By Sarah Opdahl

On Thursday, February 6, New Fairfield’s Board of Education (BOE) unanimously approved reducing the $50,083,039 by $28,000 in non-payroll items. The reduction takes the increase from 3.81% to 3.75%. BOE Chair Mr. Dominic Cipollone commended fellow members on the move, saying “The Board of Finance needs to recognize that what we have done here, it does not take awa y from the vision and the mission of our superintendent’s leadership team and we are on track, and people need to understand that we are fiscally responsible. This is the result of that and this has been months in the making. So it is not just something that happened overnight.” To Superintendent Dr. Ken Craw, Cipollone said, “if we could find this additional reduction, I think it is holistically the right thing to do.”

The motion for the reduction originally included suggestions for reduction, including $3,500 per school in the supplies line and the elimination of a request for a new golf cart for the athletics department. In the end, however, BOE members agreed to leave the choice of reductions to total $28,000 up to school administrators. Craw pushed back on the idea of supply cuts, reminding board members that there were already cuts made to those lines in his proposed budget. Director of Business and Operations Ms. Carrie DePuy acknowledged that there is some flexibility for reductions in the high school’s supply line items but that other areas will need to be investigated for cuts in the lower schools. Administrators will bring final cuts back to the BOE for review. Craw said, “we want to work to bring in a fiscally responsible budget and make sure we refine it but to do it in a way that really makes sense.”

BOE members were in agreement on the slight reduction, though Ms. Kimberly LaTourette said, “I think this is a very tight budget. I honestly would have been okay approving it as is, especially with what we have gone through the last several years.” Wary of the process, she later said, “It is hard for me to think that this is going to be a smooth budget process, and I hope that I am wrong in anticipating some serious cuts from the Board of Finance, especially when we have presented such a great budget.”

Ms. Kathy Baker questioned why some portions of the budget appeared to be padded, asking, “one of the things that I would challenge on, which is what I was trying to challenge last time, is can we look closer at year-on-year things and what we spent last year? What do we expect to spend this year? Because when I look through the budget, and I look through all those line items, I question sometimes there seems to be still an ask for a lot of money, but we didn’t spend a lot of money the past two years, so why are we still asking for that large amount of money?” Craw pointed out that there are larger asks this year in certain areas due to a budget freeze that went into effect last year, following the unexpected exorbitant costs in consulting fees.

The proposed capital budget of $735,000 went uncontested. It includes the much-discussed oil tank remediation, relocation of offices and reclamation of classroom space in the middle school, and a new HVAC system for the pool. There is also a request for a new Buildings and Grounds vehicle and a $50,000 request to set aside funds toward the future need to replace the Marty Morgan Turf Field. Given that this area is often one that is rife for cuts, BOE member Mr. Greg Flanagan noted of the field funding, “hopefully we can be prudent and do the right thing and save for a rainy day when we have to replace that turf.”

Board members were commended by Cipollone, who said “I appreciate all these comments and the pushback on the areas where they should be, that is what makes this such a healthy, great, working board.” LaTourette expressed hope for the overall budget to “pass on the first go around,” to which Cipollone replied “I would agree 100%, I don’t think the community can tolerate multiple votes. It is just not healthy for us, if we want to get back on track as a community.”