MINUTES

WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL

BUDGET P= UBLIC HEARING

WATERTOWN HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

WEDNESDA= Y, APRIL 27, 2005, 7:00 P.M.

PRESENT: = &nb= sp; Elaine Adams (arrived at 7:10 p.m.)

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Karl Fisher

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Hebert

= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Robert Kane

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Kevin Killeen (arrived at 7:20 p.m.)

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Rinaldi

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Valenti (arrived at 7:19 p.m.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Richard Wick

ABSENT: &nb= sp; = Raymond Primini

OTHERS PRESENT: &= nbsp; Maureen Caine, Board of Education

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Mary Colangelo, Secretary, Board of Education

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Michael Abdalla, Interim Superintendent of Schools

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Meredith Robson, Town Manager

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; MaryAnn Rosa, Chairman, Board of Education

1.&nb= sp; Call Meeting to Order

&n= bsp;

Mr. Kane, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

&n= bsp;

&= nbsp; Mr. Kane, Chairman, read aloud the Notice of Budget Public Hearing as follows:<= o:p>

“NOTICE OF BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING

FISCAL YEAR 2005-2006 BUDGETS

TOWN OF WATERTOWN

CONNECTICUT

&= nbsp; The Legal Voters of the Town of Wa= tertown and those eligible to vote in Town Meetings are hereby WARNED AND NOTIFIED = of a Budget Public Hearing to be held on Wednesday, April, 27, 2005 at 7:00 p.m.= at the Watertown High School Auditorium, 324 French Street, Watertown, <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">Connecticut to hear comments on the following Fiscal Year 2005-2006 budgets.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 2

&= nbsp; The Town Council proposes:

&= nbsp; Town General Fund &= nbsp; &nbs= p; $19,904,988

&= nbsp; School General Fund &= nbsp; &nbs= p; $30,182,431

&= nbsp; General Fund Total &nb= sp; = $50,087,419

&= nbsp; Town Road A= id &= nbsp; &nbs= p; $ 120,328

&= nbsp; Water Operations &nb= sp; = $ 1,393,724

&= nbsp; Water Capital = &nb= sp; 540,= 700

&= nbsp; Water Extension &nbs= p; &= nbsp; $ 125,000

&= nbsp; Sewer Operations &nb= sp; = $ 1,974,768

&= nbsp; Sewer Capital = &nb= sp; $ 28,5= 00

&= nbsp; Sewer Extension &nbs= p; &= nbsp; $ 213,769

&= nbsp; Water and Sewer Debt = ; $ 137,350

&= nbsp; Crestbro= ok Golf Operations &nbs= p; $ 859,372

&= nbsp; Crestbro= ok Improvement Trust = $ 64,0= 00

&= nbsp; Local Capital Improvement = $ 161,331

&= 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, 424 Main Street, Town Hall, 37 DeForest Str= eet; Watertown, Library, 270 Main Street; and the Board of Education, 10 DeForest Street. Copies are also available at the P= olice Department, 195 French Str= eet at any time.

&= nbsp; Dated at Waterto= wn, Connecticut this 20th day of April, 2005.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = _____________________________

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Robert Kane, Chairman

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Watertown Town Co= uncil

RETURN OF WARNING

TOWN OF WATERTOWN

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

&= nbsp; I hereby certify that on April 20, 2005 I left a duplicate copy of the attach= ed Notice of Public Hearing, Town= of Watertown, Connecticut, with Virginia Stewart, its Town Clerk.

&= nbsp; I further certify that on April 20, 2005 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.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 3

&= nbsp; I further certify that on April 20, 2005 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 Watertown.

&= nbsp; I further certify, that all the above acts were do= ne at least five (5) days before the holding of the Public Hearing on April 27, 2= 005.

&= nbsp; Dated at Waterto= wn, Connecticut this 20th day of April, 2005.

&= 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 CERTI= FICATON AS TO

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 Robert J. Kane 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 Waterto= wn, Connecticut this 20th day of April, 2005.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = _____________________________

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Virginia Stewart, Town Clerk”

&= nbsp; Mr. Kane: We will have a present= ation from the Town Council, as well as the Board of Education, on their proposed= budget for 2005-2006, and if I might, I will turn it over to our Vice Chairman and Finance Subcommittee Chairman, Ray Hebert.

