Ellington passes budget, political banter continues

Last night, Ellington voters approved the town’s revised budget. Revisions were made to the budget after residents rejected a controversial budget proposal on May 28 that would have raised their taxes by approximately 7 percent.

The first proposed budget sparked debate among the town’s Democratic and Republican Committees, which both Town Administrator Matt Reed and Ellington School Superintendent Scott Nicol found uncharacteristic of Ellington’s past budget processes.

“No doubt, messy budget processes are a rarity in Ellington,” wrote the two in a statement released this morning. “When all parties work together, the path forward for the Town is bright and filled with opportunity.”

In spite of the bipartisan messaging, rifts clearly still exist regarding the town’s budgeting process, as Nicol and Michael Purcaro, former Board of Finance Chair and Board of Ed Chair, traded blows regarding claims previously made by the town’s respective political committees.

The new budget, which passed in a close 675-635 vote, will increase the town’s mill rate by 1.7 mills, as opposed to the 2.6 mill rate increase included in the town’s initial budget proposal. In total, it reduces the tax burden of the originally proposed budget by $1.2 million.

While the original budget would have raised resident’s taxes by 7.6 percent, the newly approved budget will increase taxes by 4.96 percent. The town was able to achieve this reduction without cutting any school staff or teachers, an increasingly difficult feat for municipalities across the state as federal COVID-era funding begins to sunset this fall.

“That was critical, it was imperative , ” said Tiffany Pignataro, Ellington’s Town Treasurer. “I know there are a lot of other communities where education is taking devastating hits , so we didn’t want to be part of that narrative.”

Pignataro described in depth the ways in which both the Town’s and Board of Education’s Finance Departments worked together to bring forward the new budget. Although the budget was able to maintain teachers, it did mean sacrificing some town services.

The most immediate sacrifices made to town services are the removal of curb-side tree, leaf, tire and brush pickup. Pignataro said that residents will now have to pay for the service out of pocket if they so choose. For leaves, residents will now have to drive them down to the town’s brush dump, which will require residents to purchase a punch card to use.

Pignataro said these punch cards will be good for ten dumps, and that while an official price has not been named by the town’s public works director, it’s looking to be around $100 per card.

“I don’t know that he’s published that yet at this point, but that’s kind of what he’s been mentioning,” said Pignataro.

Furthermore, prices will also be increased for families looking to sign their children up for Ellington’s Parks and Recreation programs.

Pignataro said the new budget reduced the initial budget’s expenditures by $342,513. To cover budget expenses while minimizing tax burden, $319,223 came out of the town’s reserve funds; $200,000 came out of the town’s capital project reserve fund and $119,223 was taken out of the town’s general reserve fund.

The riskiest element of the town’s new budget, as characterized by Pignataro, was its increase of the town’s revenue projections. Revenue projections are estimates for how much money the town will bring in over the course of the next fiscal year, taking into account tax revenue and return on investments made by the town. Pignataro said her initial revenue projections were based upon “several years of investment return analysis,” while the new projections, proposed by the town’s Board of Finance, were only based on the last three years of investment returns.

“The market has been performing at record high return rates, so they’re kind of hedging their bets that the rates are going to continue where they are for this upcoming year,” said Pignataro. “Essentially, we’re just going to have to hope that the feds don’t cut interest rates and that our investment portfolio performs the way that the board thinks.”

If the more aggressive revenue projections aren’t reached, the Town will have to reach into its reserve funds to cover its budgetary shortfalls. This decision would be made at the town’s discretion, and would not come to a referendum, said Pignataro. Municipalities typically try to keep their reserve funds at a certain target level to maintain higher credit ratings that allow them to take out loans or finance bonds at lower interest rates for future capital projects. Ellington’s target is to keep its reserve funds at 10 percent of its general fund balance.

“If we miss on this budget, it’s potentially stepping backwards, away from our target,” said Pignataro. “The board was fully aware of that risk, and obviously we all hope we don’t miss those new targets, but obviously the risk is there.”

In spite of the risk involved, Nicol said that he was happy with the way the budget turned out, but is mindful of the potential for the school budget to take hits in the future.

“The cuts came mostly out of the town,” said Nicol. “It’s my job to say, we recognize that, and say this can’t always be the way it is. If we’re in a situation like this again, we’re looking at some cuts, and that’s what would have happened if we did not pass this budget.”

Nicol applauded the efforts of both Town and Board of Ed Finance Departments, naming Pignataro and Felicia LaPlante on the Town’s Finance Department, and Alisha Carpino and Stephanie Veturis at the Board of Ed’s Finance Department.

“Those four individuals are outstanding with short-term and long-term budgeting, and trying to maximize the tax-dollar” said Nicol. “I think that bipartisanly, even though it was challenging, the Board of Ed and Board of Finance were able to get a budget that they could all get behind, and that was a positive outcome.”

While Nicol expressed hope for the bipartisan nature of the town’s board members moving forward, he did address two claims made surrounding the budget by the town’s Democratic Committee.

“The insistence that there’s fluff in the budget and you can just get rid of it and not attack services or programs, that’s just not the case,” said Nicol. “Teachers were on the table to be cut at one point.”

Nicol said that while some may characterize the services that were cut as being “inessential services,” that the definition of essential services change heavily depending on who you ask.

“So if you ask a senior citizen whether leaf pick up is an essential service, they may say absolutely,” said Nicol.

Nicol also argued against claims made by Michael Purcaro, that the town was facing budgetary shortfalls as a result of its past use of ARPA funding. Nicol said that ARPA funds were used to supplant, instead of supplement, the budget during Purcaro’s time in office. Nicol claimed that Purcaro used ARPA funding to lower the Town’s capital project budget during his time in office, requiring the town to raise its Capital Projects budget back to its pre-ARPA levels to continue to maintain infrastructure, pay off past project debts, and finance future projects.

“He made it so it wasn’t appropriately funded, and we have to try and fix it, because we don’t have it [ARPA funding] anymore” said Nicol. “It’s a hole in the budget that now is inadequately funded. An individual who has been on the Board of Ed, Board of Finance, and is a Town Manager, is very well aware of that.”

In response, Purcaro took “great exception” to Nicol’s statements, which he claimed were “embarrassingly false.”

“I find that behavior to be questionable from an ethics standpoint, and from a state statute standpoint,” said Purcaro. “As a taxpayer, I am frankly tired of the superintendent of schools, playing politics with my tax dollars. I still hear, from both Republicans and Democrats, that they also do not appreciate the superintendent of schools taking political sides in his messaging.”

Purcaro said that if Nicol wanted to continue to “play politics, he should have the courage to run for office in his own hometown, and not do it on our tax dollars.”

Nicol said that although administrators don’t typically foray into local politics, there’s “a moral and ethical obligation to do that from time to time,” when partisan claims “mischaracterize some of the history”.of important town processes like the budget.

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