FAIRFIELD, Conn. Fairfields Board of Selectmen had its final say on the towns 2012-13 spending Monday afternoon. The plan it approved would add nearly $10 million to the towns budget, which if it holds up would mean about a 4 percent increase in tax bills this summer.
Im not looking forward to a 4 percent tax increase. I wish I could lower it, and I think the taxpayers are going to have a problem with it, Selectman James Walsh said at Monday's meeting. But all in all I think its been a balancing act.
Most of the increases come from new contracts for the towns teachers and Town Hall employees. But about $3 million of the extra spending came from what First Selectman Michael Tetreau called financial adjustments, or items that he hopes will go toward maintaining Fairfields AAA credit rating.
All three credit rating agencies list Fairfield as a AAA town, though Moodys gave Fairfield a negative outlook recently. Keeping a AAA rating keeps the towns interest rates low, which helps it pay back its debt at a low price.
To keep the rating, Tetreau proposed adding $1 million to its surplus and $2 million to its risk management internal service fund. In both cases, the money would go to Fairfields back accounts and wont be spent directly except for emergencies. But having the extra money in its coffers will make Fairfield more attractive to credit agencies.
Those are all targeted at helping strengthen our balance sheet, and helping strengthen our financial foundation, Tetreau said.
Walsh agreed the money needed to go to those two funds but convinced his fellow board members that some of it should come from other departments. The three agreed to cut $100,000 from the towns legal fees and decrease the amount added to the surplus to $250,000.
The selectmen also agreed to cut $250,000 from the Board of Educations request. The school board asked for about $149.5 million for this year, its smallest increase in 50 years. Tetreau had already cut that by about $600,000 because of lower than expected health care costs.
Walsh persuaded the selectmen to trim that again to make up for money added to the surplus and risk management accounts. Their budget is almost two-thirds of our entire budget, Walsh said. Its hard to find [savings] in that other third when a lot of thats contractually based.
The selectmen made one addition to Tetreaus initial spending plan Monday. The three unanimously agreed to add a secretary in the towns building office to deal with the backlog of requests for permits and other functions in that department. But most of that will come from a rise in fees for permits, which would go into effect July 1.
In all, the Board of Selectmens budget amounts to $273,011,087 in spending for 2012-13. The Board of Finance will make its own changes Wednesday evening. The Representative Town Meeting will have the final say in the first week of May.
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