East Windsor Finance Board Adds $7,000 to Budget

One way or another, the East Windsor town budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year will have a spending increase of 2 percent.

Indeed, at a meeting on Wednesday evening, the Board of Finance unanimously approved sending to a third referendum a $34.84 million budget that contains a 2 percent spending increase.

That’s just over $7,000 more than the budget that was soundly rejected by voters at the second referendum on Tuesday. That budget contained a proposed 1.98 percent increase.

The spending increase is guaranteed whether or not voters approve it at the polls on June 11 because of a charter provision that requires the budget to have a 2 percent spending increase after three failed referendums.

Still, if approved by voters, the budget will contain $20.62 million for schools and $14.22 million for the town budget. The $7,000 that was added to the budget to get from 1.98 percent to 2 percent would be included in the schools budget.

After public comment - during which 16 residents spoke, the vast majority of whom requested additional spending - finance board members said they did not have the desire to further cut into the budget that had already seen over $500,000 slashed from the original proposed spending increase.

“As a taxpayer, I don’t want to see services cut,” finance board member Sharon Tripp said. “It would be detrimental to the growth of our town. … I don’t want to cut the Board of Education any more.”

Finance board member Danelle Godeck agreed.

“[The school district is] in the bottom 30 in the state,” Godeck said. “A lot of people see a high crime rate and a school district in the bottom 30 in the state, that doesn’t open a lot of doors for companies and families to move here. People look at the statistics and they will ask, ‘Why would we want to go there?’”

Finance board member Joe Pellegrini said that he has a young family and wants to stay in East Windsor, but at some point that wouldn’t make sense if he could move several miles away to another town and receive many more services for a nominal tax increase.

“It all comes down to ROI [return on investment],” he said.
Finance board Chairman Jason Bowsza started the meeting by dispelling the rampant misinformation that the budget would result in a 20 to 25 percent tax increase.

Bowsza said that the average assessment after revaluation would have resulted in property values dropping 14.5 percent.

“At least 50 percent of all taxpayers would have had a decrease of $200 in their taxes per household” if the second budget had passed at the referendum,” Bowsza said.

But while it was a victory of sorts for people who wanted to increase spending, it may have been a bit of a hollow one.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Theresa Kane thanked the finance board for not cutting the budget increase further. But she also noted that even with a 2.24 percent spending increase [the town will receive a reduced increase], there will be substantial cuts.

Kane said that nine teaching positions, two administrators, two secretarial positions, three custodians, five aides would be eliminated and transportation services reduced.

“I fully expect a backlash when people hear this,” she said. “Shame on the people for not going out to vote.”