Granby School, Town Budgets Call for Small Increases

Though it’s still early in the FY 2012-13 budget season, Michael Guarco, the chairman of the Board of Finance, is pleased with what he has seen thus far.

Indeed, at the Three-Board Meeting that brought together the Boards of Selectmen, Education and Finance on Monday evening at the , Guarco praised the efforts of municipal and school officials, notably First Selectman John Adams and school board chairman Cal Heminway, with their initial proposed budgets.

“I thank you both and congratulate you both with the work you’ve done,” Guarco said. “Keep up the good work.”

Adams provided a brief review of the municipal Plus-One Budget, which calls for $196,600, or a 2.186 percent, increase over the current year’s spending. The municipal operating budget for 2011-12 is about $9 million and the proposed increase would maintain the current level of services, Adams said.

The lion’s share of the proposed hike - about $181,000 - is tied to increases in salary and fringe benefit costs for full- and part-time employees, said Adams, who added that the town would be negotiating two union contracts this year. The town currently spends close to $4.5 million on salaries and another $1.77 million on fringe benefits such as FICA, health insurance, pension funds and life insurance.

The funds that account for the remaining $15,000 of the proposed increase are as follows: $1,500 for the Lost Acres Fire Department (currently funded at $222,500), $3,000 for police training, $5,000 for salt/storm materials (up from $59,000), $5,000 for building repairs (up from $17,000)

Adams said that, while he did not include them in this year’s budget, the town should start planning for reinserting $40,000 to extend the library’s hours back to before the spending crunches started a few years ago, adding a police inspector and adding one new full-time position to the Department of Public Works.

“We have not added to the town staff in 25 years,” Adams said of the need for a new DPW worker. During that time, the town has grown from 8,600 people to 11,000, with many new roads, bridges and buildings built that now must be maintained. “We continue to meet our needs through improved equipment and augmenting our full-time staff with part-timers, which keeps our heads above water.”

On the education side, Heminway outlined a schools’ operating budget that calls for $27.33 million, or $354,500 in additional funds over the current year’s spending.

About $330,000 of the proposed increase would be tied to hikes in transportation and employee benefits costs, according to Heminway.

The school board is looking to , Heminway said, but that would be funded through the quality and diversity fund (money that the town receives from the state through the Open Choice Program) as well as through attrition and redeployment of staff.

Heminway also said that the school board has been for the last 15 years looking to find a way to expand the World Languages Program in the school system to include teaching foreign languages at the primary school level.

The school district is also looking for $100,000 in the small capital improvements budget to upgrade the wireless network at the high school to support today’s devices in the classroom.

The presentations by the boards’ leaders were preceded by a brief report from Joe Kask of Blum Shapiro on the town audit, which he gave a “clean” opinion of the town’s financial records.

In any respect, while Guarco was pleased with the initial presentations from the Selectmen and the school board, he also said things could be improved.

“Things would be better if [the numbers] were lower,” he said before the meeting was adjourned.