[Updated] Town Council Accepts $19.6 Million Proposed Operating Budget for Next Year

The Town Council accepted a proposed town operating budget of $19.6 million Saturday for fiscal year 2011-12, a reduction from the 3.5 percent increase that the Town Manager Brandon Robertson put on the table hours before.

The council settled on endorsing a 2.77 percent increase on the operating budget over last year that does not include the Board of Education's operating budget request of $47,945,179 or the capital improvement project, debt services and sewers budgets.

Robertson also proposed $1.7 million for sewers, $4.8 million for debt service and $1.5 million for capital projects, and the council also accepted those requests. That brings the total town budget request to about $27.7 million, excluding Board of Education figures.

After the council reviewed Robertson's initial proposal and heard from the town department leaders, culminating in a budget workshop that went from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, most council members agreed that the budget should stay under a 3 percent increase.

"I think we need under 3 percent to put forth what I think would be a responsible budget," Town Council Chair Mark Zacchio (R) said. 

Robertson had suggested additional cuts that would bring the budget increase to 2.72 percent, but some council members were cautious about making the budget too tight.

Council member Pamela V. Samul (R) was concerned about making maximum cuts on the first go-around. She said she would prefer to spend more money on road repairs and a new police patrol car.

"Is it a good philosophy to go in knowing you are tight?" Samul posed to the rest of the council. "Maybe we should leave some room to rethink [the cuts].... If we get cut from 2.72, we're starting to hurt the town's public safety...."

"It's the tightness of the budget," Douglas M. Evans (R), council member, agreed.

The council settled on about $10,000 more than Robertson's initial proposed budget cuts, which would have otherwise gone toward fire inspections. Robertson said that the fire inspections would still be done, but that the funds would come from grants rather than town money.  

The town has not indicated what this means for residents' taxes in the next fiscal year.

Capital improvement project funds requested for next year include $293,747 for road surface improvements, $420,000 for the first phase of Haynes Road sewer installation and $60,000 for the third year of underground storage tank replacement. 

The Avon Volunteer Department is also looking to replace two of its engines, one at headquarters on Darling Drive and the other at Company 4 on Huckleberry Hill Road. Initially the department had requested $1.4 million to replace both, about $700,000 per engine. After discussions with Robertson, Fire Chief Michael Trick has suggested installing the body of Engine 7, which sits at Company 4, on a new chassis to upgrade the truck, which was manufactured in 1990. That would cost about $100,000 to $125,000, he said. Robertson also mentioned the possibility of putting a new body on Company 1's Engine 9, which is the newer of the two and receives the most use. That would cost about $200,000. The adjusted capital budget fund request for the fire engines is $350,000.

The main Board of Education capital project proposed is replacement of the Avon High School boiler. The boiler, which was installed in 1996 and renovated in 2007-08, developed cracks because of "thermal shock," Robertson said on Tuesday.

Whenever the water leaves the boiler at one degree to circulate the building, the water temperature is much cooler when it returns, which is causing the cracking.

"We're looking into it to see if there's a liability," Robertson said Tuesday, and the town and school boards have gone into executive session to discuss the boiler issues in the past few weeks.

He said previously that it could mean as much as a "$725,000 item to replace," but $362,500 was recommended in the capital project fund proposal.

"Bottom line, $1.5 million for capital," Robertson said.

The town council did not vote to alter Robertson's recommendations for capital improvement, debt services and sewers budgets.

While the Robertson requested increasing the line item for wages and salaries by $166,125, that did include some reductions in funding for existing positions. Town Assessor Harry DerAsadourian's position, which is now full-time, may be reduced to part-time yielding a proposed $28,613 decrease. Robertson also requsted increasing the hours of the part-time assistant town clerk I position, which would be a $6,372 increase, and reducing one of the full-time assistant clerk's compensation by $18,891.

The council members went into executive session to review Robertson's performance, announcing in regular session that they agreed to recommend a 2.5 percent salary increase for Robertson, who began working for the town last year. 

"We have a lot of confidence in your abilities and look forward to working with you for years to come," Zacchio said in regular session.

The town and Board of Education budget will now be passed on to the Board of Finance, which will hold a public hearing in the spring before voting on a budget to pitch for town referendum.

This article was updated Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Editor's Note: Patch originally reported that Pamela Samul is Democrat, but she is a Republican. This article initially stated that the Avon Volunteer Fire Department's preliminary budget request was $14 million, but the figure published should have been $1.4 million. Patch also reported that the town council voted to accept a budget reduced form $27.8 million, but that origional request was not just the operating budget. It included the capital improvement, debt services and sewers budgets, as well. Corrections have been made.