Greenwich BET Sets $501.3M Budget, RTM To Vote In May

GREENWICH, CT — After weeks of meetings, hearings and discussions, the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation OK'd a $501.3 million spending plan for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The proposed budget will now go before the Representative Town Meeting, who will convene in May.

The board voted 8-4 to pass the budget on to the RTM, but the road to approval took longer than expected.

Known as Decision Day, the BET usually takes a couple of days to pass a budget, but this year, it took the board four days. Failing to set a budget would have meant going with what's known as the "nuclear option," which would have carried the current fiscal year's budget into the next fiscal year.

The proposed budget is the largest in town history, representing about a 4 percent increase over the current budget of $482 million. Several BET members on Tuesday spoke about the budget and their vote after approval.

BET members and Democrats Matt DesChamps, Leslie Moriarty and David Weisbrod voted no, as did Republican Karen Fassuliotis.

After the vote, BET Democrats issued a statement explaining they split their vote 3-3 to ensure approval, while also sending a message about what they believe is "inadequate funding."

"On behalf of the Democratic members on this board, we believe the BET has a responsibility to pass a budget for the RTM's consideration, and we were concerned about that not happening this year," said BET member Leslie Moriarty during Tuesday's meeting. "In this final budget, we were pleased that it includes support for Old Greenwich School renovation, Riverside School feasibility, the schools' operating budget, necessary fire engine purchases, the Glenville Road Corridor CMAC project, and several other items."

But there were "glaring omissions" that gave Democrats concern, Moriarty added. She said there's been a continuation of underfunding the town's capital plan, and that departmental consolidations were approved "with no discussion of the impact on services or personnel."

"Third, [there is a ] lack of planning for addressing resident concerns about traffic, pedestrian safety, ADA accommodations, stormwater drainage as expressed in the community [survey] and public comments we've received," Moriarty said. "This is evidenced by the rejection of a federal grant for the transportation safety action plan. This budget continues a myopic view of a one-year operating and investment plan, and we can and should do better."

BET Republican Karen Fassuliotis said "the BET just did not do the hard work to reduce spending when it could have done so."

"While this budget has passed, I could not vote for the type of spending that this budget envisions, nor could I vote for the mill rate that will result from this budget," Fassuliotis said.

As it stands now, the town's mill rate would represent a 2.8 percent increase from last year.

Fassuliotis added that the Board of Education has a management problem, and that there should be a better process on the town side for proposing capital projects each year.

"I think this budget process took longer than in the past because I think there really was a commitment on both sides in wanting to work together to get to a final budget," said fellow Republican BET member Nisha Arora. "While I don't believe this is perfect, it does highlight the commitment of our board wanting to work together for the betterment of our community."

Stephen Selbst, a Democratic BET member, said while the spending plan is not "perfect," it was preferable to the chaos that would have come with no budget.

"I hope we can continue to work in a bipartisan manner, and I hope we can address some of the concerns raised by Ms. Moriarty, but a budget passed today is definitely a step in the right direction," Selbst said.

Republican BET Chair Harry Fisher said he'd work with his colleagues to improve processes and procedures in the budget process.

"I think this is a good outcome for the town," Fisher said. "It's not the best outcome."

The RTM will meet on May 13 to vote on the proposed budget. The town's legislative body can only make cuts.

Budget documents can be viewed here.