Links to budget information

Education Budget

Town Budget

Latest Budget News

The Board of Education passed their budget on 4/21/09 and the Town Council passed the town budget on 4/23/09.

The budget is a $612,317 reduction in spending.

The Board of Education budget passed unanimously. The town budget was an 8 to 1 vote for the budget with Joseph Visconti being the lone dissenting vote.

The West Hartford Taxpayers Association voted to NOT collect signatures for a budget referendum.

There may be others who will collect signatures for a referendum. In order to force a referendum, 6% of registered voters' (2,382) signatures are needed. It costs taxpayers around $45,000 to hold a referendum vote.

Town

The budget is a $612,317 reduction in spending from last year. The budget includes:

• Over a $1 million reduction from union concessions - tentative agreements to a wage freeze have been reached with most of the bargaining units.
  
  
• The elimination of vacuum leaf collection for a savings of $383,064.
  
  
• A reduction in library hours
  
  
• A reduction in the funding of the retiree health reserve by $127,000. This lower amount is more consistent with the long term plan.
  
  
• Charging for fire inspection services, generating $200,000 of income.
  
  
• A $100,000 reduction in utility expenses due to a change to a new contract.
  
  
• The elimination of free parking on Sundays in the town's surface lots in West Hartford Center, generating $106,000 in additional revenue.
  
  
• Free refuse and recycling removal will be eliminated for churches and non-profits, reducing costs by $96,000.
  
  
• Cut the capital improvement plan by $14.1 million in fiscal year 2010 and $11.3 million in fiscal year 2011
  
  
• Actions had been taken as of last summer that included a hiring freeze, a freeze of non-union workers salaries, and restrictions on any non-essential spending.
  
  
• Numerous other smaller cuts that are detailed in this document on the Town's budget website: "Summary of Recommended Changes to Proposed Budget"

Non Tax revenues are down $5.6 million dollars. Combining the reduction in spending with the reduction in non-tax revenues means $5 million of additional tax revenue is needed. The Grand list has grown by $70 million due to commercial and residential expansion. This increase in the grand list will generate $2.4 million of additional tax revenues. This growth in the grand list reduces the needed tax revenues to $2.6 million. This translates to a 1.5% increase in taxes needed. The impact to taxpayers will vary due to revaluation, this is the average increase. Some will see tax decreases.

The town has created an easy way for you to find out what the proposed budget means to you personally. The town's Web site has a comparison of what your tax bill was for 2008-09 compared to what it will be with the approved town budget. Please note that since the mill rate has gone down, your property tax for your motor vehicles will go down, as long as you have the same cars that you had last year. This tax calculator does not include the change in your motor vehicle tax. Click here to see your projected tax bill

For a quick summary of the changes in the budget since the original proposed budget, see the "Summary of Recommended Changes to Proposed Budget" document on the town's budget webpage.

For the full budget document, see the "2009-2010 Proposed Town Budget". The "S" (summary section) and the "O" (option) section of the document have even more details on the town's budget cuts. Page O1 (the 57th page) included the list of cuts that the Town Council considered.

At the 4/2 Budget Forum, Mayor Scott Slifka and Town Manager, Ron Van Winkle, addressed the street lights and how much they cost. They were funded entirely by the federal government and the original grant was filled out in 2004. They are more energy efficient and will save the town energy costs. The cameras on top of the street lights are meant to sense if cars are there to trigger the lights. These cameras will be less expensive to maintain than the magnetic strips in the roads that we had previously - the magnetic strips were often needing repair.

At the 4/2 Budget Forum, Mayor Slifka and Ron Van Winkle also addressed the rainy day fund which is the town's savings account. It is 7% of annual expenditures - this is the target that the town has maintained for the last 10 years. The Mayor does not want to use this fund since it is for emergencies such as when a budget is not passed.

Schools

The school budget is a slight decrease from last year's spending. The budget includes:

• The elimination of 23.45 full time and 20 part time positions.
  
  
• The use of $1 million of Federal stimulus money to offset increasing costs in special education.
  
  
• Lowered anticipated costs for energy and health/medical as well as some other technical adjustments for other expected savings.
  
  
• Freezing of wages agreed to by the 49 central office administrators.
  
  
• Reduced supply budgets and textbooks.
  
  
• Instituting student activity fees for intramurals
  
  

The summary above is not complete. For more information, the Budget Reduction Options document has the detailed technical adjustments and cuts to the school budget. Note that the items on the list starting on the bottom of page 1, after the "Budget Increase - Revised" line were cuts that were NOT made. These are cuts that were contemplated and not done.

A great summary of the changes from last year's budget is included in this summary document. Click here for a detailed two page summary of the 2009-10 West Hartford school budget changes from 2008-09.

A great source to learn about the originally proposed school budget, before cuts were made to get it to a 0% change in spending, is the Executive Summary document on the Board of Education budget website.

Another great source to learn about the originally proposed school budget, before cuts were made to get it to a 0% change in spending, is this summary. Click here for a detailed two page summary of the 2009-10 West Hartford school budget as it was originally proposed in March.