MINUTES

WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL

BUDGET P= UBLIC HEARING

WATERTOWN HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

TUESDAY,= APRIL 27 2004 7:00 P.M.

PRESENT: = &nb= sp; Elaine Adams (arrived at 8:11 p.m.)

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

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

= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Jean King

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Primini

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

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Valenti

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

ABSENT: &nb= sp; = Lee Archer

OTHERS PRESENT: &= nbsp; Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Phillip Pelosi, Assistant Superintendent of Schools

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; John Ramos, Superintendent of Schools

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

1.&nb= sp; Call Meeting to Order

&n= bsp;

Mr. Hebert, Vice Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.

&n= bsp;

&= nbsp; Mr. Hebert, Vice Chairman, read aloud the Notice of Budget Public Hearing as follows:

“NOTICE OF BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING

FISCAL YEAR 2004-2005 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 Tuesday, April, 27, 2004 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 2004-2005 budgets.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 2

&= nbsp; The Town Council proposes:

&= nbsp; Town General Fund &= nbsp; &nbs= p; $21,274,473

&= nbsp; School General Fund &= nbsp; &nbs= p; $30,447,937

&= nbsp; General Fund Total &nb= sp; = $51,722,410

&= nbsp; Town Road A= id &= nbsp; &nbs= p; $ 75,270

&= nbsp; Water Operations &nb= sp; = $ 1,410,591

&= nbsp; Water Capital = &nb= sp; 314,= 400

&= nbsp; Water Extension &nbs= p; &= nbsp; $ 54,5= 00

&= nbsp; Sewer Operations &nb= sp; = $ 1,957,030

&= nbsp; Sewer Capital = &nb= sp; $ 16,1= 20

&= nbsp; Sewer Extension &nbs= p; &= nbsp; $ 224,300

&= nbsp; Water and Sewer Debt = ; $ 150,750

&= nbsp; Crestbro= ok Golf Operations &nbs= p; $ 905,899

&= nbsp; Crestbro= ok Improvement Trust = $ 72,6= 90

&= 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 15th day of April, 2004.

&= 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 15, 2004 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 15, 2004 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, 2004

Page 3

&= nbsp; I further certify that on April 15, 2004 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= 004.

&= nbsp; Dated at Waterto= wn, Connecticut this 15th day of April, 2004.

&= 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 15th day of April, 2004.

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

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

&= nbsp; Mr. Hebert: Dr. Ramos, would you l= ike to proceed first?

&= nbsp; Dr. Ramos: Good evening. I’d like to present the budg= et tonight. I think you have the packets, if not, please come down and get the yellow bound packet regarding the Board of Ed, and also the PowerPoint presentation. I will be speak= ing to you from the PowerPoint presentation specifically. The yellow bound booklet has more = information so that you can have the opportunity to go through and read it in greater d= etail. I’m going to attempt to get = to the essence of this budget now. I certainly appreciate your coming out tonight.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 4

&= nbsp; The fact is that as a new superintendent coming to the district back in April, = 2002 I had the opportunity to meet with many community leaders, groups of staff,= and each individual teacher, and during the process one theme emerged over and = over and over again, and that was the notion that there had not been sufficient funding for the schools, I’m not going to say they hadn’t been funded, I’m not going to say that the Town hasn’t spent money, because we all know that’s not so, but sufficient money to keep the District moving in a positive direction. And so as sort of a secondary story that goes along with that, is the idea that people would tell me, that many people over the years have moved to this= Town because of the schools, because the schools have been great. And people have moved here to inve= st their youngsters in the public schools in this Town. And what’s occurred over tim= e here is that because of budget cuts, because budgets have not been funded up to = the level that has been required, there has been an erosion= , and that erosion has been in terms of our infrastructure, our staffing and = our programs.

&= nbsp; Let’s look at last year’s budget cycle for example. Last year we wound up with, when a= ll was said and done, 2.6% over the previous spending, last year’s spending,= so the year we’re operating in now, we had 2.6% more dollars than last year. But we needed, for thos= e of you who were in this Public Hearing last year, remember we needed 4.35% to = stay even, because of contract increases and all the rest, legal fees, etc. So 4.35%, 2.6% it’s not rock= et science, we’re going backwards, and that’s what’s occurre= d, to the point that the school district is literally springing leaks.

&= nbsp; It’s somewhat fitting that we’re meeting in this auditorium. I think one of the saddest and grea= test stories to point to at a time like this is the fact that we have been asking for some time now through budgets to replace the stage lights, but that item has been cut over time because we just haven’t been able to fit it in= to the limited amount of money we’re ultimately able to get approved. Now the stage lights are condemned= and it’s an example of what I’m talking about, the fact that there = has been this erosion over time and so we wind up then in a circumstance where = we have to ask ourselves, as a community.&nbs= p; I’m proud to say I live in this community and I have to ask the same question of myself. What= do we want from our schools? Do we = want our schools to go from great to good to something less? Or is our vision for our schools t= hat we move ahead and deliver the best possible services to each and every youngst= er who comes in and out of our school doors. That’s the question.

