Amid Political Division, Southington BoE Tweaks Budget

SOUTHINGTON, CT — A controversial school budget initially finalized for town approval in January has been rescinded, with the Southington Board of Education voting recently to send a new one to the town.

The budget shuffling took place at a special school board meeting Feb. 8, with members rescinding what they approved last month, adding to the budget with a new vote and voting to request additional cash from the town to finance the difference.

School board members voted 5-0 with three abstentions Feb. 8 to rescind their 5-2 Jan. 26 vote along GOP-led party lines. That vote approved a $110.98 million education budget to go before the town for 2023-24.

Republican Sean Carson was absent from that vote, with three Democratic members — Terri Carmody, David Derynoski and Zaya Oshana — abstaining.

All of the "yes" voters were Republicans, who control Southington's school board 6-3.

The board of education, then, voted 5-3 to approve a new operating budget of $111,775,884 for town approval.

This spending plan is about 7.31 percent larger than current spending, while the one approved in January was 6.28 percent.

The new budget vote was approved along party lines, with the five Republicans saying "yes" and the three Democrats voting "no."

To finance the difference between the budgets, school board members voted 6-3 along party lines to ask the Southington Board of Finance to appropriate some $760,456 from non-lapsing account funds from two past school budgets.

While the school budget is done crunching budget numbers for now, it awaits word from the board of finance, which can cut or add to the bottom line, but not line items. Voters, utlimately, have the final say at the polls in the spring.

This latest action comes after Democrats and Republicans sparred over how budgetary decisions were made last month.

Democrats at the Jan. 26 meeting accused the board of becoming too "political," and left out Democrats during talks prior to that action.

Republican school board chairperson Colleen Clark admitted such, but defended the actions as being a byproduct of both urgency in cutting the budget and dealing with a personal situation in her family.

Clark said she was, simply, unable to quickly reach board Democrats to make any final revisions prior to Jan. 26.

Ultimately, the school board — without any Democratic "yes" votes— was able to add to the budget, utilizing a new source of revenue it hopes to get via the finance board.

From Feb. 6: 'Southington School Board Dems Miffed Over GOP Budgetary Snub'

For the minutes of the Feb. 8 Southington Board of Education special meeting, click on this link.