Oxford Debates Where to Put Its Money

The following is a summary of the discussions held at a public hearing Monday night on the proposed budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year. It is broken down by subject. Tell us in comments what your thoughts are. 

SUBJECT: Board of Education

Gerard Carbonaro, Board of Education member

He said he was disappointed with a $100,000 cut from the proposed $27 million Board of Education budget. And he noted that the town is in the midst of settling a lawsuit over an oil spill that occurred at Quaker Farms School (First Selectman George Temple said there is a verbal agreement for $450,000 that will go into general fund.) Carbonaro wants that money put toward the Board of Ed. budget and toward the playscape for children that Temple wants to build. 

Response from Lila Ferrillo, Board of Finance Chair

“First, I’m sorry we had to cut $100,000. I commend the board for giving us probably the most transparent budget since I’ve been on the board. But you have to understand we’re trying to come in with a mill rate that is as close to zero as possible (currently it's up .78 mills to 24.88 mills). Looking at a $27 million budget - I know you did your best to get it as low as possible – but we thought somehow, some way, you could find a way to absorb $100,000.

“In terms of the oil money, we cannot deal with anything that is not in the coffers right now, regardless of whether it is coming tonight or tomorrow morning.

“While a playscape is nice, we have five other play areas in town. I’m not saying that takes the place of the playscape, but when we have to make a decision about whether it’s an ambulance, roads, or a playscape, unfortunately we have to look at the entire town.

“Every department comes in and every department truly believes it needs everything that it asks for. And we’d love to give it to you, but that’s not what you elect us for.”

She said she asked the town grants coordinator to see if grant money can be put money toward the playscape.

“I’m sure some parents would love to throw fundraisers. That’s what the dog pound (proponents) did. Years ago, we built playscapes, that’s what we did. And then come to the town for the rest of the money.”

She said the fire department is asking for a new pumper, the ambulance association is asking for new fly cars, the Department of Public Works wants a bigger plow truck with a sander. “These things were all taken out of the budget because we just can’t afford it,” Ferrillo said.

She also noted that the Board of Finance added $300,000 in the capital plan to put toward boilers at the schools.

Response to Board of Ed. Questions by Jack Kiley, vice chair Board of Finance

 “It was a very lean budget and it’s very unfortunate that we had to cut. I know they will still do a very good job with what’s in the budget. They did a lot of work in that budget and it was one of the best budgets from the Board of Education. One thing that has not been said is one of the reasons we had a surplus last year is because the Board of Education returned over $300,000 to the town.”

“When we added the whole budget up, the first round, we had nothing taken out of that budget. Then what happened was the budget came up really high. We had to cut something, and since the Board of Ed. is 70 percent of our budget, we cut just $100,000 out of $27 million.”

Susan O’Brien, parent

She noted that the Elderly Commission’s budget has gone up 13 percent since 2011 and the education budget has gone up 5 percent.

“I think we need to start moving our money,” she said.  “These are our kids.”

Ferrillo noted that the Elderly Commission’s budget is a "a couple hundred thousand, while the school budget is $27 million." 

“The senior center is open one more day a week, we provide meals for those seniors and such,” Ferrillo said.

O’Brien also questioned why the Board of Finance does not bring forth a larger budget since it appears that is what the people at the public hearing want.

Ferrillo said the idea is to bring forth a responsible budget that will pass. Every time the town has a referendum, she said, it costs money and when it goes down, the cuts get deeper.

Maura Satkowski, parent

Said the Board of Ed. has not received enough credit for being very frugal with its money and questioned why $100,000 was taken out before the public hearing.

Paula Guillet, Board of Ed. Chair

Noted that Oxford is 155 out of 169 towns in per pupil spending.

"I think we are a very cost-effective district. And I’d like to remind our community here that we have four schools, K-12, and almost 2,200 students. Oxford is a lot bigger than some people think sometimes, and we have 460,000-square-feet of buildings."

Claire Luce, secretary at Quaker Farms School and president of the union representing secretaries

She wants the Board of Ed. to consider bringing back two clerks to full time; they are now part time.

“With all of the new security measures, we as secretaries have a lot more to do when visitors come into the office. Now we have to sign them in, check their licenses. And in the afternoon when the phones are ringing and parents are coming in, it’s not fun, it’s a lot of work for one person.”

Oxford High School clerk Michelle Miller agreed with Luce and said as a parent it makes her uncomfortable knowing that there are not full-time clerks in all schools. 

Janet Barnes, parent

Barnes said she's been a teacher out of district for more than 20 years and was an EMT for 10.

“I hear everyone’s pains, but I am here today to say we need to step up as a town and support our education system,” she said. “I drive an hour to go to work every day. I live here because I chose to raise our children here…But we need to invest in education and give our children the 21^st Century education that they deserve. There are a lot of things that kids in other towns have that we don't, and I’m concerned that we are going to fall behind." 

SUBJECT: Leasing Vehicles Versus Buying Them Outright

Under Ferrillo’s leadership, the Board of Finance has been reluctant to lease vehicles, or to bond items, because of what Ferrillo calls a “credit card mentality.” She says she doesn’t want future generations to be saddled with debt.

Scott Pelletier, Fire Chief

He advocated for leasing vehicles through short-term notes: “Some people call it a credit card mentality while others call it managing your expenses and trying to keep a level line through the years so you can maintain this equipment and keep it fresh and up to date.”

Jerry Schwab, Ambulance Association Director

Asked the Board of Finance to look at a lease purchase program for specifically ambulance, fire department and public works.