&= nbsp; The School Board answered that question by approving a collaboratively develope= d Strategic Plan that points to the idea that we should be a, one of the key ingredient= s in a growing and dynamic community, the School Board’s goals point to the idea of achieving that Strategic Plan, and so we have that answer. The elected officials who oversee education in this community have put forward the answer, but now it’s time to make it happen, so let me tell you what we did this year in the bud= get process to reinforce what we know has been a credible process all along. We did something, and those of you= who are involved in any kind of budgeting will recognize this term, we did something called, that approximated zero based budgeting, where we made our= principals, department heads justify, not just the increase they were asking for, but in fact the principal amount.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 5

&= nbsp; A simple example, if this year you have $100 and next year you’re asking for $110, don’t just tell me why we need the extra $10; tell me why we need the $100 to begin with. = These are the kinds of conversations that we had. Meetings that lasted in the past 1= /2 an hour lasted as much as 2-1/2 hours in some case. It was an extensive, extensive pro= cess, but it made the work that everyone did all that much harder along the way, = and the Board of Education will attest to this. Very hard work= . Because now if= we said yes, you know what? We= do need that $110, and then at another level we decide no, we‘ve got to = cut that back $15, $20, it’s not arbitrary, it’s not just numbers because we understand what that whole $110 is pointing to, so what are we cutting? What is it going to = be? What are the items that will not su= rvive? We’re going to talk about th= at now. That process, ladies and gentlemen, allowed us to realize some savings in terms of certain inventori= es where we saw no, really don’t need to get extra paper in this particu= lar school because we have enough, that kind of idea, but what emerged most of = all was a glaring, glaring story about the developing needs in the school distr= ict, documented and specific, to the point that we presented to the School Board= a budget, not a recommended budget, but budget projections of over 17%, knowing full = well that that number would not ultimately be presented to the public, but our Board, and as a consequence our community, needed to know what the needs are. We can’t have stage lights get condemned and be in a situation where we didn’t tell you w= hat the needs are, and so we present information. So let’s talk a little bit a= bout how it all turned out.

&= nbsp; Again just a quick review. You know that the budget is the di= strict’s financial plan to meet its objectives.&nbs= p; I’m not going to spend a lot of time with items that we talked about last year because many of you were here and you remember. Again you’ll note that the o= bjectives of the School District are outlined in t= he Strategic Plan, and as you look in our handouts, particularly the yellow bo= und you’ll see those elements of the Strategic Plan specified. So I won’t spend time, you c= an see them coming up on the screen now, but I won’t spend time talking about them.

&= nbsp; Summarily we had outlined for you the budget development process, the objectives that were used in developing the budget, for example, to adequately fund our continuing expenditures to meet Federal and State requirements, Board polic= ies and contractual obligations, to continue the comprehensive school program t= hat addresses the needs of all of our students, to provide those programs that = are necessary to increase the achievement level of all students, and to impleme= nt facility improvements. These = are the objectives we looked towards in developing this budget. You see priorities coming up befor= e you once again, including adherence to the Federal N.C.L.B. requirements, professional development concerns, and the upcoming high school accreditati= on which will occur a year from, in fact by this time next year it will have already occurred. And the bud= get as you look through all those details, again I won’t spend time with it = now, the budget is indexed to both the strategic plan, N.C.L.B, and the New Engl= and Association of Schools and Colleges Accreditation.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 6

&= nbsp; Let’s get to some of the information that’s most critical, in terms of tonight. I mentioned a few mi= nutes ago that last year in order to stay even, if you will, we needed 4.35%. We didn’t get that, but that’s what we told you was necessary to s= tay even, because of items like contract increases, employee benefits, pupil transportation, including special ed, liability insurance, and out of town tuition. This year that numbe= r is 6.36%. Anything less than that means we’re going backwards, and that’s just for starters. That’s something that again = we emphasized last year and we have to bring to your attention again this year. So that standstill budg= et, if you will, standstill meaning maintaining the services at the previous year’s level, 4.35%, 6.36% this year. Let’s take a look at some of= the history of the District. In 0= 1/02 standstill, we needed 3.73%, we got 1.96%.= 02/03 we needed 3.4%, we got 2.64%.= Last year again we needed 4.35%, we got 2.6%. This year we need 6.36%. So that’s the pattern that w= e’ve been experiencing here so that’s what I mean by going backwards and t= hus not investing and winding up in situations like the stage lights.

&= nbsp; These numbers, and again I won’t go over every number because in the intere= st of time, but certainly you can ask questions about them if you’d like, they’re outlined once again in both the packet and in the PowerPoint presentation, but these are the numbers that speak to every line item in the budget, every object in the budget, and those totals that you see on the far right hand side, on this page and the next, bring you to that 6.36% that I = just told you about. And then the remaining of the budgets will bring us to the overall request of 7.37%, so = you can see that in effect, the School District is seeking about 1% in a practical sense of an increase, because 6.36% of that 7.37% is in fact required to stay even.

