Pool, GEMS included in proposed $367.7 million budget

Written by Ken Borsuk, Staff Reporter
Thursday, 09 February 2012 09:00

As expected the town’s proposed $367.7 million municipal budget contained no surprises, but it did have good news for advocates of several capital projects on the horizon.

In the official 2012-13 municipal budget unveiled Monday night by First Selectman Peter Tesei, funding was included to continue preliminary work on both a new headquarters for Greenwich Emergency Medical Services (GEMS) in the Northwest part of town and renovating the town’s community pool in Byram. Both projects received money to continue architecture and engineering work but will not yet begin construction for years as the town continues its spending commitment for the music instructional space and auditorium (MISA) project at Greenwich High School, a new central fire station and the Nathaniel Witherell’s Project Renew.

In formally unveiling the $367,697,245 municipal budget, which represents a 2.67% increase over last year, Mr. Tesei pointed to a recent rank ing by Connecticut Magazine that had Greenwich listed as the best town with a population over 50,000 to live in Connecticut. He said the budget “... provides essential funding for our public and life safety services, supports our excellent school system and maintains the town’s ongoing infrastructure maintenance and improvement projects.” Mr. Tesei added that the number one ranking was an “affirmation” of the work that has been collectively done in the town over recent years.

“This budget continues the progress we have made over the past four years since the onset of the great recession,” Mr. Tesei said. “I support a balanced approach to meeting our objective of minimizing taxes while maximizing services. As a town we have been successful in balancing these competing forces and it has resulted in our ability to withstand the economic downturn. Our continued emphasis on improving the level of services we offer, while concurrently working to improve the efficiency and economy of these services has made it possible to propose a very reasonable budget.”

The budget is now in the hands of the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET’s) Budget Committee and will be examined throughout the rest of the month. The committee has the power to remove, alter or make additions to the budget and once it is approved it is sent to the full BET for consideration, a process that eventually leads to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) in May.

And while discussions are set to begin today with an all-day consideration of the Board of Education’s $139.8 2012-13 budget, the initial impression of the budget seemed to be a positive one. Budget Committee Chairman Joseph Pellegrino thanked Mr. Tesei for his “energy and leadership” and said he had presented what looks like a “fairly lean budget.”

The spending cap

Mr. Tesei focused on the spending cap agreed to by the BET last year that limited capital spending to $47.5 million in order to remain within the limit. Mr. Tesei said this made putting the capital budget together “more challenging” and it would be even more difficult next year, meaning “very worthy projects” would be deferred. While he did not dispute the idea of having the cap, he urged the BET to consider that outstanding debt in areas like Witherell and town sewers will not be repaid by town revenue and to not include it in future limits.

Despite those limitations, Mr. Tesei was able to find money for both the pool and the GEMS headquarters, both of which had strong support last week at a Capital Improvements Project Committee public hearing. GEMS will get $250,000 for architecture and engineering work to develop a headquarters on property given to the department by the Boy Scouts. The pool project will get $150,000 to continue its development of plans, an expenditure its proponents said would be critical toward establishing a public/private partnership for the project.

The budget also includes $3.57 million to test and remediate contaminated soil at GHS that was discovered during work on the MISA project. The problem, which had been undetected for decades, will require cleanup and the full cost is not yet known. Mr. Tesei called this the “wild card” in the budget because the final cost can’t yet be determined.

Support for the pool

Several pool supporters spoke at a brief public hearing after the budget was presented. Ann Miller, president of the Greenwich Junior League, which is leading the drive behind the project, said the pool has deteriorated and is no longer fit for broad community use.

“The existing facility is at the end of its life,” Ms. Miller said. “A pool never intended for community-wide use was repurposed as such. At some point we will have to do something and we have an opportunity to work in partnership now to try.”

With the money from the town as a sign of faith a private fund raising effort is expected to begin in earnest in the near future. Mr. Tesei estimated that because of ongoing town capital expenses, construction on the pool could be as much as five years out. However, Paul Pugliese, a pool supporter, said he hoped enough private funds could be raised to accelerate that because he didn’t believe the existing pool would last five more years.

District 7 dissent

Last year’s budget, with its major spending on capital projects, came under harsh criticism from some segments of the RTM, particularly from District 7. They criticized the borrowing the town entered into and said it broke from the town’s “pay as you go” tradition. Some of those criticisms were voiced again at Monday’s hearing and once again they came from members of the District 7 delegation. Those that did speak were speaking as individuals since the district has not met yet on the proposed budget.

RTM member Valerie Stauffer, chairman of District 7, said it was a mistake to keep spending with the town already in debt. While the town has insisted projects like the pool and GEMS are maintenance, some see them instead as new projects.

“The financial obligations in the next year or so will not be very large, but in my opinion it’s starting us on a slippery slope of financial commitment,” Ms. Stauffer said, adding that she wasn’t convinced Byram Park was the best location for the pool and said other options should be examined.

District 7 member William Gorgas also weighed in.

“We started out on a pay as you go basis and then we started borrowing dimes,” he said. “Now it looks like we’re borrowing quarters.”

In his presentation, Mr. Tesei said that overall town revenues will be down close to $2.68 million and the town’s spending commitment to existing capital projects will grow by $1.11 million. This will all partly be offset by $1.65 million in savings by the town switching to a single-stream recycling program as well as close to $750,000 in savings from a health care plan change.

Mr. Tesei also touched on the soon to be felt $1 million deficit at Nathaniel Witherell as part of the Project Renew renovation. In recent years, the town run nursing and rehabilitation facility had been able to turn a small profit, but will now go back in the red because of the renovation project, meaning less occupancy will be available. Mr. Tesei said this should not come as a surprise to anyone and that the town’s commitment to the renovation remains absolute.

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