Budget Books and Other Documents
Here are all the budget documents for the 2011/2012 budget year. I’m having a bit of difficulty meshing the numbers in the budget with the Mayor’s budget message.
2011-2012 Budget Additional Analysis
2011-2012 Budget Book
2011-2012 Budget Detail
2011-2012 Budget Historical Comparison
2011-2012 Budget Revenue Historical Comparison
2011-2012 Budget Revenue
2011-2012 Form 1 & 2 – New Initiatives and Revenue
Budget Preparation Schedule
Capital Improvement Plan Narrative
Capital Improvement Plan
Capital Improvement Process
Capital Improvement Program Debt Limitation
Capital Leases
Fund Balance and Mill Rate Calculations
Mayor’s Budget Message
Mill Rate Calculation
Personnel-Salary Report
Prior Year Budget Comparison
Recommended Budget Summary
Summary of Existing Debt Service
Year Over Year Tax Comparison
Video: East Hartford Budget Meeting – Public Hearing
East Hartford 2010/2011 Budget Public Hearing Testimony
Here is my testimony for the public hearing on the budget.
We have problems here in East Hartford. We have problems with our municipal government, problems with our school board and problems with the State of Connecticut. All told the lack of leadership in these three arms of government have brought us to this point here tonight. The point of having to sit in front of a microphone and speak before this council on an issue of absolute lunacy, a 9.2% tax hike.
I know that the council minority will not abide such a tax increase and I don’t for a second believe that the council majority has any plans to let it stand either. The question is if not a 9.2% tax increase, what level of tax increase does the council majority have in store for us?
We cannot afford another thin dime and to force any increase on us, particularly in this time of complete financial calamity, is a despicable crime against the taxpayers of East Hartford.
Today greater than 1 in 10 East Hartford workers are unemployed according to the latest Connecticut Department of Labor data.
Adecco, one of the largest Human Resources firms in the United States, reports that 85% of large businesses could not give their employees raises in 2009 and according to George S. May International Company, a business consulting firm boasting over 500,000 clients, 77 percent of small businesses will provide no raises in 2010.
Yet at the same time we, the unemployed and under compensated private sector citizens are being told we must foot the bill for union contracted raises, which in most cases come twice per year, as well as raises for town administrators.
This recommended budget contains greater than one million dollars in new raises.
I am saying NO MORE.
When will you? Certain departments under this recommended budget, such as the fire department and parks maintenance have recommended salary increases approaching and exceeding 10%.
East Hartford has been running in the red for years and yet those at the helm have seen a steady stream of ever increasing green. This year East Hartford saw a decrease in our Net Grand List of .38% or 11.7 Million dollars.
Why is our Grand List shrinking? I suggest it is because the government of East Hartford has a long history of ensuring development of town owned property takes decades, and in some cases will never, break even on the tax giveaways and discounted property sales prices.
Take for example the development on Main Street which has a break even of over 100 years, the doctors office on Burnside which will take 20 years or more and the pending Daley Court Development which will take over ten years and by the very nature of the facility cost us additional federal and state dollars every year that it operates.
A new building in a blighted area may seem like a victory, but it isn’t when it comes at the cost of ensuring further economic harm to East Hartford.
Meanwhile East Hartford’s largest employer, property owner and tax payer, Pratt & Whitney, will see a tax increase under this proposal of over 1 million dollars per year.
Is it secretly this administration’s plan to coax Pratt out of East Hartford?
I can’t help but wonder with the ever increasing taxes and the push to use our tax dollars to complete portions of the private development of Rentschler field which will allow the Matos Group, whose principle and founder has been perhaps to largest contributor to Mayor Currey’s reelection bid, and Pratt and Whitney to profit handsomely from the development while we are left holding the bag with a promise that some decades from now we might see a return on our investment.
Looking at the capital improvement budget I am happy to see that some basic upkeep such as replacement of vehicles has returned to the budget in 2010.
This is the type of spending that cannot be avoided.
On the other hand I am disappointed to see over 200 thousand dollars being allocated for new granite curbing in the town hall parking lot. Granted the parking lot may not be the shining star of East Hartford but to date it is functional.
There are no doubt leaky roofs and other pressing needs just waiting to present us with a mid year emergency appropriation that this money could be directed to instead. Let’s leave luxuries such as granite for a time when we are not out of work and underpaid.
It is also time for this council to get serious about pushing for reform at the state.
Donald Pitkin was on the money inviting our delegation to the council. It is unfortunate that Mr. Kehoe didn’t see the wisdom in his request. I hope this council will engage our legislators.
East Hartford desperately needs relief from state mandates in two key areas of our budget. Contract Negotiation and Education funding.