&= nbsp; We have a couple of slides in here that point to the increasing expectations in the area of special education. Again I won’t spend time with it, but you can see it, and you can see that = the percentage of the student’s population in special ed is growing, the number of students is growing, the number of teachers has stayed flat, and that’s why part of that 1% that I talked about in terms of the increa= se we’re looking for, that 1% difference between 6.36% and 7.37%, part of that 1% that we’re requesting another special education teacher at the high school, because of the factors that you see presented in these special education slides. You can see= for example here, the number of special education students has grown from 379 to 429. And by the way I just wa= nt to point out to you that we talked about special education, see the needs in t= he area of special education have also increased, it’s not just a matter of the number. There is a term called co-morbidity which essentially means that students are presenting more than one disabili= ty, and often times, so a student might present schizophrenia and a learning disabi= lity, and so obviously this complicates the response that we have to bring, and of course there are increasing, least restrictive environment issues in terms = of what the State regulations are, and the State emphasis is, and there are fa= mily issues that are ever increasing in all of the communities.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 7

&= nbsp; This slide just shows what happens if in fact the budget has to be reduced any f= urther. It just shows you, for example, if= this budget has to come down from, to 7.25%, how much more money we would have to cut, and what would happen if we had to come down further, to 7% and how mu= ch more money we’d have to find, how much more money we’d have to = cut, and if you think about that if you would, in relation to the next few slides I’m going to show you, the Board of Education, in order to move from = that 17 plus percentage in terms of budget projection that we gave them, down to 11.9% had to cut the following (inaudible). We had looked to put the World Lan= guage program back at Swift that was cut last year at the end to get to 2.6%. That got cut. We had looked to finally put a Soc= ial Worker in our School District, we had no Social Worker in any of our schools. I just talked about the increasing= needs that families bring and that kids present.= We have no Social Workers. But again that was cut, it was already cu= t in the first round, so to speak.

&= nbsp; Then these items as well, in terms of non-certified staff requests, you can see them, some of them were new requests in areas that were receiving increasing demands around, particularly as a result of No Child Left Behind, the Feder= al Legislation. There’s a = great deal more accountability that’s required in terms of, and in being ab= le to collect data, and warehouse data, and analyze that data in particular wa= ys, becomes ever more important to us, but we cut positions that might have, and opportunities that might have allowed us to do a better job with that, and = as those cuts continued you can see that in-service professional development, = and I heard someone say today that to say that we don’t need professional development is like telling a lawyer not to prepare before they go into court. Teachers need to prepa= re before they go into a classroom, and that preparation has to be constant, because things don’t remain stagnant, the process, we have processes = that we need to use to get to every kid, No Child Left Behind, the Strategic Plan calls for every kid to be successful.

&= nbsp; Academically my dad, not to spend a lot of time with it, but my dad was able to quit sch= ool in 8^th grade. He didn’t want to, but he had to to help take care of his younger brothe= rs and sisters, but he was able to find work, he was able to go into the milit= ary, he was able to do some things. Now there’s an expectation, through the Federal Legislation, through our = own Strategic Plan, that says every kid, every kid has to be proficient at leas= t on State testing unless there is some I.E.P. exception. That’s huge, huge, and so the landscape changes and teachers need constant reinforcement to constantly ha= ve the ability to learn new strategies and apply them.

&= nbsp; We cut again, all these items you can see. In construction we cut over $3,000,= 000 from the original projections, and so a lot of the work that we hoped to accompl= ish in terms of some of the, one for example, the locker rooms at the High Scho= ol, which again accreditation when that team comes through we had hoped to have= those locker rooms in better shape, we had to cut those, and the cuts go on. I’m emphasizing this, folks,= because these are items that are already gone, so when you think back to that slide= I showed you about for every 1/2 a percent “x” amount more has to= be cut, you can see why that is so severe.&nb= sp; All of these items cut, gone already. Auditorium rep= airs – gone.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 8

&= nbsp; Take a look at some of the issues that have already been cut. At Heminway if you overlook the fa= lling snow you can see some of the chipped paint along the top there, that was on= e of the items we intended to fix, but we are not able to fix it in the current = budget request. You can see the pavi= ng at Judson. Some of this work we = had hoped to accomplish this year in terms of patchwork, if you look, good patc= hwork, but to do the Judson paving project the way we had hoped to do it, we simply (inaudible) out there and won’t be there even in this budget. The locker roo= ms at the High School, just to give you an idea of some of the conditions there.<= /span> Door replaceme= nt, excuse me, at the high school. I don’t have to tell you about the auditorium (inaudible).

&= nbsp; And so the cuts continued in order to get to the 7.37%. Desks, chairs, I’m not going= to elaborate, again in the interest of time, but believe me we have chairs and= equipment in these buildings that have been around for an awful long time, and they a= re in disrepair, and principals are very concerned, and we maintained it in th= e budget as long as we could and then we finally had to let them go. Textbooks, equ= ipment.

&= nbsp; In the area of athletics, at this point in time the pay to participate accommodation has been cut, in other words it is not a part of the new budg= et, so the revenue that we were able to collect this year for pay to participat= e is not a part of next year’s budget; a part of why we’re at 7.37%. And then the cuts cont= inued, and as they did we asked the Board to use this diagram of this model to consider what they were cutting, so as they looked at an item, we numbered = all the items in relation to this, whether or not they had the most impact on students or a lesser impact on students, and the cuts continued as we went = to the next exercise to get it down to 7.52% and these items are all reduced.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I won’t read them to you, you can see them; point out a couple of things.

&= nbsp; Again all of the construction projects have been cut. Our new Operations Director outlin= ed every project, gave us a priority for each and every project at each and ev= ery building. This is the money that’s left, $36,000. Cut $827,000. And so it goes, eliminating or red= ucing requests in the Maintenance Departments.&n= bsp; I’ll give you a chance to look at it. And again these are all in the pac= ket, so if I’m moving too quickly you have the opportunity to look at them later, attain more cuts. So all of these items have been reduced already. I guess I’ve made the point,= including a Grade1 teacher and a Grade 2 teacher, current positions.