&= nbsp; Mr. Hebert: I'd like to thank every= one for coming this evening. This= year was probably the most difficult time that we had trying to come up with a budget for (inaudible) revenues are down are all of our expenses are going = up (inaudible) 38%. That's a num= ber that we keep on continuing to work on and what happens is the budget process starts in November, insurance costs don't come out until February or March,= so some of the insurance numbers at the beginning are positive basically guesswork.

&= nbsp; So the process we came up with and the budget we came up with is for the Town, $19,904,988 and this is the breakdown. Not a lot of significant increase.= Some of the State monies have been= cut back. Some of the unfunded st= uff that the State used to take care of, they're not taking care of anymore. Some of those are, some of the stu= ff that we ended up having the State mandate for the Town's side is the master storm drainage at $97,000 increase and the Police State Data Information Re= cording System that they used to cover, and now they're not doing good so we have to pick up the tab for equipment and maintenance of that.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 4

&= nbsp; Some of the other things that we've done have been, one revenue that is in this = year's budget that is not in next year's budget is the sale of Griffin School. We took a hit on all the revenue s= ide and of course the expenses going up is another r= eason we're in the problem we're in, we just don't have the income we used to. A couple of things that we did, th= at we could do, is we were able to increase the library to $695,000, over $20,000= of what they got last year. We i= ncreased Section 8 paving and we also increased the Senior Bus to 5 days a week. The cost for that is, it was more cost effective to do at this time.

&= nbsp; At our last Finance Subcommittee meeting, we didn't know when we started the meeting, which way we were going to go.&nb= sp; We had the Manager's recommended budget, we also have a list of Mana= ger, and she didn't recommend these, but a list of cuts that could be made to the budget, and nothing that I would say that this Town (inaudible) need. The Manager presented it, she basi= cally stated that her budget that she presented was what she recommended, not what the list that she was giving us. Early in discussion Chairman Kane came up with the idea that over a = 10 year span the budget always averaged 3%, sometimes it's been up, sometimes = it was down. As you can see in 1999-2000, an 11% increase was attributed to the bonding for the John Trumbull School, so that's t= he only major change in the past 10 years.&nb= sp; So we're averaging, sometimes we've been up, sometimes we've been do= wn, it works out to (inaudible) 3%. Using that as a ball park, that's what we used to basically come to = an agreement on what the budget would be, or (inaudible) some were for, some w= ere against. The final overall wh= at we're presenting this evening, is $19,904,000 which is a.92 increase, along with the Board of Ed, it's actually 2.17% and the mill increase will be 1.8= 1, to bring that to 22.18 mills as opposed to last year. The basic problem is that the reve= nues are down, and expenses are going up. Gas and oil is affecting everything. Everything we buy and everything w= e get is gas (inaudible) so some of those costs are basically guestimates at this point. (Inaudible) the budget= for, give everybody a view if the budget again for this year like I said, there'= s no real increases in anything, it's just (inaudible) every year at Crestbrook = Park is not running on tax dollars; that's paid by the users. That's basically self sufficient.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That's pretty much all, some of the increases were in the senior bus, there wasn't a= lot we could do. We still have a = list, I'm not going to say, the best term I can use to describe this budget is th= at it's a fair budget. I think it helps everybody out. It doesn= 't get us where we need to be by no means, but I think it's a fair budget and it's= a start. Thank you.<= /span>

&= nbsp; Mr. Kane: Thank you, Ray. I'll allow the Board of Education = to make their presentation, and then we'll open up the floor for Public Participation.