Next year the Board of Education will forward a budget to the town council which will ask we the taxpayers to come up with 6 million dollars to cover the shortfall in funny money from the federal government.
This shortfall represents another tax hike of 6.3% next year.
If the Town Council does not comply with the board’s request the Board of Education will lose an additional 12 million dollars in State funding.
Additionally the same out of control cost drivers causing financial headaches this year will be back next year including spiraling employee and benefit costs.
We cannot control our budget until we control these costs. To control these costs we must be able to negotiate wage contracts that reflect the economic climate, not past practice from boom years enforced through arbitration.
We need freedom to create education budgets and employment contracts that work for the students and taxpayers of East Hartford, not arbitrary state statute and union lobbying.
Our Legislative delegation including Reps. Larson, Genga and Rojas as well as Senator LeBeau must introduce and aggressively fight for exemptions from Minimum Budget Requirements, Minimum Expenditure Requirements and binding arbitration awards for East Hartford. We need you as the East Hartford legislative body to encourage them to do so.
East Hartford is an economically dying city and with this budget the Mayor is holding the knife. We can save East Hartford, but it will require you to make difficult and painful decisions. Decisions which may not be politically popular, but which must be made.
Public Hearing on 9.2% Tax Increase Wednesday, March 3rd @7PM
I hope to see you at the public hearing on Wednesday at 7PM at East Hartford Town Hall. If anything is going to get you out to a public hearing a 9.2% tax increase ought to do it.
Video: East Hartford Budget Meeting – Board of Education
Part 1
Part 2
Video: East Hartford Budget Meeting – Fire Department
Part 1
Part 2
East Hartford Mayor Sets Stage for Tax Increases Statewide
East Hartford has one of the earliest municipal budget calendars in the state and as a result can offer a predictive window into the state’s municipal budget climate. If this year’s East Hartford proposed budget is any indication than Connecticut taxpayers are in for a world of hurt.
Municipal elections are now past and Councils, Mayors, Boards of Finance, Selectmen and all of the other various forms of leaders we employ in our Connecticut towns are feeling a bit less politically squeezed and, as predicted by myself and candidates in other towns, tax increase proposals from these leaders will be coming fast and furious as they deal with falling revenues in the only manner they have the political fortitude to employ, tax increases.
East Hartford Mayor Melody Currey on Tuesday night presented her budget in what to this observer seemed a nervously defensive tone. No doubt she was well aware that a tax increase of over 9% would not be met with smiles and commendations.
To the credit of the Mayor each year the public availability of budget information has increased and this year is no exception. In fact, this year the Mayor has presented the most complete set of information yet. So Mayor, while I won’t thank you for raising my taxes, thank you for providing me with the details I need to know the how and why behind the increase.
I encourage you to review the budget information on the town website.
BUDGET INFO
Budget sessions continue with the Board of Education on Thursday night at 6:30, an all day session Saturday starting at 8:30 and a Monday night finale starting at 6:30. These can be viewed in person at Town Hall, or on EHCTV Channel 5 on Comcast.
Citizens should keep in mind the public hearing on Wednesday, March 3rd at 7PM where we can express our concerns about this proposal as well as plans to REDUCE spending proportionally to the losses in revenue rather than continuing spending unabated.
I am happy to say that I have heard from a Town Council member who is at least as outraged about this proposal as I am. Maybe there is hope.
LTE: Strong Arms or Soft Opponents?
The Town Council meeting on the 16th was a truly interesting combination of arrogance, intelligence and poor representation. I was stunned at the turnout in the chamber. Hearing the many students and parents who came forward to the microphone speak drove home just how impressive and passionate these young minds are. I applaud those who came out to defend their music, sports and honor programs. You did well.
The arrogance of the Board of Education, particularly Chairwoman Mary Alice Dwyer Hughes, in using unarguably vital pieces of the high school experience to manipulate funding and avoid the serious restructuring in the education budget that they were tasked with this year should offend us all as taxpayers. Instead of seeking out true long term savings the Board of Education created an instant crisis by putting Music, Sports and Honors classes on the chopping block. It only takes 5 minutes of thought to realize that the Board of Education would never have gone through with this plan had they been called on their dirty bluff. They have to be elected this year too after all.
The Town Council for their part had the forethought to plan for a potential state budget crisis and put aside 2 million dollars to make up the difference in the event of a state funding shortage. Not only did the BoE fail to make the meaningful cuts needed in the budget but they demanded this 2 million dollars of reserve funds and redirected the blame for their failure onto the Town Council by ginning up misplaced outrage arguing that it’s the lack of the 2 million dollars of reserve funds that is responsible for the cuts in these core programs. Mary Alice Dwyer Hughes took the position of ringleader and lead arm twister.