&= nbsp; We were able to realize some savings, actually the budget we sent to the Town = was 7.52%, but because insurance providers let us know that increases would not= be as severe as we had anticipated, we were able to pick up a few dollars ther= e, and Frank Nardelli’s office let us know about that, and so now itR= 17;s down to 7.37%.

&= nbsp; The other point I’d like to make to you is in your packet, the yellow bou= nd packet in particular you will see each building broken down. What does it cost next year to run Polk? What does it cost to run Swift? And so on, it’s = all there for you, so that you can review it line by line. Obviously this provides a clear pi= cture of the structure and anticipated costs for each building, as well as those issues that are funded centrally.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 9

&= nbsp; I’ll just give you a quick example, again I won’t spend time with it (Tape= #1, Side A ended – may have missed some). Polk’s budget is requiring 7= .53% of the total budget for the school district. And then again we have it broken do= wn system-wide as well. These ar= e the items that are funded centrally, so as much as possible we’d like to spread the costs, we like to identify and assign the costs as they should b= e to the buildings where the money is being used and often times, in certain cas= es funding is required across the district and we can’t identify or can’t specify it to a building, so we fund it separately. And those continue. Again there is no attempt here to = gloss over any of this, I’m simply trying to move along because I know we h= ave a Town presentation to hear as well, but all the information is there for y= ou should you have questions. Th= at is the end of the presentation. = My staff and I are here for questions and answers, but I imagine the Town might want to go first. Thank you.<= o:p>

&= nbsp; Mr. Hebert: Does everybody have an outline of the Town Budget? T= he recommended budget from the Town Manager came out to $21,267,839. After hearing from all the departm= ents and making some, and listening to what everybody needed= , the following changes that the Finance Committee made where we transferred $13,000 out of the Fire Department Engineer 5 Repair Account to Economic Development. We took $10,00 from the Elections Budget for voting machine and we increased the law portion of the budget by $2,000 for a pager, and we added $50,000 for land acquisition.

&= nbsp; The two points that came out of the Finance Committee meeting was that we have = to improve our economic development and they need money to work with and we ne= ed to start trying to do something for land acquisition. That brought the revised budget to $21,309,839. In the budget th= ere was an increase of 15% for auto insurance.= At this time the way our year falls with the insurance year, it was a guess. For us there was no in= crease this year. The reduction for = the Town was $45,335. We ended up= with an increase of bonding for a revised budget of $21,274,437 which represents= a difference of $2,587,105 or a 13.81%. The current mill rate is 25.91, that woul= d be reduced to 22.86.

&= nbsp; Some of the other reasons for the increase in the budget this year were:

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = A = Temporary Secretary at the Town Clerk’s Office because of all the refinancing a= nd handling all the records and filing a clerk, that had to stay in there beca= use the assumption was last year that we wouldn’t need it any more, but t= he Town Clerk is still very busy so that ended up staying. They also needed some more money f= or a dedicated line for all the programs and software that she uses that the cur= rent phone line couldn’t take care of, so we needed a deducted line for th= at.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = We= added $50,000 for land acquisition/

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = $1= 6,289 to help with the Data Processing demands

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = $5= 2,000 for the balance of the reevaluation costs

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = $5= 4,500 for the Plan of Conservation and Development Update

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = $3= 9,000 to the Fire Department for a new car III and continuance of the exhaust sys= tem for $9,800, and their budget ended up being down, their request went down by $29,000 from the previous.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 10

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = The Police Department is getting a new officer, 2 new cruisers, and equipment f= or $72,250, and a new recording system to monitor the jail cells from the outs= ide of the building.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = So= cial Services is getting more funding for a Part Time Secretary, cause the money was funded by Federal. That’s no longer available so that’s a cost at $10,468.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = Hi= ghway Department, position new Laborer, to help with the State mandated Storm Wat= er Management Requirements. There is also an increase for $75,000 for asphalt cause Town Road= Aid was reduced. There is also equipment for tires and rehabilitation money and other paving issues that we have to have funding now.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = So= lid Waste, the tipping fees from C.R.R.A. have increased again, $466,652. The Council has to look at what we’re going to do with that.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = A = new laborer at the Parks Department to keep up with service demands. There is also $77,800 for new equi= pqmnt and machine to replace obsolete and non-functioning equipment.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = In Recreation there is some money to get a shortfall in one fund, for what they call Fund 70, their recreation expenses.&n= bsp; We’re going to be looking at that.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = Th= ere is also $50,000 for JS work to be done with the Water and Sewer Department to = help map everything in Town, so it’s easier to find information and keep t= rack of what we have in Town.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = Th= ere’s an increase in (inaudible) insurance costs and worker’s compensation costs.

·<= span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> = Th= ere was also an increase for bonding issue for the Firehouse addition, high sch= ool track, and public works.

&= nbsp; So after 6 or 7 or 8 meeting ago, I don’t remember how many we had, the final budget that we decided to recommend to = the Town, for the Town’s side, is $21,274,473.

