Board of Directors Approves $163,381,703 Budget, 2.14 Percent Tax Hike

It was almost unanimous.

The Board of Directors met Tuesday and approved a $163,381,703 budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, a 1.5 percent increase over current year spending that calls for a 2.14 increase in the mill rate. The board voted 8-1 to approve the budget, with only Dennis Brenner, a Republican, dissenting.

The approved budget is a slight reduction from of $163,938,616, which would have been a 1.8 percent increase in spending over the current budget and necessitated a 2.9 percent tax hike.

Board members said they were able to achieve consensus on a budget that kept taxes low and maintained most services through compromise and a spirit of bi-partisanship, with several noting that they wished state and federal lawmakers shared the same willingness to compromise.  

“I feel that on a local level we are showing the country right here in Manchester that compromise helps everyone and is the best answer,” said Jay Moran, a Democratic member of the board.

Under the new budget, the mill rate will climb from 27.59 to 28.18, which equates to about an extra $85 per year for the average taxpayer. A mill is equal to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed property value.

“This mill rate increase is nearly one third lower than the one adopted in the bi-partisan budget last year,” said Mayor Louis Spadaccini, a Republican member of the board. “The town has exercised significant fiscal restraint in recent years and the last three budgets adopted by this board have had an average spending increase of just 1.1 percent. This was achieved through tough decision making by this board, sacrifices made by town staff in the form of wage concessions and by a number of forward thinking initiatives that saved money.”

The reductions from Shanley’s recommended budget shaved $556,852 off the total. Major reductions included: $60,120 in savings though early retirement notifications, $75,000 through an adjustment to the Board Education’s pension, and the elimination of the facilities manager position from the Board of Education’s requested budget, which saves $113,342.

With the exception of the elimination of the facilities manager position, the Board of Education’s requested budget was approved without any drastic reductions. The school board’s $100,521,490 budget makes up more than 60 percent of the town’s overall budget.

“The allocation approved tonight for our schools is close to the request made by the Board of Education with the exception that we chose to defer the creation of a new facilities administrator position,” said Spadaccini. “The Board of Education is about to embark upon a long sought efficiency study and it would be beneficial to learn the recommendations of this study before making a change of this nature.”

The Board of Directors can only allocate money to the Board of Education with a recommendation as to how any gaps in funding might be filled in, so theoretically the school board could still chose to create the position of facilities manager and opt to find the savings for the unfunded position elsewhere in its budget.

Almost all members of the board said they had issues with the budget – some that it spent too much, others that it cut too deeply into town services – but that they were willing to approve it in the spirit of compromise.

“Over time we negotiated a budget that everyone could embrace,” said Deputy Mayor Leo Diana, a Democratic member of the board. “It’s not perfect, some wanted more cuts and others wanted less. This type of compromise is rarely seen but here in Manchester we have a fair minded group whose only interest is the town.”

Brenner said he voted against the budget because he could not support even a modest tax increase under the current state of the economy.

“I’m concerned about it. I’m concerned abut the senior adults who have not had a raise in income in the last two years, I’m concerned about the unemployed adults, I’m concerned about the under-employed adults,” Brenner said. “I think it should have been a zero budget. I kind of feel like everybody needs to tighten their belts.”

The new fiscal year begins July 1, 2011.