Video & Public Comment: 2009 Budget Hearing

Here is the video of the 2009 Budget Hearing. There were 4 members of the public who commented, myself included. The others were Susan Kniep, John Bezzini and one honest to goodness average citizen,

Budget Hearing Intro
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M529hpNZoIE]

John Bezzini Comments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwLPSX2mtVU]

Susan Kniep Comments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfs9Rdj0eSU]

Susan Kniep Comments Contd.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8sN3dPVJbw]

Shelly Ranney Comments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNj1EN3ATng]

Jon Searles Comments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnnW9F3x1I]

Here is the budget commentary I submitted:

East Hartford Town Council Members,

First, I’d like to commend the effort of the Mayor to bring forward a budget which doesn’t increase taxes on residents or businesses in a time when neither can afford it. This is an accomplishment I thought I would never see.

That being said I have found some immediate issues with the budget as presented. While the Mayor does indeed appear to have made a solid effort to cut back and balance the budget as honestly as possible. I have found that some maintenance items which are part of the 5 year capital improvement plan such as rolling stock replacements have not been included in the budget as presented. Failure to properly fund such items in this budget will provide no real savings to the residents of East Hartford since we will eventually need to purchase extra vehicles to make up for the deferred maintenance. This council was vocal last year about the need for constant and continuous maintenance of the town infrastructure. I believe it was Mr. Kehoe who spoke to the folly of previous councils in neglecting the maintenance of town roads causing the exorbitant repair costs we face today. This is a mistake I should hope will not be repeated.

It is my opinion that the Board of Education has failed to present a budget which adequately shoulders their share of the burden in these hard economic times. This places a disproportionate amount of the reductions on the municipal side.

I am disappointed that despite the unique opportunity and motivation that these hard economic times provide the Mayor and BoE have limited their budget reductions only to levels required to balance the budget and have failed to make meaningful reductions to the tax burdens we all feel. I hope the council will make more serious attempts to do so.

I firmly believe in the editorial advice of the Gazette’s new owner Bill Doak that one shouldn’t tear something down unless they have a plan to fix it and as such I have researched the town budgets from 1999 through 2008 as well as the 2007 and 2008 Blum Shapiro Financial Audits in hopes of identifying areas of excessive growth which may aid you in your budgetary duty. I also attempted to review the last ten years of BoE budgets but was informed by a BoE representative that no physical or electronic copies were readily available prior to 2007. This naturally leads to the question of how the BoE can prepare a budget without historical budget data.

My statistics come from the 2007 and 2008 financial audits for the Council’s convenience. I present this information as mathematical evidence free of the emotional entanglement which too often obscures budgetary issues. Nor have I given any consideration to the political popularity.

What I found is that in the period of 1998 to 2008 the size of the municipal government remained almost the same with a net growth of 5 employees. With the Mayor’s proposed elimination of 20 positions the net change is -15. The largest municipal growth item was the addition of 14 employees in the police department.

While I am not qualified to opine on the cause and effect relationship of these new positions the statistics bear mentioning that arrests are down significantly in 2008 from 1998. Whether this indicates current overstaffing or past understaffing is something for the council to determine, but it warrants a look.

I have also looked at the growth of each summary expenditure item for the ten year period of 1999 to 2008 to see if they indicate any particular arm of the government which could offer opportunities to cut back. Here are the growth rates in order of smallest to largest. These numbers can be compared to the CPI inflation rate of 27.95% for the same period.

Capital Improvements – 24.8%
Legislative – 26%
Debt Service – 28%
Boards & Commissions – 30.5%
Contingency – 33.5%
Development – 33.5%
Executive – 34.4%
Board of Education – 43.6%
Public Safety – 45.4%
Public Works – 48.2%
Parks & Rec. – 51.8%
Health & Social Services – 62.7%
Inspections & Permits – 83.1%
Finance – 114.6%

The education side of town employment shows an entirely different picture. In the period of 1998 to 2008 educational employment showed a net increase of 243 employees. During this period the school systems did experience a significant increase in enrollment, however this enrollment peaked in 2005 at 8,397 students. Despite the subsequent fall from this peak to the current enrollment level which is estimated around 7,000, which is the lowest in over 10 years, employment levels did not decline.

In 2005 the school system had a student to staff ratio of 6.98 with a student to administration ratio of 233.25, a student to teacher ratio of 13.72 and a student to non teacher/admin ratio of 15.15. Based on these ratios, 2008 employment levels and the estimated 7000 students enrolled for 2009-2010 the school system is currently overstaffed to the tune of 19 administrators, 103 teachers and 53 non teacher/administrator positions. While the BoE has already proposed cutting a number of positions for the 2009/2010 budget year there is clearly more room for reductions. Unfortunately due to the lack of BoE budget availability I was unable to identify where these excess positions are located.

It would also be prudent for the BoE to investigate savings associated with school consolidation now that enrollment has fallen so significantly.

I hope the council will give serious consideration to the information I have provided in an attempt to provide legitimate tax relief for the residents and businesses of East Hartford.

Jon Searles

Related Coverage:

http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/03/06/towns/east_hartford/doc49b00ee673682558067510.txt