Board of Finance Works on Final Budget Proposal

With the town meeting on the budget fast approaching, the Suffield Board of Finance took steps to finalize their proposal to town residents. The most contentious among the items up for debate was the plan to eliminate the trash collection fee and roll refuse costs into the mill rate.

The proposal would see a roughly 3 percent increase in the tax rate to cover the cost of the removal of the individual collection fee. Beginning in the next year, the town should see a roughly $200,000 larger reimbursement from the PILOT grant from the state. The shift to the town tax structure will require the town to offer trash collection to condominium associations and businesses who had previously not been subject to the fee and purchased private trash collection.

Town resident Tom Sheridan Jr. made a case for keeping the fee system in place.

“The present system is the most fair...the cost to pick up trash is evenly distributed among the people who use it,” he said.

He explained that owners of farmland and multiple parcels that do not generate trash would see an unfair increase in their tax burden. Businesses would also be subjected to increased taxes, and he feels in this economic climate, nothing should be done to discourage businesses from entering or expanding in town.

“I agree with what Mr. Sheridan said, except that it is not revenue neutral,” said Board member Brian Kost, who was unsure about the plan, and ultimately voted against it.

The financial benefit ultimately swayed the majority of the Board of Finance, and the motion to adopt the proposal passed by a four to two margin with one abstention. Chairman Justin Donnelly expressed his belief that the town residents must be educated to the fact that although they will see an increase in the mill rate under this plan, the additional trash collection bill will be completely eliminated. The average taxpayer would see a net savings under the proposal, while those with property exceeding roughly $500,000 of assessed value would see an increase.

The Board approved the request of the Police Commission and Police Chief Mike Manzi for the purchase of two new cruisers using money from the off-duty fund. The move is meant to assure that the Department can acquire Ford Crown Victoria cruisers before that model of car is replaced with a new Ford Interceptor. The move would avoid the expected price increase of the Interceptor as well as the possibility of “first-year bugs” from which many new vehicles suffer.

In response to a request from the Board of Finance, the police representatives presented a report detailing crime statistics in comparison to similar municipalities in Connecticut. While acknowledging that comparing statistics in this way is never perfect, they felt that the Suffield Police Department was performing well at its current staffing and resource level compared to the other towns.

Officers were especially proud of the results of the canine sweep of Suffield High School. The sweep took no more than twenty minutes and found no drugs in the facility, although one misdemeanor arrest was made for a controlled substance found in a car in the parking lot.

Board members debated the various options available to them concerning possible tax increases and revenue offsets of the budget proposal. Even though a memo of understanding had been issued to the Selectman's office (who signed the document) and the Board of Education (who supported, but did not sign) to keep the spending levels flat over last year, both proposals came in higher.

The town government request represents an increase of roughly $150,000 over the previous year, and the Board of Education budget proposal is approximately $560,000 higher, though the schools expect a $350,000 federal grant to offset the increase.

The options available include using some of the more than $2.5 million in the fund balance the town has accumulated, asking for reductions from the budgets, or raising the mill rate to offset the increased spending. Members were divided ideologically over the right approach. While most agreed a zero increase would be a favorable scenario, they disagreed over how to achieve that goal.

“We are not holding compensation flat, we are not managing our budgets to flat," Kost said. "We have to raise the taxes if we are going to be spending more money. If we want to hold the tax rates flat, then we shouldn't be spending any more money.”

On the other side of the argument, Dennis Kreps felt that the surplus represented over-taxation in the past, and using the fund balance was an appropriate use of the taxpayer's dollars.

The final budget proposal will be voted on at the next meeting of the board on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at the lower level meeting room in Town Hall at 7 p.m.