Budget Committee Recommends $428.5 Million Budget

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By Bill Slocum
Contributing Editor

BET Budget Committee members hear testimony Monday during “Decision Day” at Town Hall. From left to right, Jeffrey Ramer, Leslie Tarkington, Chairman Jim Lash, and Mary Lee Kiernan.
BET Budget Committee members hear testimony Monday during “Decision Day” at Town Hall. From left to right, Jeffrey Ramer, Leslie Tarkington, Chairman Jim Lash, and Mary Lee Kiernan.

The 2016-17 town budget currently stands at $428.5 million, wit following deliberations Monday by a key Board of Estimate and Taxation subcommittee.

The BET Budget Committee approved the figure, representing just over a $500,000 increase over the budgets proposed by Board of Education Chair Laura Erickson (for schools) and First Selectman Peter Tesei (for the rest of the town.) The budget now goes before the full 12-member BET, which includes the four Budget Committee members.

Afterwards, Budget Committee Chairman Jim Lash said he was pleased with the overall outcome, but concerned about the number of capital projects the town is juggling.

“We really need to take a look at the capital projects going forward,” he said. “When you look to see who does them, it seems it is a small group of people doing everything.”

Much scrutiny at Monday’s meeting, known as “Decision Day” and lasting from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, fell on the Board of Education, which has several large capital projects in the 2016-17 budget. The largest of them, for rebuilding New Lebanon Elementary School, was a cause of consternation for Lash and other committee members.

At a meeting last week, the New Lebanon Building Committee discussed a sizable increase in the cost of the rebuilding project, from $32 million to $40 million. Lash indicated at Monday’s meeting that such fluctuation was unacceptable given the variables at work, including an uncertain reimbursement scenario from the state. “Nobody in this room knows what the project is going to cost,” he noted.

Erickson asked for more time for the Building Committee to nail down a more precise estimate, and was given until the next Budget Committee meeting in two weeks. For the moment, the New Lebanon School project remains on the budget, at its original $32 million figure.

The Budget Committee did cut several items, most notable perhaps a proposed $625,000 increase to increase on-duty firefighters to a minimum of three-person shifts. They also removed three motorcycles from the police budget, and $73,500 for an air-conditioning module at the Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink, a facility which committee member Mary Lee Kiernan noted is due to be replaced.

Other items escaped the axe. Tesei went to bat for one of the key items in his budget, a $250,000 sidewalk project to be built on Pemberwick Road from Halock Drive to Comly Avenue. This came until close committee scrutiny.

Committee member Leslie Tarkington urged a discussion on the issue with the Department of Public Works. Tesei pushed back, saying the town charter does not give the BET management oversight over town departments.

“This item is a direct result of deliberation and dialogue with the residents,” he said. “We spent a lot of time with them, and they expect us to advocate on their behalf.”

Tesei was successful in defeating Tarkington’s motion to cut the item, in a 1-3 vote. He was also successful in what amounted to Monday’s biggest addition to the budget, when he announced a deal with the Fairview Country Club on King Street to purchase 4.14 acres of property where the town can build a combined Northwest Fire Station and Greenwich Emergency Medical Service ambulance post.

Tesei requested, and was granted, $2 million for the purchase, with committee member Jeffrey Ramer moving the item be put on the 2016-17 budget, in accordance with Tesei’s desire to make the land purchase within what he called “a tight time frame.” The vote was 3-1, with Tarkington voicing concern that the proposed fire station would not include volunteers, only paid staff.

The proposed 2016-17 mill rate now stands at 2.77. It had been 2.75 at the outset of Budget Committee discussions.

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