Town Hall in Greenwich, Conn., photographed on Wednesday, March 26, 2019.
File photo / Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut MediaGREENWICH — Residents will be able to have their say on the proposed town budget during a public hearing set for Jan. 24 in the Town Hall meeting room.
The 2023-24 spending plan will be presented to the Board of Estimate and Taxation's Budget Committee by First Selectman Fred Camillo and by Board of Education chair Joe Kelly and Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones. The meeting will start at 6 p.m., with public comment following the two presentations.
Members of the public can make comments on the budget plan in person or via www.greenwichct.gov/FormCenter/BET-Board-of-Estimate-Taxation-81/Board-of-Estimate-and-Taxation-Budget-Co-398.
In-person comments will be limited to three minutes per person. Comments submitted via the link must be made by the close of the public hearing to be included in the official record.
This is the first step in the budget process. After next Tuesday's presentation, meetings with different town departments will be held through Feb. 23, with a final consolidated budget presented by the BET's Budget Committee on March 8.
The BET public hearing on the budget is set for March 29. The final budget from the BET is set for April 4. From there, it moves to the Representative Town Meeting, which can modify the BET spending plan.
The current operating budget sits at $464,985,954, which pays for the day-to-day operations of the town. That budget was an increase of about 3.7 percent compared with the 2021-22 budget of $448.5 million.
The largest portion of the town's spending plan is due to school costs. The Board of Education gave its approval to a proposed $182,165,266 operating budget for 2023-24 in mid-December, deciding on a plan that would spend more on special education but would cut 13 positions.
The $182 million spending plan represents a $5.2 million increase over the current school year’s budget and was within guidelines set in October by the BET. The budget is a 2.9 percent increase over the current year’s spending, which is what the BET called for in its nonbinding guidelines that form the framework for what it is willing to approve.
Several school board members expressed concerns during the meeting that the budget was only brought in under guidelines because of federal money that came into Greenwich through the American Rescue Plan.
“Everyone needs to be reminded that this was not an easy task but would also be impossible had we not had the windfall funding from the federal government,” board member Kathleen Stowe said at the time. “Greenwich did incredibly well in terms of our federal funding.”
Kelly said he believes the BET is “fully aware” of the issues around funding and how the federal money helped to meet the guidelines and made for “a unique budget.”
The meeting and public hearing on Tuesday will be televised on Greenwich community Television channels 24 (Verizon), 79 (Optimum) and GCTV YouTube Channel.
Includes previous reporting by Ken Borsuk.