Board of Education
have taken hit after hit after hit, and that is a direct quote. The fact of the matter is that thi=
s Town
Council has recognized the seriousness of the situation, I believe and in so
doing we have recommended a fairly substantial increase in the current Boar=
d of
Education budget. Approximate=
ly
3.75 times as much as was given to the Board last year. It is not what the Board of Educat=
ion requested,
I understand that, but it's still almost $1,800,000 more than they have this
year, we think it's a step in the right direction. We were accused of doing things
differently, of not doing things differently, and I indicated months ago th=
at
one of the things we wanted to do was approach things from a different
angle. Excuse me while I back=
up
for one second, I missed something.
This budget that we have recommended with respect to the Board of Ed=
ucation
does address the NEASC requirements, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's about
$347,000 or $348,000 and that is covered with I believe some room to
spare. We talk about doing th=
ings
differently and the comment was made with respect to shared services, and
nothing having been done there.
That is not quite the truth.
As a matter of fact we have formed a committee with the managers from
the Town and the Board of Education to look at 3 specific areas where we co=
uld
perhaps share services and improve operations. One is technology, one is finance =
and
one is maintenance and operations, so that project is going forth and we ex=
pect
I think by the end of May and the early part of June we'll have some things=
to
talk about in concrete basis. As
far as doing things differently in another aspect is concerned, we did in f=
act
eliminate some vehicles from the Police Department. They requested 5, and we authorized
2. The thinking there quite f=
rankly
was that 2 wee to be delivered this past year, we did receive 1 in December=
, a
second one from last year's approval was received just a couple of weeks ag=
o,
if I'm not mistaken, we are approving 2 more, that's 4, we've replaced the
engines in 2 which according to the management of the Police Department we
should get another 2 to 3 years out of that, so the rationale was that in
effect we have basically 6, 4 brand new vehicles and 2 pretty good ones with
36,000 mile guarantee on each of those engines. Now the Police Department, and I g=
ive
them credit for this, did not stop there.&=
nbsp;
We had some conversations today and they have been talking with anot=
her
community, thinking outside the box so to speak, and they have come up with=
a
solution with respect to acquiring these vehicles whereby it looks like for=
the
same amount of money they can get 3 vehicles instead of 2, so I applaud them
for their effort. They just w=
anted
to know if it was all right. =
I said
as long as you don't spend $1.00 more than you're authorized do what you wa=
nt,
if you can get 10, get them, it's not problem with me, so that in a nutshell
really is what I wanted to speak about.&nb=
sp;
I think we're moving in the right direction, I'm positive from heari=
ng
what everybody has said here that we have not satisfied everybody. It think if you get into this kind=
of a situation
whether it's on the board of Education or the Town Council you can never go=
in
expecting to make everyone happy, it's just impossible. We're hoping we're striking a bala=
nce,
and when w come up with a fin=
al
number of this budget, we'll see how that flies. So I thank everybody for their
participation their eloquence and the patience, and I'm not going to adjourn
this meeting, we're going to take a brief recess and then we'll bring the T=
own
Council into session for hearing the proposed budget. Thank you. One moment please, Carl?
Budget
Public Hearing
April
25, 2006
Page
36
Mr. Mancini: This is directed to Chief Carroll because it was said that I possibly=
had
an arrogant feeling or whatever towards Chief Carroll and the Police
Department. If that was the w=
ay it
was taken it was not intended that way.&nb=
sp;
I'll apologize if it was taken that way, it wasn't meant that way.
Mr. Pawlak: We'll take about a 5 m=
inute
recess; thank you.
3.&nb=
sp; Adjournment
&= nbsp; Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, Closed the Public Hearing at 10:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Pawlak, Chairman
A= pproved: _______________________________
Lynn M. LaF= orme, Clerk