&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: If I might just add some information regarding the revenue picture as well. Councilman Hebert has g= one through the expenditures with you. You will note in the budget that we have used a significant portion = of the Fund Balance, about $315,000, and we are also adding in money that came= from the John = Trumbull School and the financing that was done on that, that was $550,000 that we do not n= eed for the project and we were able to bring that forth. It was basically a latent savings account so to speak because it was not needed for the project, and so that money has been brought into the budget to make up some of the shortfalls. We continue to see decreases in St= ate aid, both on the School side and on the Town’s side and so the funds = that we needed to support the budget obviously have to come from somewhere so th= ey come from the tax base. We ha= ve, as you know, we’ve increased significantly in solid waste and we have an increase in the General Fund debt due to the referendum that was passed, th= e 3 projects that we passed back in November, so there’s about $500,000 in the budget in terms of expenses there, so we have tried wherever possible to make up the revenue shortfall from the State, in both the School and the To= wn budgets, but revenue is short in all aspects and we have these increases as you’ve heard that make it almost impossible to make up without anythi= ng other than a tax increase.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 11

&= nbsp; You should note that we continue, as I said, to be under reduction from the Sta= te, and if you take into account the existing budget year and the prior year cu= ts, and in addition to that about $300,000 in Federal aid that the School lost because of demographics in, the community no longer supported those funds, = we have lost in excess of $2,000,000 over the last couple of years in revenue.= You simply can’t make that up and keep your operations running.

&= nbsp; And Dr. Ramos had discussed with you earlier about the need to just keep steady= on the school side. We would ech= o that on the Town side, and say that if you want your roads repaired and you want police services, there is obviously a cost to keeping those services, much = less trying to improve them and move the community forward, and so what we tried= to do in this budget is to present a budget that recognizes the need to move forward, recognizes the impact that the revenue side of things has had on t= he budget, and still try and provide for the services that we need and move the community forward, and that’s a very difficult task both on the school and on the Town’s side, and so we’ve done the best we could in = scaling it down wherever possible, but it’s been so many years that that has happened in this community that, as you heard on the school side, we’= re not even breaking even in terms of whatever needs to be, and we’re certainly not moving forward, and so for both the Town and the School we’re trying to move forward with this budget.

R= obert LeBlanc, 78 Highland Avenu= e, Watertown, CT 06795=

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: It was just mentioned by the Town Manager that we had money left over from the General Fund from the school f= or $550,000. Is that money to b = used or are we going to wait until we find out all the repairs that are needed on that school? I’d be car= eful if we do use that money for this year’s budget and find out next year that the building has deteriorated to such a point that it’s going to cost us over $1,000,000 to fix, and we have to go to the General Fund.=

&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: On the John Trumbull School, that was authorized for $22,000,000 and we bonded $21,000,000 and we had approximate= ly $1,500,000 interest income from investing those proceeds throughout the project. So if you take the $21,000,000 that was bonded, add the $1,000,000 to it, gives us the $22,000,000. The extra $500,0= 00 in interest we transferred to the General Fund as a revenue source, so the $22,000,000 is still in tact for the John Trumbull School.

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: Well it was just a suggestion I wo= uld have (inaudible) until we get the repairs done at that school before we hav= e to come to the people again as we did on the Polk School roof and have to go t= o a special referendum to get the roof fixed.

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Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 12

&nbs= p; Ms. Robson: There is almost $400,000 still in = that account to take care of the issues that are still open, so this is money fr= om the financing that we’re putting into the budget as a revenue, but we still have almost $400,000 to do the repairs.

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: Whatever happened to the monies that was turned down, or the funding that was turned down= for Polk School for $500,000? Who paid that b= ill? Is that in this year’s budget= ? That was December 4^th, you got a letter from the State Department of Education stating they disall= owed approximately $500,000?

&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: What the State = does in that situation, that came under the old bondi= ng proceeds where the State reimburses us each year, every time we make a bond payment, so they just reduce their future reimbursements to the Town by that amount, they allocate it over the life of the bond.

&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: It’s confu= sing, but I’ll accept it.

&nbs= p; Mr. Nardelli: To answer your question, yes, it is fac= tored into the budget because we are still making the bond payments, it’s j= ust that (inaudible) over the life of the bond is going to give us that much le= ss.

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: Approximately how much are we payi= ng for interest payments on bonding now, and if the 3 questions stay up, how much = will it cost us in interest payments? Can you give me that figure off hand, roughly?

&nbs= p; Mr. Nardelli: I believe Meredith has that. Right now in the current budget it’s like $3,500,000 for that service a year, but that changes every = year depending on what new bonds come on, what new bonds (inaudible).=

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: The 3 new bonding issues that are = up, approximately what would it be with this $3,500,= 000?

&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: Can you repeat yo= ur question?

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: If we’re paying $3,500,000 in interest per year now, how much will we be adding if the 3 questions, Polk School, Swift Junior High and Turkey Brook get approved, what will the inte= rest payments be projected next year?

&nbs= p; Mr. Nardelli: Are you saying interest and princi= pal, or just the interest?

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: No, just the interest.

&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: And you’re saying next year’s budget, you’re talking 05/06?

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April 27, 2004

Page 13

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: The $3,500,000 plus = the 3 projects, approximate, I’m just trying to get an idea of what’s going on.

&nbs= p; Ms. Robson: For Swift the interest would be $476,531, but that is not included in= the existing budget. For Turkey B= rook it would be $32,513, and for Polk it would be $9,881.