&= nbsp; Mr. Abdalla: Thank you for coming tonight. The Board of Education budget as submitted to the Town originally was adjusted (inaudible) and at this point= I'd like to briefly discuss with you the current and projected revenues as well= as the Board of Education's concerns. This transparency shows the revenue for the current school year and = our projected revenue for the coming year.&nbs= p; As you can see the Equalization Grant has gone up slightly. The Public Transportation has in f= act gone down. Adult Education is= up slightly. The Excess Costs an= d the Tuition for Out Of District Students is about the same. We have no way of really knowing w= hat the excess cost and special education and tuition for out of district students is, so we really project the figures we have = from the current school year.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 5

&= nbsp; As a result of this, we see that for the next coming year, we're showing about= a $750,000 increase in State revenues and the total increase for the budget is $718,000 which then translates into a .48 mill increase as far as the Town is concerned.&= nbsp; Again this is an estimate that is (inaudible). This pie graph shows that the dist= ribution of funds for the coming academic year, as you can see the largest portion of funds to the district is 66% for Salaries.= And this is true always and it will remain so over the years. As you all know education is a lab= or intensive business, everywhere from the teachers, administrators, custodian= s, nurses, secretaries, all of the office personnel, these key individuals are necessary for the educational process to take place, and as I said, that's a service (inaudible) figure, we are labor intensive. Going around the graph, the next a= rea that we see of significance is 17% for Benefits. Transportation at 5%, Special Educ= ation at 2%, (inaudible) is at 7%, Supplies at 3%. And this constitutes the distribut= ion of funds for the budget for the coming academic year. This is an interesting one because= it differentiates between local funding, your tax dollars, and the funds that = are part of the State. Next year = we're looking at about 34% of the budget for the Board of Education coming from t= he State, and therefore 66% coming from local tax dollars. This again tells us a little bit a= bout the State Education Grants over the past several years, that as you can see, the State Grants have varied (inaudible) from year to year. Theoretically State Grants should = either be maintained or slightly increased replicated upon State law. In fact this has never been the case. It seems that our frien= ds in Hartford adjust t= he grant monies contingent upon local and state political financial conditions. Next year, however, as you can see= , we are going to anticipate an increase in State funds, though not overly signi= ficant. Just from what I've been hearing a= bout it this number may go up a little bit. We're getting indications that the = State Legislature might allocate another $50,000,000 towards education throughout= the State and with this (inaudible) come into being the amounts of money that g= o to the local education districts and therefore the towns of course, will incre= ase slightly.

&= nbsp; This is an interesting one, because it reflects the changes in the budget from t= he current year. As you can see salaries as a percentage has gone down, district operation has gone down, <= span class=3DGramE>because of the situation I think all of you are famili= ar with regarding medical benefits. Our benefit costs have increased enormously and this is where the va= st majority of the increase is coming from. This particular charts shows the faculty of the various schools and it gives you an idea of what we currently have for (inaudible) buildings.&= nbsp; Our total faculty at this time is about 250 people. There is considerably more informa= tion available to you. The packets that are available up here, but this gives you an overvie= w of the budget for the Board of Education for the 2005-2006 school year. At this time I'd like to call upon= Board of Education Chairperson MaryAnn Rosa, who wishes to make a statement.=

&nbs= p; Ms. Rosa: The Board of Education budget at t= his time has been presented to the Town with a lot of very significant cuts that have already been made. Understanding that the Town must present a budget to the public that will pass, they have mandated to us another $582,593. I'd like you give y= ou and I want to share for the record some of the things that have already been cu= t so that the record reflects the magnitude of the cuts that have already been m= ade and the necessity for anyone in Town to do whatever they can to encourage people to pass the budget at this level.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 6

&= nbsp; We have already cut a tech ed teacher at Swift, a home ec teacher at Swift, a = PE teacher at Swift, 2 Grade 3 teachers, a transitional teacher, a part time h= alf day Developmental K teacher. I won't read all of the others, but suffice it= to say we also discussed, and at this time still on the cut list are library clerks, paraprofessionals that run the computer class, and all the interns = that work in the classrooms that we frequently use as substitutes. Those last 3 areas alone are going= to have a dramatic impact on how the schools function, whether the libraries a= re open, whether the children use the computer labs, and what our substitute budget ends up being. That's = before the $582,000 cut.

&= nbsp; Our Interim Superintendent developed for us a list of items to look at and make some decisions as we head into the referendum vote and we would like to have the public know exactly what our cuts are going to be at that point in time. So we're looking at ite= ms such as all the field trips. = We're also looking at sports at both schools, we're lo= oking at closing the buildings at 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon to save money on utilities and custodial staff. We're looking at all extra curricular activities and all of those. 5 teachers at = the elementary level, 2 at Swift, 3 at the High School. We're considering the vice princip= al at the high school and the vice principal at Swift. We put a maintenance position in o= ur budget, it's the only new position we have, and it was to assist us with maintaining the new track and football field. Very obviously we aren't going to = be able to keep any new positions from the way things appear to be going, so t= hat's also up for consideration. We= also looked at closing the high school pool.&nb= sp; All of these things are devastating, each= and every one of them unto themselves will have a dramatic impact.