As bad as this strong arm manipulation by the BoE was I just can’t help but feel the Council is more to blame for it than the Board of Education. Marcia LeClerc gave a concise sound reason for the funds being placed in reserve. The state may come up short and the reserve funds are a necessary safety. She then made a logical leap that I couldn’t follow. She and the rest of the council supported giving the funds to the Board of Education based on the recommendation of the Mayor despite the fact that exactly the same unknown budget conditions existed that made the reserve funds necessary to begin with. What happens if the the funding doesn’t stay the same? I guess it’ll be an “oops, who could have known” moment on the council.
Worse is that the BoE ended up with a million dollar surplus from the last fiscal year. This means two things. First, despite complaining last year that funding was inadequate we paid them a million more than they needed. Second, with the 2 million reserve and 1 million surplus combined the BoE won’t even need to follow through with many of the cuts it already made. Our Town Council has utterly failed us in this issue by failing to hold the BoE to any kind of fiscal restraint in this recessionary period and failing to protect us from a possible state funding shortfall. A responsible council would have called out the political stunt on the 16th for what it was and sent the BoE back to their budget books to decide if they really wanted to campaign on cutting music, sports and honors.
LTE: Papier-Mâché Elections
As yet another election approaches for East Hartford this November it’s important that we steel ourselves against the onslaught of rhetoric and look-at-me politics which threaten to swallow us whole like a Connecticut River flood. Inevitably those officials already in office will parade papier-mâché accomplishments as evidence that they deserve another term while challengers will attempt to prove they have something new, or perhaps old and ignored, to offer. We have a duty as the electors of East Hartford to demand truth and seek honest answers. We must hold those who are not forthcoming with these accountable at the polls and in the chamber hall.
One of the papier-mâché accomplishments we’re sure to see this year will be the new budget which maintains the mill rate at the same level as the previous year. While it seems like an amazing accomplishment in comparison to previous budgets by the current office holders it’s nowhere near where we need to be and appears to be the best we can ever hope for from this council and this Mayor. Sadly this zero increase budget was not balanced through serious and sustainable reductions or efficiencies. Instead it was balanced on the elimination of town maintenance items such as police vehicle replacements which will in turn need to be double funded next year, or triple funded the year after and temporary union concessions. Certainly these are enough to get the Mayor and Council through this election if unchallenged on the facts but the reality is that we will all pay heavily for this next year and the years after when these false savings have to be paid for. The Mayor and Council have made no progress whatsoever in halting the freefall of our grand list, one of the two major drivers of our ever increasing taxes.
Interestingly prior to the 2007 municipal election the Mayor and Council played the same trick on us proclaiming they had shrunk the budget only to make up for it in 2008 giving grand speeches defending an increase in the Mayor’s salary and condemning the acts of previous councils, which most of the council members conveniently forgot they were a part of, in failing to fund maintenance spending. That year we let them get away with it. This time let’s not fall for it again.
By the way, have you thought of running for office? Maybe it’s time.
Jon Searles
East Hartford
Mayor's budget passes unanimously almost unchanged.
The East Hartford Town Council voted unanimously this evening for the Mayor’s proposed budget with just a few changes, the details of which I’m unsure because I couldn’t figure out what Council Member Marcia was saying, or trying to.
Once again the best show awards go to Bill Horan and Rich Kehoe for presenting themselves in a manner becoming a Council Member during discussion of the budget with Bill pulling a bit ahead of Rich.My only complaint with Bill’s monologue was the suggestion that the Town Council would love to spend more money if we were in better economic times. I could have sworn it was the duty of the Town Council to exercise restraint every year, even the few which could be classified as flush in comparison to this.
There wasn’t any of the heat that characterized last year’s budget meeting which provided little opportunity for embarrassment to anyone with the result being a very short meeting.
One odd bit came from Marcia’s comments after the budget was adopted when she read her speech, for lack of a better description. It sounded like she was commending the Council or Mayor for not neglecting maintenance items like rolling stock in the budget because such neglect would result in hardship down the line. Yet, unless it was in the part of Marcia’s budget motion which I couldn’t make out, the budget as proposed does indeed fail to fund maintenance items such as rolling stock.
The 2 million effectively put in escrow for the board of education also struck me as a false savings item. It was described that if state funding should fail to come through as expected the 2 million would be transferred to the Board of Education to make up the gap. What happens if the state does come through? Can we expect another elevator to the Mayor’s office? Maybe an escalator this time?
At the end of the day no tax increase is what the residents of East Hartford, myself included, needed and that’s what we got. While I am certain further cuts could have been made I’ll take this as a start that we can build on next year.