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc I thank you for that information. Mr. Hebert said they were putting = in 2 new cruisers on for about $72,000 in the Police Department. When you say cruisers, do you mean= black and whites or executive type cars? I asked that question last year before the budget and I was told you were going to buy patrol cars for the Policemen, the black and whites, and = they changed their minds for some reason or another and they got 2 executive type cars. Now are these 2 cars go= ing to the patrolmen or the executives? Are they black and whites?

&nbs= p; Ms. Robson: The reason things changed is becau= se we went through in great detail the vehicle inventory for the Police Departmen= t, and their marked fleet is in pretty good shape in terms of mileage and needs there, so we changed it for the unmarked.&= nbsp; It doesn’t mean, I’m not quit= e sure what you mean when you refer to executive type, but it is for detective and unmarked patrol uses.

&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Does that includ= e the Chief and the Assistant Chief’s cars, or is that considered cruiser c= ars or whatever you want to call them?

&nbs= p; Ms. Robson: It may include theirs, but theirs = then get turned back into the fleet.

&nbs= p; Mr. LeBlanc: Thank you for that response. Is this the appropriate forum to a= sk about the two questions, or shall I wait until the next meeting? Are two questions on the rereferen= dum, if one goes down, one stays up, is this the proper forum?

&= nbsp; Mr. Kane: We do have a special meeting after this where we will decide whether it be one question or two questions, however Public Participation is not on the Agenda, but you’= ;re more than welcome to stay.

G= reg Jewiss, Apple Hill Road, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. = Jewiss: = You keep on discussing how you guys all need to stay equal and not fall back or anything. Who’s helping= us to stay equal? If we have a $5,0= 00 tax bill and we show up this year and suddenly you want $7,000, how do we stay equal? We don’t have any increase and we don’t get to realize any increased value until we sell our properties. All we are is= out thousands and thousands every year. How are we supposed to keep funding these increases?

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Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 14

Mr. Hebert: Unfortunately I don= 217;t have a proper answer for that that I can give you. Everything keeps going <= span class=3DGramE>up, I mean that’s a fact of life unfortunately.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We’re all taxpayers also and= we have the same problems. I understand your concern, but I don’t have a proper answer to give you, there is no magic answer.

Mr. Jewiss: Is there any considera= tion being given to balancing the increase that we’ve seen? Also do you ha= ve a breakdown of what percent the Grand List went up because of new development versus what was tacked onto the current residents?

Mr. Kane: We do have the increas= e in the Grand List. Is that what you’re asking?

Mr. Jewiss: Well I wanted to know = what part was from incremental growth, new students that moved into the area, et= c., all the new building that’s been going up around Town versus increases that were made up on the existing properties?

Mr. Kane: Well typically with new development you do have an increase on the Grand List for the property, how= ever when there are children in the home, you now have to educate those children= in the school system, so what you make on the property is unfortunately less t= han what you’re spending on having the children in the school system. I don’t know if there is a g= ain, or I’d say there might be even a loss (inaudible).<= /p>

Mr. Jewiss: I don’t think th= ere is any disagreement there would be a loss. I don’t know if there is any tieback of that to the Zoning Department and all that that are approving th= ese new subdivisions.

Mr. Kane: We, as the Council ask= ed the Planning and Zoning Department to have a moratorium on housing development,= and we were declined by their Board for that.&= nbsp; But we did ask for such a moratorium, yes.

Mr. Jewiss: I hear that we’l= l be doing a re-evaluation every 4 years instead of every 10, so we can look for= ward to one of these catch up budgets every 4 years now?

Mr. Kane:= The State of Connecticut mand= ated a 4 year statistical reevaluation. I believe that may be changing in the Legislature now, going to a 5 year. Has that passed? It has not passed yet, but I belie= ve there’s talk to change to a 5 year.

Ms. Robson: You mentioned somethin= g about connecting the reval to the, as you called it, the catch up budget; I would suggest to you that the budget you have before you in terms of the mill rate certainly has something to do with the reval because that impacts it, but in terms of the operational needs and the expenditures that we feel we need to make, that really has, it’s not impacted by the reval per say, itR= 17;s impacted by the many years of 1% increases, 2% increases across the board, that’s what’s driving the increase this year. Again, the mill rate impact is the= re because of the reval, but it doesn’t have to do, per say, with the th= ings that we’re trying to fund.

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Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 15

Mr. Jewiss: Do you think that if t= he taxpayers held you to those small rates of increase in the past that they’re suddenly going to bite off a 10% increase this year?

Mr. Hebert: The reason the budget = came out the way it did is because we felt there were a lot of issues that had t= o be addressed. We tried to address equipment issues, personnel issues, building issues, but we also tried to g= ive money to economic development to help them attract business to Town, and we= put in $50,000 for land acquisition which is what we need to start doing because eventually there’s not going to be much or anything left.<= /span>

Mr. Jewiss: That’s a whole o= ther topic there. I’ve been = trying to follow the articles where for each of these developments you’re de= eded over some of the acres and you don’t like this piece because it’= ;s rocky or its wetlands, or this special interest group wants to get their ha= nds on prime junk, I saw one (inaudible) to accept those pieces and sell them o= ff and demand that he get the choicest lots out of the subdivision, that type = of thing, but putting aside a $50,000 chunk doesn’t seem like it’s going to buy you much. You= 217;ll be at it 20 years before you can buy anything worthwhile.=

Mr. Hebert: But the hope is that t= hat is a start. Is that a perfect an= swer? No, but it’s a start, and th= at’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to increase business in Town to take the load off= the residential taxpayer, but it’s going to be a long process.=

