2011-12 Westport Budget by the Numbers

An early version of First Selectman Gordon Joseloff’s 2011-12 municipal budget calls for a 3.34 percent increase and $66.6 million in spending over the current fiscal year..

The budget could change before it’s submitted to the Board of Finance for review. Combined with the proposed school budget, $179.3 million will be spent for a 2.42 percent spending increase if the two budgets are left as is.

The biggest increases would go to the library (1.7 percent), the Parks and Recreation Department (2.24 percent) and the beleaguered pension fund (10.65 percent increase, $10.1 million).

A finalized version of the budget will be submitted to the Board of Finance in early March, and they may mandate further cuts.

Some Key Numbers

Minus 31 Percent: That’s how much aid from the state is expected to decline from in the 2011-12 budget. The number isn't as bad as it sounds since $320,600 of the 2010-11 aid was for the March storm that whalloped Westport.

$4.8 million: In the 2008-09 budget, this much money was allocated to the pension funds, which took a massive hit with the economic collapse. It was a huge amount of money at the time, but it pales in comparison to the potential $10.1 million payment in the 2011-12 budget.

.09 percent: That’s how much of a spending increase the Westport Police Department –the town’s most expensive department by a hair– could receive.

$20,000: The estimated revenues from police fines in the 2011-12 budget is expected to increase 11 percent, or $20,000, to $180,000. In this case, crime does pay.

$3,262: That’s how much less money the Department of Public Works might have to spend in 2011-12. There $8.26 million budget is the third largest in town.

Minus 2.27 percent: The biggest cut will be to the general government fund, which includes a number of departments such as the Town Clerk, Probate Court and Information Technology. All these departments cost $5.1 million

Correction: The spending increase in the proposed muncipal budget was incorrectly noted as 3.24 percent. It is actually 3.34 percent.