&= nbsp; The various cuts that we're looking at total almost double what we need to cut,= but we're going to have to make our choices from this list, so I think it's very important that not only the public know, but also the other public official= s, as you function in the Town and talk about the budget, that we aren't maintaining a status quo in the school system and we won't. We can't change the cost of our transportation, which is over $1,500,000 and we can't change the cost of the healthcare increase. We can't change the cost of the raises that have been given to employees because the= y're by contract, although we have talked to employees in that regard. We just may end up with less or fe= wer employees, so we are going backwards. This doesn't address major problems that we have at all, it doesn't begin to address the things that need to be done. We have a condemned lighting syste= m here in the High School where we're sitting, and we have the rear wall at Judson School that we've been told you can put your fist through the steel because it's decayed. We have some very se= rious issues that we need to pay for, and we can barely run the buildings, never mind pa= y for those items. So please, each = of you, understand what the current budget that's being presented will mean to= us, and that anything cut beyond this level will be almost an impossibility to = deal with.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 7

&= nbsp; One last thing, and I really need to say it. There are going to be those that indicate these are scare tactics, to try and scare people in the sports are= a, or the pool area, or the closing of the buildings so they're not available.= This is reality. This is not something to scare som= eone, these are facts, and our choices can only come from here. Our class size numbers are up in t= he 26, 27 numbers, and in some cases 30 and 32.&n= bsp; So you can cut a teacher here or there, but you can't have classes o= f 40 because the classrooms aren't big enough to hold that many children now a days. So this is not something that we're saying just to rally support for the Board= of Ed budget or to get money restored, these are the facts that people need to know and understand when it comes to the School budget.

&= nbsp; Mr. Kane: At this time I woul= d open up the floor for Public Participation.&nbs= p; I would ask that you come down to the podium, state your name and address for the record, and speak into the microphone.

&nbs= p; Ch= arlie Brown, Swift Middle School Tech Ed Teacher<= /b>

&nbs= p;           Mr. Brown: I've taught Technology Education f= or the past 37 years. (Inaudible) auditorium, I taught (inaudible) at Swift Middle School, and I had the opportunity to take Unified Arts at the Swift Middle School= complex. Over the past 37 yea= rs, we at Swift, have done an extraordinary job teaching students, not Math, Engli= sh, Science, or Reading, we taught students to critically think to solve proble= ms and to benefit individuals who will work some day because many of our stude= nts don't always attend college. = And to sit here after 37 years and see that my position will be cut in 38 days, in= 38 days I'll retire, but when I retire I was under the assumption that I would retire with the (inaudible) a teacher would come into my room and take over what I've done for 37 years, but that's not going to happen. It's a simple travesty that this T= own, the Board of Education, our budget, is not going to allow it.

        &= nbsp;   We say, Mr. Hebert, who was my baseball manager back in 1972 or 1973, that 3% = is what we should be going for. = We shouldn't be going for 3%, we should be going to make this Town progress in= to the future, but we're not. I = see our Town, I've lived here for 30 years, I grew up in Waterville, went to Sprague School, but I've lived here for 35 years, and taught for 37 years here and I see our Town going in reverse. Why does it go in reverse? I wish= I had the answer, but I definitely think that our Town Council and the Board shou= ld make a presentation greater than 3%. We have advocates for education in Town, but it seems like the advoc= ates are less than they should be. We have a group in Town that seems to think that teachers make to much money.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Well I've taught for 37 years and = I make $70,000 or so and I've gone to school and spent thousands of dollars on a Master's Degree, a 6th Year Degree, it's not too much. My daughter, who went through Swift Middle School<= /st1:PlaceType>, who I taught, is an English Teacher at Fairfield High Scho= ol. She's a tremendous teacher. Teachers deserve the stipends they receive. Many people think we don't.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 8

