VOTE MAY 12!
ReminderNews
On Monday, April 27 the Windsor Town Council met at Town Hall to make its final deliberations regarding the fiscal year 2010 budget. Windsor, as with many cities and towns all over the United States, is faced with tough choices this year because of the economy.
While it seems like budget time is tough every year, given that the last two budgets did not pass referendum by Windsor residents, this year's deliberations include the proverbial monkey wrench. That monkey wrench is the recent revaluation.

Reval spread out over 5 years
The state-mandated property revaluation forces the town to update property values when calculating the taxes due for 2010. When the town manager, Peter Sousa, presented his original proposed budget, the tax impact on residents was going to be a zero percent increase based on the town's budgeted spending. But, because of the revaluation kicking in this year, 98 percent of residents would still see an increase in their tax liability due to the increase in their home's value. According to the town's published information regarding revaluation impact, 78 percent of residents would see an increase of 1 to 10 percent in their taxes.
During the meeting on Monday, much discussion focused on the impact of the revaluation and how, in these tough times, the town could help residents keep more of their own money in their pockets. The Council subsequently decided that the revaluation be implemented over the coming five years. The final impact of all these changes will now make the budget impact on taxes be a one percent decrease to residents, versus being flat . And while most residents' taxes will still go up for the year, it is less than originally expected because the impact of the revaluation will be spread over fi ve years, instead of having the full revaluation impact hit in 2010.

Council feels the pain
There was a clear feeling that the Council was very cognizant of the stresses that are being felt by average Windsor residents. Undoubtably, they all know that residents will be carrying these stresses with them to the polls in May when residents will cast their vote to approve or disapprove of the town's budget. "The voters in the past have asked for a second look at the budget. In my opinion, this budget warrants a second opinion," commented Councilor Gegetskas.

Education shared in cuts Some changes to the budget numbers were finalized . First, the Board of Education was able to decrease their budget by $290,000. This decrease is due to finding out that some money from the federal "stimulus plan" can be used for special education funding in the amount of $190,000.
The other $100,000 reduction in expenditures is based on better than expected health insurance experience data. In addition to these reductions, the BOE still plans on cutting jobs for the upcoming year.
While there was much discussion about the fact that education spending represents the vast majority of town spending, some on the Council felt that the BOE budget did not display enough in cuts. On that issue, William Hertzfeld responded, "How can you call cutting 33 jobs not sharing in the pain?"

This IS a rainy day The Council also implemented a change to Opening Cash for the upcoming year by using $475,000 from the General Fund. The General Fund is like the town savings account. As with any family's budget, it is desirable to have a strong savings account to be used for important expenditures or a rainy day.
Also, that General Fund number is important in determining the town's bond rating. In the end, the Council decided that today's economy was such a rainy day. The idea of using this money is to lower the tax impact for the upcoming year on Windsor residents.
Hertzfeld noted, "It's the citizens' money, it makes sense, and it is the right thing to do." The opposing viewpoint of using this money was that doing so only delayed the inevitable and will result in tougher tax implications for fi scal 2011.

Budget passes 6-3 The council passed the amended budget by a vote of 6-3 with Councilors Getetskas, Jepsen and Eleveld voting against the budget plan.
An important part of the meeting was to set the referendum date, and that is now formally set for May 12.
According to Councilor Ron Eleveld, "I would suggest the voters go out and vote 'no' on this budget, I think it is short-sighted ."
On the other hand, speaking of the budget impact on taxes, Councilor Randy McKenney said, "It may not be enough, but a decrease is better than an increase."
The Town Council has spoken, it is now the residents' turn. The time is now to get out and get educated on the budget plan and how it impacts you. The town will have the new budget calculator online so that residents can see what all this will mean to their pockets for the next year.
The full budget and the updated budget calculator can be found at www. townofwindsorct.com.

VOTE ON MAY 12 Regardless of the opinion of the budget, all the Councilors hope that residents come out in large numbers to make their wishes known. As Town Manager Peter Sousa said, "This budget impacts the residents of Windsor more directly than what is happening at the national level." So get out and exercise your right to vote.