Staff Writer
Posted: 02/13/2009 07:19:27 PM EST
NEW FAIRFIELD -- Town and school officials endorsed separate budgets this week that call for a combined tax increase of just under three percent.
The majority of the increase comes from the school district's contractual salary obligations.
The Board of Education approved a budget Tuesday that calls for a 2.79 percent spending increase, the majority of which is a $721,000 increase in salaries for teachers and administrators.
The Board of Selectman approved a budget during its meeting Thursday night that actually calls for a spending decrease of nearly 0.5 percent. The town side of spending is about 25 percent of the overall budget.
First Selectman John Hodge asked all department heads to come up with 2009-10 budget proposals that did not increase 2008-09 spending.
"The department heads did a super job this year," he said. "It made what we had to do a lot easier because everyone worked as a team."
He said they were able to reduce municipal spending -- without staff reductions or using any money from the fund balances -- because of savings in utility costs and a reduction in nonrecurring capital expenses.
Hodge said the town's road-paving program, which aims to repave all roads in town on an eight-year cycle, will continue despite the skyrocketing costs of asphalt.
Craig McClain, the director of management services for the school district, said the non-salary portion of its budget, which includes everything except personnel costs, maintained the current year's spending.
He said about $351,000 was saved from reduced debt payments and utility costs. The overall spending increase for the school district is about $1.2 million.
Health care costs, however, are projected to increase about 12 percent through next year, a $481,000 increase over current spending. Officials hope the actual health care costs are lower than the projections.
Finance director Jay Waterman said the town and school budgets as presented would result in an estimated tax increase of about 2.9 percent.
The budget proposals will now go before the Board of Finance for its review and consideration.
