Stonington — The town has begun to take a series of steps to address an expected shortfall in tax revenue come July.
Town and school officials are looking at ways to save money through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, such as delaying projects and purchases not considered essential. They also are looking at ways to save additional money in the proposed 2020-21 budget, with Board of Education Chairwoman Alexa Garvey saying the board will cut its proposed budget so it shows no increase.
The Board of Finance is scheduled to meet April 29 to finalize a budget to send to voters for approval. The increase in the proposed tax rate now stands at 0.24 mill but the finance board is expected to lower that.
The fear among town officials is that come July 1, when the first of two property tax bills come due, some home and business owners will not be able to pay their bills, resulting in a revenue shortfall for the town. Others may take advantage of a plan adopted by the Board of Selectmen on Thursday that will give them a 90-day deferral to pay their taxes until Oct. 2. Even with that, some taxpayers still may be unable to pay and will be facing a second installment on Jan. 1, 2021.
The town has a $12.9 million surplus, some of which could be allocated in an emergency.
One thing the town is not doing is looking at furloughing employees or asking them to give up raises in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Earlier this week First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough said one of the benefits of the town being understaffed for so long is that there is a laundry list of projects for employees, who are not as busy, to now tackle. For other departments, there has been little change in workload.
Town Clerk Cynthia Ladwig, for instance, said she and her staff still have to process mortgage deeds, marriage licenses, death certificates and even fishing licenses, although the actual physical transactions, if not done electronically, are taking place outside the front door of Town Hall, which is closed to the public.
In departments such as the planning office, where applications processing and reviews are down, staff have a long list of projects they can finally tackle.
In addition, the town has saved money by not having to pay a director of planning and town engineer after the people in those positions resigned to take jobs in other communities last September and this past January, respectively. The town is seeking to fill the positions.
With a large increase in demand at the Human Services Department due to the economic and social impacts of the virus, Chesebrough said staff from other departments could be shifted there, if needed.
She said the town also does not want to place an additional burden on its employees and the unemployment system by furloughing them. She did concede that if closures continue through May, “then we’ll have to have some other conversations.”
Chesebrough said it’s a fair point to argue that the money to pay town and school employees was included in the current 2019-20 budget and already funded by tax payments made last July and this past January. But with the expected tax revenue to fund the 2020-21 budget expected to decrease, saving money now could help cushion that impact.
The school system has not furloughed any of its employees but is expected to discuss possible savings when it meets April 23 after board members asked questions about the current duties of some employees.
As for raises, Chesebrough said an analysis shows the town could save $428,000 in the 2020-21 budget by having employees give up raises. But she said some of that savings would be offset by what the town would have to pay its labor attorney to negotiate changes with the various unions. The town also would have to present a case for the reduction and the unions could refuse. Chesebrough said she had discussed the idea with the labor attorney and they agreed it would not be the right option for the town.
“It would be more for optics than for the budget impact,” Chesebrough said, adding that salaries and benefits are not extravagant and she did not want to take away raises people are looking forward to getting.
The school system could save about $700,000 by eliminating raises, but Garvey said at this time the school board is not looking to have employees give up raises. She said the town is “always near the bottom of the list when looking at pay compared to other similar districts.”
“Our employees are our most precious resource. They are community members and taxpayers. We are looking at other areas to reduce or hold off on until a later date,” she said.
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April 17, 2020 at 06:36AM
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Stonington looking to cut budgets while protecting employees, raises - theday.com
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