Tolland Officials Outline $51.04 M Budget in Advance of Referendum

With the town council recommending a $1.33 million increase in spending on local education next year, several Tolland High School seniors who spoke during the annual budget presentation Tuesday night questioned why none of it had been set aside for a fifth-year French class.

“We used to have Latin and French 5,” Jesse Aldin, a senior honors student told the audience of about 60 town residents who gathered at the high school to offer input on the proposed $51.04 million spending plan.

Resident Brian Gagnon said he appreciates hearing that the town council’s budget priorities are education and public safety, but he would like to see more spent on public safety. Gagnon, a full-time, career firefighter in the neighboring town of Mansfield, questioned why there wasn’t more money in the budget for the town’s emergency services. Gagnon had joined the Tolland Fire Department as a volunteer in 2001 then was hired in 2006 to fill-in temporarily for another firefighter on military leave.

Gagnon said he had to look outside of town for full-time work as a paid firefighter.

“I’m saddened I had to leave the town I grew up in” to find a job as a firefighter that paid enough to raise a family. Gagnon said that by not speaking up for better wages and benefits for town firefighters he felt he had failed those who “still work for the town of Tolland.”

“I understand your frustration,” Town Council Chairman Frederick Daniels to Gagnon, adding that Town Manager Steven Werbner has voiced similar concerns. But at this point in the budget process, it would only be possible to change it if voters shot it down during the daylong referendum scheduled for May 3.

The recommended budget does contain a $54,444 allocation for an assistant public safety supervisor to help reduce the workload on department leaders.

The town council, by a vote of 5 to 2, has recommended adoption of a $51.04 million local spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget includes: $10.82 million for town departments, $335,501 for capital expenditures, $4.75 million for debt service and $35.17 million for local education.

When added together, the proposed budget for next year is $1.72 million more than the current year, or an increase of 3.49 percent.

The town council projects that a tax rate of 30.28 mills will be needed to raise $38.33 million from local property owners. Other revenues, including state and federal grants and fees collected by the town, will cover the remaining balance.

Under a 30.28 mill tax rate, property owners would pay $3,028 in taxes on each $100,000 in assessed property value. The owner of property assessed at $200,000 would owe $6,056.

School Board Chairman Robert Pagoni urged the public to support the school budget on May 3. The proposed increase in the school budget is 3.93 percent. Though that figure is less than the 6.53 percent increase sought by school administrators earlier this spring, it is still higher than the 2.54 percent increase recommended by the town manager.

“The school system is not sustainable at the current level of funding,” Pagoni said.

Paper ballots will be used during the referendum, which will be held from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The town has two polling places: Voting District 1, Hicks Memorial Municipal Center, 21 Tolland Green, in the auditorium, and Voting District 2, the Tolland Senior Center, 674 Tolland Stage Road.

“It would be great to see a lot more participation,” Daniels said.

Editor's note: If you missed the budget presentation Tuesday night, town officials will present it again this afternoon (Wednesday, April 27) at 12:30 at the Senior Center on Tolland Stage Road.