“During the last storm that we had, I think people really had the opportunity to see the condition that the public works vehicles are in. …Financing vehicles is a pretty standard thing that people do in their homes. And they are going to consistently need to be replaced, so I think if we look at financing those vehicles, with interest rates currently being so low, there would be less peaks and valleys in the expenditure in regards to capital equipment.”

Dave McKane, Selectman DPW employee

Agreed with leasing as a way to reduce the cost per year.

George Temple, first selectman

Agreed with leasing.

Ferrillo’s Response:

“We lease, OK so we get our thing today. But we pay for it for five years. …The problem is you are adding to the debt.”

“This is what the federal government did, this is why we’re at $17 trillion (in debt as a country). …We will buy vehicles as we can afford them, and unfortunately, some departments have to go another year.”

“You can call it leasing, call it whatever you want: it is borrowing, which means come next year, you have less discretionary funds.”

SUBJECT: Ambulance Association 

Schwab: For the third year in a row, he requested adding a fourth paid position during the daytime hours.

“The ambulance corps is 75 percent volunteer – volunteers work nights, weekends, but during the day, we rely mostly on paid staff. This position would be able to staff a second ambulance during the day. We’re currently seeing some of the problems that I said we would because of all of the development: We’re seeing a significantly increased call volume because of Oxford Greens. …I was on a call the other day where I had to wait for Seymour to come in and give assistance.”

“We’re operating with same staff we were 10-15 years ago, prior to all of these over 55 developments.”

Mike Aiello, Oxford Ambulance Association Board of Directors

Advocated for adding additional money for an extra training employee at Oxford Ambulance. 

“Having had an ambulance respond to my house for my father, my daughter who is 2 and my wife twice, I know the importance of time. The average response time in town right now is 9.9 minutes for an ambulance located in town; the average is 25 minutes when we have to call in Beacon Falls, Seymour or another town. …The situation with my 2-year-old could have been way different if someone had to come from out of town.”

He also said it costs too much to maintain the fly car now and wanted a requested fly car, which transports paramedics, to be placed back into the budget.

Ferrillo: “There are other departments that have asked for people, we have not added any new positions into this budget.”

Anne Crane, Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman

“Said $893,000 is going toward roads: “We know Oxford roads are bad, but I don’t think they are about to kill anybody …Don’t we need an ambulance and a fire truck more than we need to fix these roads?”

Amy Cote, Board of Education member

She has two children who have epilepsy. She said an EMT needs to get to her house with oxygen immediately when her children have seizures because, legally, parents cannot administer it. She said she loves the town and is not litigious, but vowed to sue Oxford if there is ever a situation where she cannot get oxygen.

She said she’s had excellent ambulance service to this point, but there was one time when they needed to utilize Beacon Falls because Oxford was tied up.

“We waited 25 minutes after my son had a seizure, and thankfully he is OK,” she said. “But I don’t want to see that happen to anybody else’s kid or any other citizen of this town. …We defer every year and every year our problems get worse and worse, and we see that happen with our educational system, too.” 

SUBJECT: Riverside Fire Co. Pumper

The Riverside Fire Co. requested a new pumper truck for $644,000. Currently, the department does not have a pumper truck in operation.

Ed Belinsky, Captain, Riverside

He responded to the Board of Finance’s assertion that there are three fire companies in town that can help during fires.

“We deal in minutes,” he said. “If we have to provide fire suppression, it has to be done then and there.” 

Several people said they supported the new fire truck for Riverside

SUBJECT: Department of Public Works

Dave McKane

“I’m grateful for getting equipment in this year’s budget we are getting. We did get a John Deere tractor a couple years ago and did get two new dump trucks recently, but then after that the drop off is drastic. I think the next newest one to that is 30 years old. And I can tell you in the last storm we just got by by the skin of our teeth with some of the stuff we have. And I dare say that if DOT came up to the public works garage, half that equipment would be taken off the road.”

Jack Kiley’s Response

“There is a small utility truck in there, a small dump truck with a small plow. Two years ago, we bought a brand new dump truck with a plow, new equipment, a new tractor. The only thing we didn’t purchase this year was a large dump truck with a sander. I talked to the public works director and he said that is fine.”

SUBJECT: Tax Collector’s Office

Tax Collector Sharon Scinto requested a third full-time person for her office.

Kiley: “Right now we’re waiting on permission to settle up people’s accounts who said they paid. We’re kind of tied up legally.”

He said there is technology that towns smaller than Oxford are utilizing that allows people to pay taxes online or directly from their accounts into Oxford’s bank account.”

“If we make those advances in the tax collector’s office, there may not be a need for that third person in the office,” he said.

Comments From First Selectman George Temple

He said the $140,000 in Local Capital Improvement Plan money from the state should go toward a playscape rather than roads - the Board of Finance put $100,000 from LOCIP funds to roads, on top of $640,000 from the capital and non-recurring budget. Temple said he believes roads are important to fix but that they should all be paid for through the general budget.

“I don’t think we do enough for our kids in this town,” he said. “It’s a long time coming. These five playgrounds have aged. It’s not the same experience for the kids as a playscape.”

He also said he requested another full-time person the tax collector’s office because there is still a lot of work left to rectify past practices from former Tax Collector Karen Guillet, who is serving a prison sentence for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the tax office.

And, he said, the Board of Finance should put less money in the fund balance so they can fund department request. The Board of Finance defended that action, saying that the fund balance affects the town's bond rating and how its fiscal well-being is calculated by auditors.