Ms. Robson: If I can just add one = thing, too, regarding the Planning and Zoning Commission and their approval applications, they are very restricted by State Statute and Regulation as to what they can and cannot approve, and to a large extent they can’t si= mply, because someone may come in and want to develop residentially, they canR= 17;t simply say you’re developing residentially, I’m sorry, we’= ;re not going to take a look at the application, so I think it’s just important to keep in mind that they deal with a very rigorous statutory framework, or regulatory framework under which they make their decisions, a= nd so it isn’t quite as easy as saying we don’t want to have residential development in Town. However, having said that, as hopefully most, if not all of you know= , we have a Study Circle process going on in Town right now to provide public in= put to the Plan of Conservation and Development, and that is being revised by t= he Planning and Zoning Commission starting probably next week, so they will be taking into account the comments and the input that come, not only from the Study Circle process, but also from all the public meetings that they’= ;ll have regarding that document, and so if things are to change based on what = the community wants, that will be the vehicle for the Planning and Zoning proce= ss for public input into what folks would like to see happen in Town.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 16

Tom Appalage, = 6 Country Drive, Watertown<= /st1:City>, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Appalage: I just want to praise = the Town Council and the Board of Education for taking the steps that they̵= 7;ve taken. This increase is a pay= me now or pay me later deal, and I know it’s hard for people, but we’re facing also inflation in the future, the economy doesn’t = look that great, and we’ve neglected an awful lot in this Town for a long time. Just so, in case some p= eople here don’t realize, pertaining to the Board of Education, we spend ab= out $7,200 per student; State average is $9,000. If that isn’t falling back i= nto a hole I don’t know what is. We’re shortchanging the kids in this school system and in my, = the only thing I can say to you, at least in my support and a lot of people tha= t I know, if this budget fails, cut it $1.00 and put it back up because we are = not doing ourselves any favors in the future.&= nbsp; Again, I thank you for what you’ve done, I think you’ve = done the right thing, I don’t think it’s enough, but it’s a start. Thank you.<= /span>

Denise Russ, 135 Porter street, Waterto= wn, CT 06795

Ms. Russ:= I just have 3 things. = In the budget there is the Historic District. They have roughly $= 2,000 some odd dollars in this coming budget.&nb= sp; I thought when the Historic District was organized we weren’t going to have to fund them a penny, they were going to be self sufficient, = and since the organization was put together we’ve been giving them money. How come we’re f= unding them when we were told up front that there wouldn’t be any funding for them?

Mr. Hebert: Some of those expenses= are for staff that’s assisting and for mail and binding and other miscellaneous expenses that they have.

Ms. Russ: What do you mean by st= aff that’s assisting?

Mr. Hebert: There are certain thin= gs that, like the Building Inspector who have been assisting them with, what t= he exact nature of (Tape #1, Side B ended – may have missed some).<= /o:p>

Ms. Russ: That’s another c= oncern because the Building Inspector, whether we had the Historic District or not he’d still be working in the same area that the Historic District is = in, and I believe he’s on salary, and normally salaried people do above and beyond a 40 hour a week work.

Mr. Kane: I apologize, I’m wrong. If you look at Page 25, you’ll see a breakdown on the Historic Commission: $500 for Minutes Secretary, $300 f= or Training/Meetings, $500 for Binding, $500 for Advertising, $75 for Membersh= ips, $300 for Office Supplies, $100 for Reference Materials, $50 for Photographic Supplies, totaling $2,300 that you mentioned, so that was my fault, I apolo= gize for that.

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Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 17

Ms. Russ:= That’s quite all right, but still the fact is we were told nothing was going to go into that= budget, because a lot of people were against the Historic District, it was just ano= ther layer of government that we’d have to go through and we were told no money at all, but it’s in here and I personally don’t support that. And the other thing I don’t support is for the Building Inspector, that $1,500 increase in = his salary to help the Historic District, even though you say he’s not getting that for the Historic District, but that’s the impression we = all got in this Town.

My = other question is with the water operations, now I don’t know, there’= s a line on Page 76, I know the Water and Sewer, half comes out of Water and ha= lf comes out of Sewer for salaries, and on Page 76 there’s a new Utility Maintainer for $45,432. Are t= hose the two gentlemen that work out in the field, combined salary, that used to= be a Maintainer I and a Maintainer II? What is that ?

Mr. Kane: Frank, do you want to = answer that?

Frank Jodaitis, Water Superintendent

Mr. Jodaitis: There are 2 Maintainer II’s, the are split differently, but essen= tially you end up with a full salary in each, that’s, and then the Maintaine= r I Meter Reader is what is split 50/50.

Ms. Russ: That’s what I th= ought, but I just wanted clarification. My last concern is Town Clerk, on Page 17, you said there was a Part Time Secretary I position that you’re keeping in, because it’s very = busy up there, or did I misunderstand?

Ms. Robson: It’s a temporary position.

Ms. Russ: The Secretary I positi= on?

Mr. Kane: $4,000?

Ms. Russ:= Yes.=

Ms. Robson: No, that’s addit= ional part time help. She has had . . . = . the temporary position is in the $22,260.

Ms. Russ: And Secretary I for $4= ,000?

Ms. Robson: That’s just part= time help, mostly during the Summer.

