Public comments amounted to nearly half of the four-and-a-half hour long New Fairfield Board of Finance (BOF) meeting on Wednesday, March 29. Except for a couple of detractors, dozens of residents spoke in favor of the budgets, especially the education budget, remaining unchanged. Fearful o f potential cuts that were outlined by school officials the evening before, many faculty and parent s spoke out against the potential for deep staff and program cuts. Though all were thanked for speaking up, it became clear at the meeting’s end that large cuts will indeed be needed for the final markup. While public comments were largely apprehensive in the first session, they were markedly angry in the second.

With budget opinion divisions following party lines on the board, Mr. Kim Hanson was praised for coming to this meeting ready to negotiate, though talks didn’t go very far. Those more hardlined on a lower tax increase hold the cards as they have a majority on board, and they are firm in their stance that many residents cannot afford a larger increase, especially with all of the financial pressures being felt across the board. Hanson stressed that he worries about

“the seniors on fixed income, their oil is up, their electricity is up, their food is up. I worry about the roughly 10% of families who are on free lunch at the schools. I believe that means a family of four is making less than $34,000 a year. Think about that for a few minutes.” Ms. Claudia Willard agreed, saying that she fears the talk of recession coming to bear, “Things ar e not getting better anytime soon and people are feeling those pressures. And to come along and say well…we’re going to hit you too. I think that’s the least compassionate thing you can do.” Mr. Marc Beninson has repeatedly expressed interest in a conservative increase, reminding the boards, “we had some windfalls last year that we didn’t expect, and that was great, and then we spent it.”

Alternate Mr. Greg Williams, who was elevated to vote at this meeting in Ms. Cheryl Reedy’s stead, expressed disappointment regarding the current state of the budget talks in his comments at midnight, saying, “I think everybody can see where this is headed. I just hope that the block that is gonna decide this ultimately can do it quickly. Figure out what you’re going to do and get a move on with it.” Board Chair Mr. Wes Marsh’s frustration and exasperation throughout the meeting was palpable, and he charged members who will not take a stand on numbers with “stalling.” He tried to put a stake in the ground on cut amounts, saying “I think we owe it to the Board of Ed and the Board of Selectmen to know where we’re going,” but an official amount was not determined beyond the indication that large cuts are needed. Marsh has repeatedly given avenues for decreasing the tax increase, though he stops short of requiring deep cuts to the proposed school and education budgets. He did say that the “final markup” is unlikely on April12, their next meeting, as originally planned.

As previously reported, there are ways to lower the potential 13.15% increase by leveraging debt service premiums and a handful of medical options, but lowering the increase further than roughly 8% will require cuts to the operational budgets for the schools and Town. To lower the budget to below 5%, it would mean significant cuts to both budgets. A lengthy medical discussion made it clear again that there are differing levels of comfort in how much risk to take in predicting whether this year was an outlier in increased usage and costs. Logic would have it that this past year was high due a catch-up on elective procedures following the pandemic’s height, but some members are nervous that high claims will continue into the next year. Also, members are concerned with how much to replenish the Medical Reserve Fund. There was some discussion about health insurance coverage and premium rates, with the understanding that changes in coverage and increases would need to be negotiated with the unions.

Questions about the remaining funds for COVID were raised, with BOE members wondering if the funds could be used to cover expenses that are currently in next year’s Town budget. There were also questions about the General Fund, which is essentially for emergencies.

On a two-week hiatus, the next Board of Finance meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 12, 7:30 p.m.

By Sarah Opdahl