June 18, 2008
Residents Tuesday soundly defeated the
town council-approved $215.9 million budget for 2008-09 in a referendum forced
by the local taxpayers' group.
The tally, according to town officials, was 7,037 to 3,711, a turnout of 29.02
percent of the town's voters.
The West Hartford Taxpayers Association said the budget was too much for
homeowners.
A pro-budget group, West Hartford First, said the town spending plan was needed
to maintain quality schools and services.
Mayor Scott Slifka, head of the Democratic council
majority that adopted the budget, said the state of the economy doomed the
budget from the start.
"We have a terrible economy and this is the one variable that someone can
control. You can't vote no on rising gas prices, you can't vote no on rising
food prices, but you can vote no on your taxes. … It's only natural that would
take place," he said.
"
Leon Davidoff, the Republican council minority leader, said he was not
surprised by the vote. "We may be the minority voice on the council, but
we are 100 percent in sync with the majority voice in the community," he
said.
Despite the lopsided defeat, Terry Schmitt, the school board chairman, said he
was "encouraged by the fact that we did much better than we did last year.
I'm heartened by the nearly 4,000 votes that we did get, and we certainly will
be working with council leadership to make appropriate adjustments to the
budget."
Schmitt has not ruled out eliminating teaching positions.
The council will adopt a revised budget Tuesday, and the town charter allows a
maximum of two referendums. If a second referendum is held, it would be in the
fall.
The budget that was rejected included anticipated state funds. State aid has
come in $615,000 less than what the town had been led to believe "and that
must come off the top," Slifka said.
Willis and Jane Housewright, a retired couple with
two daughters who went through the town's schools, walked away from the polling
precinct at
"You see one of those 'Vote Yes' signs, and you see tricycles and swing
sets. You see 'Vote No' and you see the people who have time to pick up every
leaf off the ground," said Jane Housewright, 57,
chuckling. "When you're retired and your salary's not going up and those
taxes are going up ... "
James Evans, a 47-year-old videographer, said he voted for the budget even
though his taxes have continuously gone up since moving to town several years
ago, "which I don't like."
But the reason Evans moved 2½ blocks to West Hartford after living in a cozy
home in
"West Hartford is a desirable place to live, and one of the things that makes it desirable is the school district," said Evans,
the father of a 3-year-old girl and a 6-year-old first-grader at
"So even though I don't like to pay taxes, I had to vote 'yes' because ...
I don't want to see my son lose any programs he has, and I just want [the
programs] to be there for my daughter when she goes," he said.
John and Jane Godfrey, also a retired couple, had harsh words for the spending
plan that the Democratic-majority town council adopted April 22.
With a property tax rate of 37.64 mills, a decrease of 0.99 mills from the
current rate, the average homeowner with a $354,000 market value house after
the 2006 phased-in revaluation would have to pay an extra $42.95 in property
taxes a month. A mill represents $1 of property tax for every $1,000 of
assessed value.
"I just think that children can be taught to learn with a lot less fancy
curriculums, and they're overdoing it," said Jane Godfrey, 68.
"They're just way overdoing it. ... They're paying for a private school
education with our tax money, and people that are living on fixed incomes — and
young people, even — are suffering. I think young people are deluded into
thinking that they're not going to have good education for their children if they
don't approve this budget," she said.
John Godfrey, 84, said, "We believe in this town, but they're driving
[out] the elderly people, the Social Security people."