Ms. Russ: So there’s rough= ly $28,000 for extra help in the Town Clerk’s Office? With the $4,000 and the $22,000 be= cause part time salaries you have $22,260 plus the $4,000.

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Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 18

Ms. Robson: Right, the temporary position is there to get us over the hump for basically the land records.

Ms. Russ: I have a problem with = that also because in the past, the Town Clerks, they never had that kind of mone= y in their budget for part time help and they never got behind on their work. Talking with them they used to go = in on a Saturday morning and work, and I don’t understand why our current T= own Clerk and her employees can’t do that also to save us some money.

Ms. Robson: I can tell you that th= ere is additional work being done in that office.= The problem is that with everybody refinancing that office has been = hit tremendously by the number of records that they have to maintain, and so th= ey are several months behind and so we’re trying to catch up so when fol= ks come and look at the records it’s obviously up to date. And so itR= 17;s a different, what’s happened in today’s climate with the refinancing is different than what happened in previous years, in terms of = the intensity and the number of them.

Ms. Russ:= I accept your explanat= ion, and thank you, but we’ve also had in past years, I believe when mortg= age rates really went down and we had a run on refinancing also, and they seeme= d to do it on their own, with no extra help.&nb= sp; Thank you.

Al Mickel, 173 DiNunzio Road, Oakville= , CT&nbs= p; 06779

Mr. Mickel: I went through this twi= ce looking for land acquisitions, and I found on Page 22 the line item for land acquisitions and it was different from the figure you gave, so it must be t= he wrong place. Can you tell me where = the current land acquisition is?

Mr. Kane: In the Town Council bud= get.

Mr. Mickel: Okay, so it’s not= in the Planning and Zoning budget.

Mr. Kane: No.

Ms. Robson: The land acquisition, i= f you were looking in the Planning and Zoning budget and you saw land acquisition= for $500,000?

Mr. Mickel: That’s the only one I found.

Ms. Robson: That was the proposed a= mount requested by the department, but you’ll see in the final column on the right, you’ll see there’s no funds available there.<= /span>

Mr. Mickel: I was looking for the $50,000.

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Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 19

Mr. Nardelli: It’s on Page 5.

Mr. Mickel: The next question is a= bout the GIS which is the General Funding, and we hea= rd talk about the Water and Sewer, using for the Water and Sewer, it’s in the General Fund and I’m sure it can be used for a lot more than just= the Water and Sewer. Is that the intention?

Ms. Robson: Yes, it’s actual= ly a combination project between the Town and the Water and Sewer Department for aerial flight data, the base tax maps, road center lines, those types of things, and so where it’s appropriate to charge to Water and Sewer, t= hat would be charged to Water and Sewer, and where it’s appropriate to ch= arge for General Town use, it would be charged there.

Mr. Mickel: So eventually the Tax = Maps can be updated with GIS?

Ms. Robson: Yes.=

Jack Traver, <= st1:Street w:st=3D"on">Park Road, Watertown, CT <= st1:PostalCode w:st=3D"on">06795

Mr. Traver: I want to address one i= tem, and that’s land acquisition. One of the gentlemen up before was asking what d= o we do, as taxpayers, what’s out there for us to help us pay the taxes. And we all share that problem, I don’t think any of us were spared this year, I think we kind of got in the cross hairs, but there is something that can be done and it falls under= the area of land acquisition. I t= ry not to be someone that follows what’s in Vogue, but if you notice that Roxbury, Washington, Bethlehem, Woodbury, Southbury, and every other town in this area that’s covered by the newspaper, they have very formal prog= rams to buy up open space, open land for one or two purposes, for either active recreation or passive preservation, and in any case what they do is to take this property off the market in terms of residential development, and it se= ems as though everybody is in agreement that residential development, although it’s certainly a great thing, and if this Town hadn’t been developed none of us would be here, but on the other hand if we’re talking about taxes and what can be done, that is something that we all collectively can do to help ourselves, and that is to take potential land o= ff the market for residential development. So the gentleman’s comment was $50,000 won’t buy you muc= h, it will take you forever to get enough money together to do something that’s really effective, but on the other hand this is a first tentat= ive step for Watertown to get mentally geared up to do something in a positive fashion, and that’s to take some of what remains of undeveloped prope= rty off the market to benefit all of us. So that’s my very simple thing that I can say what can we do to help ourselves, and $50,000 is perhaps a drop in the bucket, but on the oth= er hand if we do this at least we got the bucket under the spicket finally, so= I commend you for having the courage to put this item in the budget, and hopefully it’s there when the final budget is passed. Thank you very much.

Watertown Town Council

Budget Public Hearing

April 27, 2004

Page 20

Gail Sangree, = Northfield Road, Watertown, CT 06795=

Ms. Sangree: I would like to second = what Jack Traver just said, and also to point out that this Town needs playing fields quite desperately, and setting aside some money for land acquisition will enable us to eventually buy land for baseball, soccer, and other playi= ng fields that are in very short supply in the Town.

Mr. = Hebert: Anyone else wish to speak? I’ll adjourn this meeting.

3.&nb= sp; Adjournment=

&= nbsp; Mr. Hebert Closed the Public Hearing at 8:22 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Raymond Hebert, Vice Chairman

Watertown Town Co= uncil

&n= bsp;

A= pproved: _______________________________

Lynn M. LaF= orme, Clerk