Hartford Courant

Town Facing `Wholesale Service Reductions'



By DANIEL P. JONES
And FULVIO CATIVO Courant Staff Writers

June 14 2007

WEST HARTFORD -- Anger over an October revaluation that captured sky-high home values and shifted part of the tax burden from commercial to residential properties probably was enough to prompt voters to reject the town council's budget in Tuesday's referendum.

A concerted campaign by the local taxpayers' group - one that town officials say relied on misinformation, such as a charge that the town manager was getting a hefty raise - probably ensured the defeat. That's the assessment of town officials as they race to adopt a new budget later this month and brace for a possible second budget referendum in September.

"It's clearly related to the effects of revaluation," Mayor Scott Slifka said Wednesday, a day after voters defeated the $203.3 million municipal budget by a ratio of more than 2-to-1.

Town officials also accepted blame for failing to communicate clearly with residents about what they can and cannot do about state-mandated revaluation and municipal budgeting.

"For most of the last year we've been trying to have a community conversation about the impact of state policies" on revaluation and years of insufficient education funding by the state, Slifka said. "It doesn't appear much of that has resonated."

Leaders of the West Hartford Taxpayers Association did not return a phone message and e-mail request for comment Wednesday.

The mayor said he was still fielding e-mails Wednesday from residents suggesting that Town Manager Jim Francis shouldn't get a big raise - even though the claim that he was getting one was false.

The council's adopted budget did not include any raise for Francis and included only a 3 percent cost-of-living increase for his assistant - contrary to implications by the West Hartford Taxpayers Association in a flier and advertisement that the two were getting 18.2 percent salary increases.

Now, according to officials, the council will have to look to eliminate or reduce things that are in the budget, such as town services. "This is not something you can address adequately by trimming," Slifka said. "We're looking at wholesale service reductions."

Officials said they are considering eliminating the town's vacuum-truck leaf pick-up service and instead requesting that residents place bagged leaves at the curb for pickup.

Officials expect to have suggested reductions by the end of the week, and the council expects to adopt a new budget at its next meeting on June 26.

All of the town's 20 voting districts defeated the council's budget proposal. The last time local voters rejected a budget was in June 2004, also in a landslide, but with a larger ratio - more than 4-to-1.

Officials say the resounding defeat means significant cuts will have to be made to a budget that already has seen more than $4 million trimmed from the school superintendent's initially proposed increase in education spending.

"This is a place we've never been," Superintendent David P. Sklarz said.

Sklarz said the district now may have to consider cutting or eliminating many programs that survived the last round of budget reductions, such as gifted and talented instruction and the Norfeldt School magnet program. School officials also said class sizes in some elementary schools could be increased to reduce expenses.

School board Chairman Jack Darcey said he was optimistic that potential cuts in printing services, more savings through retired staff, and a potential boost in state funding for education could offset further cuts in spending for the town and education.

The superintendent and Darcey also said the district may have to hold plans to hire staff for the coming school year. At the high school level, fees to play after-school sports could be increased and master schedules may have to be reconfigured to deal with fewer educators to teach a broad selection of courses.

"All the low-hanging fruit is gone, some of the higher fruit is gone, now where do we go?" Darcey said Wednesday.

Darcey cited Tuesday's turnout and said the time also has come for education advocates and concerned school parents to mobilize a pro-schools movement to counter what he called an effective campaign against the budget by the taxpayers' association. Education leaders said they hope to have a list of potential cuts ready by early next week.

The public can address the new round of expected budget reductions at the school board's next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in town hall's legislative chamber.

Council member Chuck Coursey said he and other members are in agreement about one thing. "We're not going to gut education, that's for sure," he said. "People move to West Hartford for the great schools, not for the great restaurants."

Contact Daniel P. Jones at dpjones@courant.com.

Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant