Redding Budget Information 2019 - 2020

Important Dates, Meetings, Budget Workshops (check Town Calendar to confirm)
  • March 4, Redding Board of Education Special Meeting-Listening Session II, 7:30 pm, Town Hall
  • March 5, Redding Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 pm, John Read Middle School
  • March 7, Region 9 Board of Education Budget Workshop, 7:30 pm, Joel Barlow High School 
  • March 7, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education proposed budgets due to the Board of Finance
  • March 11, Region 9 Board of Education Budget Workshop, 7:30 pm, Joel Barlow High School
  • March 14, Board of Finance Public Hearing on budget requests, 7:30 pm, Community Center
  • March 25, Board of Finance Public Hearing on budgets, 7:30 pm, Town Hall
  • April 1, Board of Finance Public Hearing on budgets - if needed - 7:30 pm, Town Hall
  • April 24, Redding League of Women Voters 2nd Annual Speak Up, 7:45 pm, Community Center
  • May 7, Annual Referendum on the Budget 6:00 am to 8:00 pm at the Redding Community Center followed by 8:00 pm Board of Finance Meeting to approve Tax (Mil) Rate or revise the budget
Budget Links:

PROPOSED 2019-2020 BUDGET - Overview of the March 25, 2019 Board of Finance Meeting

  • By a vote of 6 to 0, the Board approved the Board of Selectmen budget request.

  • By a vote of 6 to 0, the Board approved the Board of Education budget request.

  • By a vote of 6 to 0, the Board approved the Town Budget, which will go to referendum on May 7th.

The approved Town Budget is $50,960,997, which is a 3.52% increase over last year.

The Town Budget consists of three parts: the Board of Selectmen budget ($14,990,463), the Board of Education budget ($22,067,447), and Redding’s share of the Region 9 budget ($13,903,087).

The meeting also noted that the Senior Tax Credit is fully funded as mandated by statute and is not affected by this or any other budget referendum. 

Following are the details.

Board of Selectmen

The Board of Selectmen put forward a budget of $14,990,463, which is an increase of 1.98% over last year. 

After discussion between the Board of Finance and First Selectman Julia Pemberton, it was agreed that the $50,000 expenditure for Friends of Redding would be removed from the Selectmen’s budget.  However, other elements of the BOS budget were seen to need increases, such as funds for legal services and for the Registrar of Voters.  Thus the BOS budget request was approved in full.

Board of Education (Redding Elementary School and John Read Middle School)

The Board of Education unanimously put forward a budget of $22,067,447, which is a 4.4% increase over last year. 

Primary drivers of the increase are related to Pensions ($184,115), Special Education ($799,634), and Health Insurance ($98,675).  Without any offsetting cuts, these increases alone would have driven the budget up 5.1%. 

With the elimination of a teaching position and the elimination of a proposed teaching position, this budget projects increased class sizes at Redding Elementary School.  Here are the projections vs. the current year. 

  • Kindergarten rises to 18 per class from 15.4.

  • 1st Grade rises to 19.5 per class from 17.6.

  • 2nd Grade falls to 18 per class from 19.2.

  • 3rd Grade rises to 19 per class from 17.25.

  • 4th Grade rises to  23 per class from 20.

While class sizes have risen, Dr. McMorran noted that best practice for Kindergarten through 3rd grade is to have class sizes in the teens.  At present, it appears that there will be two 1st Grade classes with 20 students in each.

The BOE budget manages savings by incenting seven senior teachers to retire and does not restore the .4 Music Teacher to John Read Middle School thus leaving one music teacher for approximately 385 children.  On the plus side, this budget does fully restore extra-curricular programming at JRMS.  Also, due to the discovery of an arithmetic error of $112,00, Spanish will not be cut from RES, and the original budget increase of 4.69% was lowered to 4.44%.  There are no new programs.

Region 9 Board of Education (Joel Barlow High School)

The Region 9 Board, which acts as its own Board of Finance, approved (5-2) a budget of $24,133,114, which is down .44% from last year.

Because of substantial savings in the areas of Special Education, Transportation, and Debt Service, there are no proposed cuts to programs.  Indeed, several areas that were cut last year were restored, such as paying the counseling staff so that they can be available for summer hours.

Using rounded numbers, here are the main budget drivers, up and down, as presented by the Director of Finance and Operations.

Reductions:

  • ($517,000) Special Education Tuition

  • ($116,000) Transportation

  • ($80,000) Debt Service

  • ($46,000) Electricity/Heating Oil

  • ($35,000) IT Equipment

  • ($18,000) Tuition Reimburse/Workers’ Comp

  • ($21,000) Multiple <$10K each

  • ($8,000) Copper Pipe—a late reduction

  • ($841,000) TOTAL REDUCTIONS

Increases:

  • $225,000 Medical Insurance

  • $200,000 Special Education Excess Cost Adjustment

  • $200,000 Contractual Salary

  • $108,000 Multiple <$30K each

  • $733,000 TOTAL INCREASES

Redding’s proposed share of the Region 9 budget is $13,903,087, which is a 3.72% increase over last year.  Projections suggest that the next two budget cycles will see an increase in enrollment of Easton students at Joel Barlow High School, and thus Redding’s share of the budget is expected to decrease.