        &= nbsp;   It hurts me a great deal to stand here and say that in 37 days I'll be retirin= g, but it hurts me more to say that I'm in this Town until I pass away, and I certainly hope that our foresight can make the Town progress, but unfortuna= tely from sitting here tonight and going through the Board's cuts and the budget cuts, and seeing the Tech Ed and Unified Arts programs at Swift is going to= be almost eliminated, we have a brand new school coming up at Swift in 2 years, and I'll travel down from my house and see the construction of the school t= ake place. We'll have a brand new= school, but we'll have no Tech Ed program, we'll have no Home Ec program, we'll have less Phys Ed teachers, we'll have a grand school with no faculty, no faculty such as myself, who not only taught at Swift, but I coached at Watertown Hi= gh School, I've been a very active member of this community for so many years,= and to see this budget proposal, and to see the animosity for education in this Town bothers me tremendously. So I urge the Council, although it might be too late, and I urge the Board, plea= se reconsider Unified Arts at Swift Middle School and p= lease reconsider your conservative 3% increase, because it should be more than 3%= to make this Town progress the way it should.

K= athy Rushton

Ms. = Rushton: If we are cutting the librarian, wh= y are we adding to the library reference materials and books? If the library is going to be clos= ed, why are we doing that?

Ms. Rosa: Hopefully they won't be closed so that a teacher wouldn't be able to bring their class into the library. A lot of reference w= ork is now done on line, but even that will be curtailed if we don't have the comp= uter individuals. So we need to ke= ep our resources up so teachers can still have access. (Tape #1, Side A ended - may have missed some.)

Ms. = Rushton: (Inaudible) teachers bring them the= re.

Ms. Rosa: And we haven't made a = final decision on that, we're still looking for ways to reinstate those particular items, the computer paras and the library clerks because it's going to impa= ct the entire building.

Ms. = Rushton: Now Developmental Kindergarten and = Transitional First Grade, those children will attend school, but they'll be in a regular classroom. I'm having a hard = time trying to figure out how eliminating those teachers is<= /span> going to save us money, because you're going to have to accommodate those students anyway.

Ms. Rosa: The enrollment in those 2 classes are not high, the numbers are relatively low and = they certainly can be absorbed into the classroom. The problem becomes the curriculum= and the level of attention that the staff is able to give to a student with that kind of a special need. They = won't be able to. A child may end u= p repeating a grade versus moving on.

Ms. = Rushton: Okay, cause Developmental Kindergar= ten, that's with no paraprofessional, right, just one teacher, 16 students?<= /span>

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 9

Ms. Rosa: I don’t have the number right in front of me, I don't know how many students. I know one of the classrooms had 6 students, one had 12 or 15, but the numbers are low enough that with the Jo= hn Trumbull School staff, that we can spread out Kindergarteners, First Grader= s, or Second Graders so that helps, but if we eliminate another staff person or two on the Kindergarten level, you're going to be talking about 25 or 26 children in a Kindergarten.

Ms. = Rushton: My children attended Griffin School, and they had 25 or 26 children in Kindergarten. My big concern is First Grade, whe= n they no longer, you're teaching children to be together with other children, and listen to the teacher, now we have to teach 25 or 26 children per classroom= to read and if you're taking developmental class children and putting them in regular classrooms, now instead of them being able to go at their own pace,= and allow the First Grade class of 25 go at another pace, maybe a faster pace, you're slowing every child down. (Inaudible).

Ms. Rosa: You're right, there's = no question that there's an impact and we're aware of that and our professional people will do everything they can to mitigate any harm that might be cause= d, but we're at a point in time that we don't have any choice. We have a classroom with 6 and a classroom with 10, we can't do it, not when anot= her has 30 or 32. But all of these items are still up for discussion, there are 9 Board Members, we may, when = we make these additional $500,000 cuts, realign some of them, but right now th= at cut has been made.

