School Closings And Student Declines May Fail To Abate Tax Increases

Last night I attended the the Board of Alderman Meeting to hear the prevailing arguments over the school budget. In attendance were all the top leaders of education including our new Superintendent Ms. Feser.

The topic was what to do about the 2010-11 education increases. The main concerns for the school board was the erosion of funding due to factors beyond their control. These included the rising cost of health care, the normal course of inflation, increases required to educate children with multiple disabilities, and spending cuts in education at the state and federal level.

Each year, when all the costs are added up Milford spends about $86M on education. This figure does not include grants, gate receipts, sports related fund raising, federal funds, and other money issued outside of Milford. When this is added into the equation the figure marches to over a 100M.

Greg Smith the Alderman Chair asked some very pointed questions, he demanded accountability and sound accounting practices. Smith referenced a declining student population, the closing of Simon lake, last years layoff of several school employees and the granting of year over year multimillion dollar increases to the BOE. Smith expressed concern over the BOE proposed budged arguing in defence of seniors and veterans who have not had any benefit increases in two years. Smith also alluded to the fact that there are about 120 foreclosures in Milford and a projected layoff of 25 city employees.

BOE Chair Mark Stapleton called Milford's educational increases sub-par when compared to Fairfield. Stapleton said Fairfield spends 75% of the city budget on education vs. 60% in Milford. Smith rebutted Stapleton by saying "Milford's Taxpayers do a good job of funding education."

The Milford Independent Party on a fact-check of this issue verified per-pupil spending in these two towns via the CERC data sheet. Fairfield spent a total of $151,011,000 vs. $106,963,000. Milford had 7,304 students enrolled and Fairfield had 9,957 students enrolled. The per capita student expenditure is $15,166.31 Per Fairfield pupil vs. $14,644.44 in Milford. Milford spends about $521.88 less per pupil than Fairfield.

Despite these expenditures, concern was then directed at the results of the taxpayers investment in education. Michael Cummings, last years acting Superintendent stated that Milford is part of a school block constructed by the CT Department of Education. That block comprised of scores of schools that rated each town in thirds. Cummings said that Milford's elementary students ranked in the bottom 1/3 when it came to performance and the Middle schools ranked in the Second third.

When the meeting concluded, it ended at "Recess." Smith said that this is because the process of debating the school budget is ongoing and will continue at the next meeting. There was no public comment allowed last night but at least one member of the public brought a sign perched on a chair expressing concern for the integrity of education in Milford. Overall public turnout was about 30 people.

After a careful review of the powers vested in the Board of Alderman, it became clear to me that their ability to affect or alter the school budget is limited. The budget will be either approved or denied depending on the actions of the Board of Education, the continued concessions of the teachers union and possibly the binding arbitration process in Hartford. Until there is a firm decision, the final numbers on the budget will remain uncertain.

Milford's new Superintendent Ms. Feser was quoted this morning by the New Haven Register as stating she is concerned that additional cuts to the BOE budget will compromise the "integrity of the classroom." Some members of the Board of Alderman, after the meeting, corrected their constituents views on similar remarks by reminding them that these "cuts" are not actually "cuts" but rather reductions in the "increase" over last years budget.

Milfords Budget Showdown Looms

Greg Smith the current Republican board of Alderman Chair has placed the below quote on his Facebook page this week and anyone in Milford who is concerned about taxes going up and up along with everything else is encouraged to attend. Smith said:

"The Board of Aldermen will hold a Public Hearing regarding the 2011-2010 Budget on Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7pm in the City Hall Auditorium. This is your chance to be heard and hear what others have to say. I hope to see you there."

The Milford Democrats have posted the following graph (below) on their Democrat Blog. The graph clearly states that the only tax decrease ever realized in Milford was under the leadership of past BOA Chairman Ben Blake. The chart, according to its author states "The Mayor's speechifying aside; the numbers are speaking for themselves. Mayor Richetelli has proposed an average 4.6% annual increase in spending during his tenure."

This years budget, like last years budget marks additional increases that the mayor indicates are required to maintain educational and essential services. The Board of Education last year, closed Simon Lake school and this year taxes are expected to go up again another few hundred dollars per home owner. The bigger problem is the loss of education funds, an estimated 1.5 Million or $7.00 in additional taxes per taxable property.

The Showdown now is on between taxpayers, teachers, and parents. Taxpayers are upset with high tax increases every year, the teachers and city unions are upset with constant requests for concessions and layoff threats, and parents are upset their kids education, along with city services, are in constant decline.

There is not much clarity on where all the money is going and why taxpayers have to pay more every year just so every area of government can be scaled back. This in my opinion is distressing, especially after you look at the above chart and realize that its true we are paying more for less.

Some feel that these problems are symptomatic of a leadership crisis in Milford, that there are abuses of the fiduciary responsibility between taxpayers and their elected leaders. Others blame the unions for being excessive in their demands and off paycheck benefits such as excessive pension contributions, first class health care benefits and office perks negotiated through collective bargaining. 

Some city leaders are squarely placing blame on our elected leaders at the state and federal level. Its their opinion, that they are to blame for not restoring funds to local cities and municipalities. Last month our Mayor Jim Richetelly was up in Hartford protesting the proposed changes to the (MME's) The Chair of Commerce Rep. Jeff Berger spoke about these proposed changes to the Manufacturing Machinery & Equipment reimbursement to municipalities (MME's) in the governor's budget and the potential to affect his and other cities whose budgets rely on these state funds. Rep. Berger has been meeting with colleagues to find alternatives to reduce the impact on local budgets if the proposed cuts are approved.

Milford, like Waterbury, has a very heavy manufacturing base and will be impacted negatively if these funds are lost. Moving forward, if our Democratic Representatives and Senators fail to confront our new governor  the city may have to rely on creative accounting and new ways of procuring tax revenue. This task will be especially difficult in the current down economy where inflation is high, the dollar weak, and public sentiment toward government is at an all time low.

People are fed up with the enigmatic implementation of multiple layers of taxes. The frustration only worsens when people realize those taxes levied upon them are in tandem with a continuing loss of city services. Some have even decried that every year we move a little closer to a community based on "taxation without representation."

While no real significant protests have emerged as of yet in Milford, the Independent party does urge every able citizen to attend the upcoming budget meeting and let them know that this is your town. The budged is not "the budget" the budget is what it needs to be to preserve the integrity of our schools and keep our homes affordable during a period of contraction something the city of Milford continues to struggle with.