By Elio Gugliotti, Editor
PROSPECT — The Town Council last week adopted a $9.09 million proposed municipal budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year.
The budget proposal increases municipal spending by $5,294, but how the overall budget — including education costs — will impact the tax rate is to be determined.
The spending plan is $330,649 less than the budget proposal Mayor Robert Chatfield recommended to the council in early March.
Council Chairman Jeffrey Slapikas said Chatfield did a great job with his proposal. He said the council worked to reduce and cut areas in the budget to lessen the burden on taxpayers, considering any financial impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on taxpayers and an increase in the town’s education costs.
Slapikas said the council’s budget proposal sets up a challenging year for Chatfield, but he’s confident the mayor can make it work.
A large part of the reduction comes from a plan to share a resident state trooper with Bethany starting in the 2020-21 fiscal year. Sharing a trooper is projected to cut Prospect’s cost for the resident state trooper program in half to $105,337 for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Overall, the proposed police budget is set to decrease by about $107,000 to roughly $1.01 million.
The council also reduced Chatfield’s recommendation of $40,000 to hire a full-time finance director to the $10,000 that is presently budgeted for the position — now called a municipal accounting assistant — that helps with town finances.
The finance director proposal, along with $12,000 for a payroll service, were in response to thefts from a town payroll account from December 2017 to November 2018 that became public when state police announced in January that they made an arrest in the investigation.
The council kept the funds for the payroll service in the budget, but the finance director was a point of contention during the council’s May 5 meeting.
Council member Megan Patchkofsky said there’s no question the town needs additional financial policies and procedures in place, but she felt a full-time finance director isn’t needed.
Council member Theresa Graveline agreed, saying the problem that led to the thefts lies with the financial practices of the town. She said a position is needed for bookkeeping and accounting, adding the job description for the position needed to be more defined.
Council member Stephanie Lusas Kolodziej said the town can adjust the position as needed, and it would be better to have the money in place and not spend it then need it and not have it.
Chatfield argued the position is similar to what other, smaller towns like Beacon Falls have in place. He added it is needed to help prevent something like the theft from happening again and improve the town’s operation.
“I think it would be beneficial for the whole town,” he said.
The council voted 7-2 to keep the budgeted amount at $10,000. Kolodziej and Vice Chairman Stanley Pilat voted against the motion.
Slapikas there are still questions surrounding the position, including what it would entail, and he wouldn’t have a problem with transferring additional money for it if the council receives a more detailed proposal.
The council also approved a plan to bond $900,000 — $785,000 for road repairs and $115,000 for radio repeaters for the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department. The first payment on the bond would be due in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
The council is holding a virtual hearing on the budget May 12 at 7 p.m. The public can submit comments and questions via email to towncouncil@townofprospect.org by 11 a.m. May 12. The public will also be able to call in to the meeting by calling 1-877-568-4106 and use the access code 832797485.
The council is expected to vote on the budget and bonding May 26. There won’t be a town meeting this year, since the state waived in-person voting requirements due to the coronavirus.
The municipal budget doesn’t include school spending for Region 16. The Board of Education has approved a $40.7 million budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year that keeps overall spending flat but increases Prospect’s net cost by a projected $1.4 million.
Chatfield said last week how the impact the town’s tax rate of 30.95 mills is unclear because he’s waiting on a projected school budget surplus.
The school board is expected to have a surplus this fiscal year because schools are closed. The school board will return surplus funds to Prospect and Beacon Falls — the towns that comprise the region — next year after the budget is audited.
Chatfield said he’s waiting to get the town’s estimated share of the surplus from school officials to factor it as revenue in the budget to help mitigate the impact on the tax rate.
