Somers Budget Cuts Deepen

SOMERS, CT — Somers is heading toward a fifth budget referendum after four failed votes, with town officials now proposing another round of cuts that could affect the library, public works, recreation and other services.

The next budget referendum is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the town.

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The update comes after Somers voters rejected the budget for a fourth time on June 30. That proposal failed by 151 votes, with 625 residents voting in favor and 776 opposed.

In a July 9 message to residents, Chief Financial Officer Brian Wissinger said the town and Board of Education have already proposed $936,084 in cuts since the first referendum failed May 19. Wissinger said that before the budget reached the Board of Finance for its first review, the town and school board had already made more than $800,000 in cuts.

The latest proposal includes another $350,000 in town-side reductions, according to the message from Wissinger, First Selectman Tim Keeney and Board of Education Chair Michael Briggs.

The proposed cuts include dismissing 1.5 full-time equivalent positions at the library and closing the library on Saturdays; reducing one full-time public works position to part-time and ending health benefits for that position; dismissing one full-time Recreation and Leisure Services employee; shifting remaining recreation costs to the recreation fund; shifting a fire department employee cost from the general fund to the ambulance fund; and adjusting vehicle fuel, veterans outreach, fire department building maintenance and fire department gasoline allowance lines to match prior-year spending averages.

Wissinger said the new proposal would reduce the town government budget by a total of $697,731 and the overall budget by $1,286,084.

“And even after all of that, all of the impacts to services in Town, after $1.2 million in cuts, we will still require a 0.70 mill increase to balance the budget,” Wissinger wrote.

The cuts would not take effect until 30 days after a budget is approved. Until then, town operations will continue under last year’s line-item spending, according to the message.

The town said prior proposed cuts already included dismissing a part-time transfer station employee, dismissing a full-time human services employee, reducing days of operation at the transfer station and senior center, reducing the full-time senior center coordinator to part-time, reducing two full-time transfer station maintainers to part-time, dismissing the deputy emergency management director, reducing library materials and eliminating cost-of-living salary increases for non-union town employees.

Wissinger said town government has limited room left for reductions because 62 percent of the town budget is salary and benefits, while another 28 percent is fixed costs such as electricity, internet, waste hauling, legal services, audits and state police. That leaves about 10 percent, or roughly $900,000, as discretionary spending, he said.

Wissinger said a request to cut another $1 million to avoid any mill increase would require permanent closure of the library and senior center and leave enough funding for the transfer station to operate only four to six hours per week.

The town’s budget process has been marked by repeated referendum failures. Patch previously reported that the first budget vote failed May 19 by 26 votes, with 392 residents voting in favor and 418 opposed. A later proposal failed June 16 by 123 votes, with 709 residents voting in favor and 832 opposed, Patch reported.

The town’s budget history summary shows the originally adopted budgets totaled $42,976,089 with a proposed mill rate of 24.13. After cuts for the June 2 referendum, the proposal was reduced to $42,737,246, with a proposed mill rate of 23.95. Additional reductions for the June 16 referendum brought the proposal to $41,990,005, with a proposed mill rate of 23.36.

The latest proposal is a $41,640,005 budget with a 23.09 mill rate, CT Insider reported.

Keeney said in the July 9 message that last year’s mill rate increase was supported by referendum and that the Board of Finance used $1 million from the town’s fund balance to offset an additional 1 mill increase. This year, Keeney said, the fund balance cannot support additional withdrawals.

“Since the recommended Town Budget request has been reduced below last year’s request, the problem is one of less revenue available to the Town verses Town expenditures,” Keeney wrote.

Briggs said additional town budget reductions could also affect schools and students, even if the cuts are not directly made to the Board of Education budget.

Library closures could affect student access to study materials, a short-staffed public works department could affect road clearing before school, and Parks and Recreation reductions could affect youth sports programs, Briggs said.

“Engaged parents make for a stronger community and each parent's voice is important in determining the direction of the town for years to come,” Briggs wrote.

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