Ms. = Rushton: At Griffin I know in the Developmental Kindergarten there was 15 children in one classroom. I = would think that if you kept children together who needed to work at one pace, and left other children, I was a substitute teacher at John Trumbull and I did work = a First Grade class, there were at least 25 children there. In Kindergarten they usually have a paraprofessional; First Grade there was none, and I can't imagine it being possible that the teachers could teach under those circumstances, that's where the numbers are already so if there is anything we can do to keep those programs, I think they're really good. I mean my kids are at Heminway and = Swift, but for the other younger children in Town, I think we should try to keep them. It's bad enough that th= e Tech Ed program is going, but I think as a Town, we could head in the right dire= ction if people were really proud of the school system and if you get these kids, rather than have them go off to private school, I know I used to consider having my children go to St. John's or St. Mary Magdalene, but my son was b= orn in September and I was just thrilled that there was Developmental Kindergar= ten and Transitional First Grade. It just seemed like the best program was to send him to public school, and when you grow as a Town and not lose students to other places and create this sc= hool spirit, we're going to get more support.&n= bsp; You know I’m sorry, though, the amount of apathy in this Town = as far as education (inaudible). That's all I wanted to ask about.&n= bsp; I just think this 3% is too little also, but you know better as far = as what may pass. I hope, too, t= hat you guys really promote this, because otherwise it will be the same old same old. They won't even look at = the numbers, they're just going to say to themselves this is the first budget r= eferendum, so I'm not even going to bother to vote, it never passes on the first referendum, which if we're at only a 3% increase now, the first one, we're going to be in trouble later on. So in the newspaper make sure people know that this is, the cuts that have already been made.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 10

Caroline Wakefield, Friend of the Libra= ry

Ms. Wakefield: I'm here representing the Friends of the Watertown Library. As I sat here and listened to the presentation, the drastic cuts that are being considered, I echo what the t= wo previous speakers have said. = It's really a crisis situation. I'm (inaudible) the I noticed there was an increase of $20,000, however that do= es not bring the budget up to what it was 2 or 3 years ago. Our library is a fine facility, ev= ery good town and city should have a fine library, and when they do it's a faci= lity and service that's available across the board, to every element of our soci= ety, from the young, to the old, to the rich, to the poor, to the (inaudible), a= nd to the people (inaudible), to everyone. The Town budget only funds the operating expenses of the library. You people know this, maybe not eve= ryone in the audience does. Materia= ls and books and furniture comes from money that is raised by the librarian, the (= inaudible) and through the work of the dedicated volunteers who raise a good deal of m= oney every year, I hope by your participation in our (inaudible). We have bought furniture, and this= year I think I may share with you, the Friends is planning to contribute money to the Library Association in order to rehabilitate the toilets, which hasn't = been done in 20 something years, so the funding in the library is not completely= coming out of the Town budget, I think everyone should know that. I'm going to say this, without poi= nting any fingers, but limiting availability to books and to the library is the first step that pirates take when they want to gain control of the minds and the souls of their countrymen. An= d also coming back on education, it's very dangerous (inaudible). It is vitally important that the W= atertown Library and it's branch continue to provide acce= ss to the books and materials which will perpetuate our history and our culture. = I am here to ask that the budget fo= r the library be restored to the amount we had previous to the first cut and ask = you to please not reduce the budget any further because by doing so you are reducing the access that people have to our public libraries. Thank you.

Debra Weinberger, 130 North Street, Watertown= , CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Weinberger: I'm President of the Watertown Library Association (inaudible) requested budget of $750,000 so we can keep our branch library open 35 hours a week and (inaudible) 7 days a w= eek as well as (inaudible). We ha= ve had (inaudible). In some respects= to restore services and libraries are a vital part = of any thriving community. (Inaudible). The library is a stealth of knowledge, (inaudible). = Without knowledge how could any of = us learn? (I= naudible). I believe the library is the most important building in the community (inaudible). I believe the li= brary is also the most important building in the community also because it serves= all of us, not just one group. I'm asking you to restore our full budget.&nbs= p; Thank you very much.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 11

