Board of Finance Votes to Restore $500k to Schools, $54k to Town

After four motions and a private caucus, the Board of Finance voted to restore $500,000 to the Board of Education budget Wednesday.

The decision comes two weeks after the town's financial leaders recommended cutting the Board of Education budget increase request by $1 million — half of what the school officials had originally requested.

The motion to restore $500,000 was made as a compromise by Democrat Allyson Stollenwerck, who had proposed the $1 million cut two weeks ago. Her compromise was approved 4-3 with Republicans Edward Iannone, Charles Haberstroh and Avi Kaner supporting Stollenwerk's motion and Democrats Kenneth Wirfel, Helen Garten and Brian Stern opposing.

Stollenwerck's compromise was reached following two failed motions by Kaner to restore $803,000 or $650,000 to the Board of Education budget. Kaner had asked for a private caucus before the vote, which stalled the meeting for about five minutes.

Garten's motion to restore $100,000 was never voted on since Stollenwerk's motion passed.

The vote was preceded by a lengthy public comment period that consisted of nearly three hours.

Parents, public officials and concerned residents all weighed in on the budget from a variety of viewpoints.

Some members of the Parent Teacher Association asked for a full restoration, arguing that every aspect of the schools' budget request was made with purpose and would be used wisely to not only benefit the students but the community at large.

"The point of public education is to benefit everyone in town," said PTA mom April Book. "It's all part of a great town and a benefit to everyone regardless of what grade or not your kid is in."

Others argued when the Board of Finance considers cuts, it must do so in a balanced way that's fair to the town and the schools.

"What you have done to the town employees in this budget is you've given them good reason to go someplace else," said Westporter Mary Ann Neilson, who said her last child graduated from the public school system in 2004. " I mean, really, you are going to lose those people before you lose the school teachers. ... If you've come to believe the schools are the only beating heart and soul of Westport, you're wrong. It's the community as a whole."

Representative Town Meeting member Velma Heller who has been a PTA parent, teacher and administrator, said extreme cuts will provoke extreme passions and the Board of Finance must consider the needs of both the town and the schools.

"We need to remember what we value as a community and balance spending not by cutting it away that pits one community against another, but rather by supporting money that is spent wisely for the benefit of the entire community," she said.

While many parents, including 700 who signed a petition, said they would support paying more taxes in return for funding the schools' request, other audience members said not everyone can afford to pay more.

Ultimately, the board voted to restore the partial amount for the schools.

On the town side, the board voted to restore $54,600 with $18,000 for the Parks and Recreation Department, $10,000 for Transportation Service and $26,600 for the railroad parking fund.

There were impassioned pleas by many town departments for restorations in Public Works, the Library, Public Safety and the Registrar of Voters.

Republican Registrar Judy Raines who requested $18,500 in restoration for the registrar's budget and $18,000 in restoration for the elections budget said the board was not bringing her budget to flat numbers but was in effect decreasing it more than what her budget was for the current year.

Board of Finance member Kenneth Wirfel said the board is making severe cuts across the board because budget requests did not come in flat and the board wanted to fully fund the $8.3 million pension obligation.

"I mean this respectfully, you'll have to deal with this," Wirfel said to Raines. "These are draconian cuts. In some instances, we are cutting to the bone. I realize that and I think most of us are sick about what we are doing."

The board approved a general fund budget for the town at $173.5 million, which is about $1.2 million less than the First Selectman's request made in March.

Before the 2010-2011 town budget can earn the final stamp of approval, it now moves to the Representative Town Meeting, which is scheduled to consider the matter May 5-6.