Parking was hard to come by at the Stafford Community Center on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. A full house of people was ready to hear about both sides of the budget. After a lot of public comment and discussion among the Board of Finance (BOF), the budget passed as proposed for 4-1-1. The total to be raised through taxes is $36,270,821.26, which would require a mill rate of 40.82.
The Board of Selectman's (BOS) side of the budget totals $16,433,875 for a .95% increase over last year. The Board of Education's (BOE) budget is $32,788,741, which is 5.48% higher than the '24-'25 budget. Additionally, the board approved the WPCA’s budget of $2,292,730 and the Service District's budget of $535,000. Watch the recording here.
The budget referendum is scheduled for April 8, 2025.
The public hearing
First Selectman Bill Morrison kicked off the public hearing by presenting the town budget which we covered here, but with one small change. The budget passed by the BOS in January represented a .48% increase or $77,749. However, a few outstanding items have not yet been finalized, including the exact amounts of federal funding and insurance numbers. At the March 5, 2025, Board of Selectmen meeting, Morrison said the insurance numbers were in, and an adjustment to the proposal was needed. The new budget request totaled FY $16,433,874.50, or an overall increase of 0.95%
It’s important to note that the town’s budget includes an increase for paving. Last year, ARPA provided funds for paving, to reach a total of $1 million. Progress is being made, but to continue the momentum, Morrison wants to keep the budget at $1 million, even in the absence of ARPA funds. Additionally, about $80,000 of expenses have been shifted from the Selectman's Budget to the BOE budget.
BOE Chair Sara Kelley and Interim Superintendent Dr. Laura Norbut then presented their budget, which we covered here and here. They reiterated that this budget represents over $1.7 million in reductions from what it would take to roll this year's budget into next, including seven staff positions – which you can learn more about here. They also noted that 48% of the school district’s staff are Stafford residents and that today’s students are the town's future business and property owners. The total request is $32,788,741.33, or a 5.48% increase. As Kelley and Norbut have said many times throughout the process, if the board were to carry this year’s budget into next year, they would need an almost 10% increase.
A string of commenters got up to share their thoughts and stories about the impact of 10 years of budget woes on the school district. Andrea Locke, a resident who volunteers in the schools, said, “I want people to understand the need.” She said there are simply “not enough bodies” in classrooms to handle the needs of some students, which can often be complex and medical. She also noted that students who are at or above grade level do not get enrichment activities to challenge them. “Education is a lot different than it was 20 or 30 years ago,” she said.
Stafford High School math teacher Diane Glettenberg got up and asked teachers who had lost program resources to stand. Then teachers who lost the support of paraprofessionals, course offerings, and so on. She also asked parents whose children who had been impacted by the cuts to stand. Before you knew it, most of the room was standing. She reiterated the point that Kelley and Norbut have made over and over again: there is “nothing left to take besides the staff.”
This theme continued throughout the evening. One teacher who said she convinced her husband to move to Stafford because of its small town charm was now trying to figure out how to get her daughter out of the school system because she does not get the support she needs. She pled with the town to stop passing budgets that are only “good enough.”
Laura Lybarger said it was time to “prioritize not just education, it’s our whole town.” Fran Moriarty, a former member of the Board of Finance, said it was important for people to get out and vote in order to pass a better budget.
Donna Napolitano, a teacher, said she was speaking as a citizen who owns three properties and already pays more than $20,000 in property taxes. “People will not want to come, they will not want to build,” she said, if the school system is subpar. Napolitano said her taxes would go up to $22,000 under the proposed budget, but asked the Board of Finance to send the budget as-is to people and let them vote.
Marc Maynard alluded to last year’s discussion about the condition of roads in town, and warned of “potholes everywhere” in the school system if the town does not invest in them soon. “We need to do it now. It’s getting too late,” he added.
The Board of Finance discussion
By 8:30 p.m., the public hearing closed and the regular Board of Finance meeting began. Chair Steve Geryk started the conversation by discussing the Municipal Spending Cap.
According to the State of Connecticut, “Beginning in FY 18, OPM must reduce the grants to municipalities whose spending, with certain exceptions, exceeds the specified spending cap. The cap is the greater of the inflation rate or 2.5% or more of the prior fiscal year's authorized general budget expenditures. Towns that increase their general budget expenditures over the previous fiscal year by an amount over this cap receive a reduced revenue sharing grant.” The same website, however, also stipulates that municipal spending does not include expenditures “for debt service, special education, or implementing court orders or arbitration awards…”
As the requested budget proposals stand, they represent a 2.23 mill increase, bringing the overall mill rate up to 40.82, a number that will undoubtedly be unpalatable for many. Geryk suggested that a 3.31% increase that aligns with the inflation rate would be a more appropriate increase. That would still be larger than last year’s increase but would not run afoul of the office of OPM.
Geryk noted that two years ago, there were four budget referenda and the budget finally passed at a .99 mill rate increase. He said, “There’s no question that you need the money,” but if the town ends up having multiple budget votes, the impact on the schools will be greater than if they compromise now.
BOF member Matt McKenney agreed, saying, “It builds a slow anger” and that making it palatable on the first try was best. Tony Pellegrino, however, said, “I think it’s up to the town to tell us what direction to go.” Anthony Armelin noted that while he didn’t think the proposal would pass, he would not stand in the way.
“This is a high figure. We would be kidding ourselves to think that it will be easy,” said Dave Walsh. He noted that he had looked at the proposed budget increases of about 20 other towns, and they were all within the same 5%-ish range.
Harold Blake Hatch said he was not as pessimistic as some of the other board members. He said he felt the board and the community had been educated about the proposals and the community should decide. With that, the board put it to a vote. Four members voted yes, McKenney voted against, and Geryk abstained.