Joan Rentleman, Director of the Watertown Library=

Ms. Rentleman: I'm here to ask you to restore more money to our budget for various reasons. (Inaudible) so I can understand (inaudible) is coming from. Their libraries are being closed, = we are now closed 15 hours a week at the Main a= nd we're only open 20 hours a week at the Branch. We support the school curriculum.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The cuts have also affected our materials budget, our (inaudible), our books, our periodicals, our on line = resources, and our audio/visual materials do come from the Town operating budget, you = do pay for that. Our packet alig= nment, such as our furniture, our hardware for our integrated automation systems a= lso I raise funds for. The fact o= f the matter is our materials budget, which is books, on line resources, periodic= als, and audio/visual have been static for at least 5 years. Everything goes up every year, whi= ch means that those line items have actually suffered a cut every year. Cutting those things, we can't do collection development as we know how to and as we should. That means that = in 3 years there won't be materials there that are there now. In 5 years the materials that are = there will definitely be outdated in the curriculum area. We do have on line resources that c= an be accessed from home with the public library part,= you can get some wonderful information for homework with that. But if we don't have the money we = won't be able to keep it up, so I am pleading with you to please restore the mone= y to our budget. Thank you.

June Legge, Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Legge: I've lived her almost = all my life except for about 9 or 10 years, so I've grown up here and I've watched= our school system develop, and having taught here for 37 years, I can't help but recall 1988, when we had our first real serous crisis and lost a number of teachers and we had a terrible time then trying to get ourselves re-establi= shed cause we had a good core of teachers who had been teaching for a long time = and who had a good deal of experience, so we managed to keep right on going and= as a result we had such a tremendous school system that everybody began moving into Town, because we had such a good school system, and now we're losing a= ll of these teachers with all this experience, they're leaving and we'll be bringing in new people, and in some cases we're not bringing in enough of t= hem, they're just not replacing them, and I just don't understand how we can kee= p up the way we have been in the past with new teachers who need help, who need additional help, not just being able to take care of the classroom. It just seems like, I feel like the others, that a 3% increase is not enough, we've been cutting and cutting an cutting; we just can't keep doing this.<= /span>

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 12

I&#= 8217;m also the Athletic Director so I'm extremely concerned about sports. At the present time we have 413 stu= dents that participate in Water= town High School sports.= I don't have the number at Swift r= ight now. But 413 out of about 900= and something students, there are a lot of students who do participate. What will they do if they don't ha= ve their sports? Where will they go? How will they stay out of trouble? If we close down the= pool, that pool is used constantly for all ages.= We're having problems because we don't have fields, we don't have maintenance, we don't have things that we need. = I mean all of these houses, all of = these people moving in, what will their kids do?= It seems to me that somehow we have to make a stand and say look, we can't go any lower, we have to make a stand somewhere. If we take another= cut, as we did years ago, we're not going to come back from this one. And then where will people go? Move out? All of them came here for a great education, plus the sports that we have.&n= bsp; We offer everything, and now we're cutting it all back, so I'm askin= g again for you to reconsider, or not to reconsider, but to see if we can do someth= ing and not cut anymore. (Inaudib= le) go with what we have and see what the public is going to do because we have a strange public at this time (inaudible).&n= bsp; We know most of them don't vote the first time around, it's not goin= g to make it, so let's skip to the second the first time. I know it's not a scare tactic, I'= m very aware of how serious this is. Even with Pay To Participate, the (inaudible) budget = is still in serious trouble, so again I'd like to recommend that we not make a= ny more cuts, just make a stand with this one.&nbs= p; Thank you.

Helen Messina, <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Messina: I've been here about 7 = years so I guess you could say I'm fairly new to this Town. I don't have any children in the s= chool system yet. My son is 3 years= old, my daughter is 7 months old and (inaudible) in th= is Town. Since we moved in I sup= ported the budget in this Town and it's disheartening to read the comments and misinformation in the newspaper. I came here to support the library, but as I see all these other things that = are on the chopping block, I've reconsidered. It's very frightening. All of the extracurricular activit= ies, sports, that's what makes our children well rounded. These kids are going to be taking = care of all of us some day, my kids are going to be taking care of everybody some day, and I want them to be well rounded, I want the quality of life to cont= inue for everybody in that way.

As = for the library, we have the public library, we're users= of the public library. On numero= us occasions I have gone to the public library and it's been closed. I've gone to pick exam (inaudible)= for my kids, and unfortunately I couldn't get them because the doors were closed. And I find that extre= mely frustrating for me. And you h= ave (inaudible) I might as well not even bother. If the doors are closed what good = are these materials inside those doors?

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 13

As = for the school library, I feel the same way. If you cut the Library Clerk, as it is right now, there are no Media= Specialists, from my understanding, at all of the elementary schools, only John Trumbull= has a Media Specialist. When you = cut those library clerks, you're going to tie the hands of that John Trumbull M= edia Specialist. She will not be a= ble to teach any lessons, any library skills.&nbs= p; These are Kindergarten, First and Second Graders, this is where they begin to read. You want them = to have a wonderful foundation. = You want them to walk unto a beautiful library with beautiful brooks because you want to motivate them to read, cause this is the= ir future. Without the library c= lerks, the Media Specialist will be checking books in, helping kids choose new boo= ks, checking books out. Parent volunteers are wonderful, but you can't always count on volunteers unfortunately. Who is going t= o do the inventory? What's going to happen to the stated materials? Who is going to process new books? From my understanding there really isn't a book budget at John Trumbull. She gets books through book sales,= but those have to be processed. So she's going to get her own books somehow, but how are they going to be processed and put on the shelves? Are they going to sit somewhere and not be used (inaudible)? At the other elementary schools, y= ou cut the library clerks, who's going to put away all the books that were chosen? You have parent volun= teers, but once again, it's a huge task. Kids need to be taught skills. Unfortunately our role today when you think of it, is not like you c= an sit kids down and give them worksheets and teach in that way. Unfortunately the business world, = the first thing they'll ask, they'll want to see is interpersonal skills, just = like (inaudible) needs to be done unfortunately. You need staff to teach these kids= .

I'd= like to see more money put back into the budget.&n= bsp; I know how the voter apathy, in my neighborhood, I take my neighbors= to the voting booths. As they're standing outside with their children and play basketball and tell me that they're busy, I force them to get in the car with me ca= use it takes 5 minutes. I underst= and where you're coming from, but I would like to see more money put back in cause we can't just, when you cut all of this, it's very (inaudible). Thank you.

Jane Blakeman, <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Oakville, CT 06779=

Ms. Blackman: I also have the privile= ge of being a paraprofessional in the school system. I wasn't planning to speak tonight= , but as I'm hearing about the libraries in the school and in the Town, and I have the privilege of going to the library once a week, and I can tell you there= 's not a library clerk in there that wouldn't be able to help the students tha= t I work with help find the materials. <= /span>Just to see the eyes of the children when I pick out a book, get excited, run up= and say Mrs. B, look at the book I got, it's a wonderful thing. To go to the public library and se= e that extended from young age on and then my own daughter in high school, it's a wonderful, wonderful thing. A= nd I know you all do the best you can, and the people we need to be speaking with aren't even here tonight. The= y're sitting home, and that's what is most frustrating. We are all speaking to each other, = we all know that's why we're here and the people who need to hear it aren't here.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> And I too, like Mr. Brown said, it's very frustrating to have letters written.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2005

Page 14

I h= ave to say I get up every day and I love to go to my job. As frustrating as it can= be, I love to go in and see those kids and no matter what, a smile on any of th= eir faces just makes everything worthwhile.&nb= sp; It is very frustrating to lose Tech Ed, to lose the Library Clerks, = to lose the Computer Paraprofessionals, and a lot of the high schools now are finding that they need more than academics, so here we are cutting things l= ike Tech Ed, Sports, and Ms. Blake is right, what are these kids going to do? If they don't have that to look fo= rward, especially the students that don't even like school, they're there cause th= ey know they have to be, at least they have those extracurricular activities, sports, even the kids that just like the library, all of those things are t= aken from them, it's even harder to perform in the classroom. And again, the people that we need= to talk to unfortunately aren't here. So maybe between all of us we can just try and spread the word. Thank you.

Mr. = Kane: Anyone else? Anyone else? Okay, thank you all very much. I appreciate all the input and all the comments. There is a Town Council Meeting ri= ght after this, and I’ll Close the Public Hear= ing.

3.&nb= sp;        Adjournment=

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Kane Closed the Public Hearing at 8:02 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Kane, Chairman

Watertown Town Co= uncil

&n= bsp;

&n= bsp;

A= pproved: _______________________________

      Lynn M. LaF= orme, Clerk