RTM Budget Overview Committee to BET Budget Committee: “Imperial, Lacking Vision, Reactionary”

Wednesday night’s RTM Budget Overview Committee meeting, chaired by James Waters, featured a dial in Zoom option for those unable to get to the Mazza Room.

BET budget committee members Leslie Tarkington, Harry Fisher, Leslie Moriarty and David Weisbrod were invited to the table, and offered 30 minutes for their budget highlights, followed by 30 mins for Q&A.

“This is a very imperial decision – overriding the GPS leadership, overriding a professional engineering firm, overriding EMAC that has professional HVAC engineers on it, overriding the RTM who made it clear in the SOMR, 84% pass rate, that they want electrified solutions, but six of you decided you know better than the 230-member board who are much more representative of the town.” – Mark Lewis RTM Budget overview committee and Energy Management Committee member

Questions focused on their declining to $5.2 million in funds to rehabilitate Hamilton Avenue School’s geothermal HVAC system, disregarding the RTMs SOMR last April to keep Net-Zero conversations an active part of town and school building projects.The vote to approve the SOMR was approved: 157 for, 25 against, and 4 abstaining.)

Also, they asked about the shortfall of $4.1 million for the public schools operating budget.

Lastly, they pressed the BET budget committee about whether they might re-open the budget.

BET budget committee chair Leslie Tarkington and BET chair Harry Fisher described the FY 26 budget as a ‘growth budget.’

“We’re in charge of risk to the taxpayer. We didn’t want the risk of the geothermal system.” – Harry Fisher, BET chair, BET Budget Committee member

“There’s still growth in this budget. No budgets are cut from the previous year. There is still reasonable growth on the order of 3%, and a projected tax rate increase of about 2.8%,” Mr. Fisher said.

He continued, “I want to address head on the controversy swirling around about school budget. We made a reduction in the growth of the school budget of $4million, some odd,” he said.

Fisher commended Cody Kittle’s leadership of the BOE budget committee for “stepping up on where they could get some reductions.”

“Despite all the calls, I thought it was important to let the BOE do their work and see where it comes out. That’s what we’re waiting on,” Fisher added, noting the BOE had a meeting scheduled for Thursday night, May 1.

Ms Tarkington elaborated on the lengthy budgeting process that begins in earnest in the summer and includes working with all the town departments, starting with the town’s budget director Roland Geiger to factor in things like salaries and unions contracts.

Tarkington said numerous issues crop up before the point the budget committee even begins to compare the budget with the previous year’s budget.

“We’re starting with so much of the budget in place, and it’s not the BET making decision, you’re the ones who decide what are the contractual rates,” she said. “It’s a huge responsibility. Then we look at other major costs.”

“There is a real advantage to looking at this from year to year,” Tarkington said, adding that they look at all the town’s general government departments. “The large increases are coming from police and fire – Fire Dept at 4.4% Police Dept at 4.37%.”

“For the BOE – we have at 2.99%. We have to remember that last year in addition to substantial increases, we gave them an additional multi million dollar amount to dedicate toward special education. We’re seeing that amount as the base for this year’s budget.”

As for the capital budget, Tarkington said the town-owned nursing home, The Nathaniel Witherell, was the town’s second largest department – second only to the public schools.

As for sewer maintenance funding, she said, “Infrastructure in many cases is 50, 75 100+ years old and has to change to new environmental requirements.”

Other funding that she said stood out included health care for town employees, town utility bills and pensions. Also she noted Witherell had a $5 million loss last year.

Tarkington said that while the town’s fund balance was the same as last year, “We have to be careful because rating agencies like to see that increasing.”

Further, she said while the mill rate increase was 2.81%, when people 75% of residential property owners also pay sewer taxes.

Temporary equipment outside Ham Ave School. March 2, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager

Q&A

Declining to Fund Geothermal HVAC system at Hamilton Ave School

D11’s Mark Lewis, who is also on the Energy Management Advisory Committee, EMAC, asked about changes made to the budget impacting the Hamilton Ave School HVAC system, given the original budget request which was for a geothermal system.

“You chose to reduce that amount and conditioned that amount. Help us understand the logic of that,” Lewis asked.

Mr. Fisher said originally the request was for a traditional system, but the RTM rejected that.

“Since then we’ve had a temporary system that’s about $30,000 a month,” Fisher said.

“My position is: find me someone who has taken a poorly designed system and renovated it. We know conventional systems have a 100% chance of working,” Fisher said. “The kids at Hamilton Avenue School have suffered for a long time with a poor HVAC system. It’s been a disadvantage to them.”

“I’d agree but I want to point out that the RTM did not reject the conventional system,” Mr. Lewis said.

“The work by AECOM, an internationally recognized engineering firm, demonstrated that new system is significantly different than the existing system. You’re you’re comparing a 15 year old system to a modern geothermal HVAC system and we have significant sunk costs in the system and do we want to just throw that in the garbage. And it’s a lower lifetime cost. I’ve heard you speak of the need to save every last dollar in this town. You’re presented with an opportunity to save $158,000 of operating costs. Help me understand.”

Mr. Fisher replied, “Geothermal systems have difficulty when you’re in the shoulder seasons.”

“That’s not true,” Lewis said. “I’m sorry Harry, I work in this field. I know this. We have HVAC engineers on EMAC. The highest geothermal market in the country is Maine.”

“I’ve got the Town Charter here, I don’t see anywhere where the BET’s powers to make technology selections for the schools. The request was for a geothermal system. You chose to come in and override GPS, the administration and (GPS facilities director) Dan Watson who sat where you are sitting and told this committee that he was in favor of geothermal. So that’s not an argument any more,” Mr. Lewis continued.

“You chose to make a technology selection for the town. That is not the BET’s role, full stop,” Lewis said.

“We’re in charge of risk to the taxpayer. We didn’t want the risk of the geothermal system,” Fisher said. “We don’t think restoring an old system –despite AECOM’s conclusions – the cost of the 2 systems is roughly the same.”

“Electricity is skyrocketing. Natural gas is not,” Fisher said.

“That is not true,” Lewis said.

“This is a very imperial decision,” Lewis said. “Overriding the GPS leadership, overriding a professional engineering firm, overriding EMAC that has professional HVAC engineers on it, overriding the RTM who made it clear in the SOMR, 84% pass rate, that they want electrified solutions, but six of you decided you know better than the 230-member board who are much more representative of the town.”

Public Schools Operating Budget

Doug Fenton from district 5 asked how the BET had determined that $4.1 million what the right amount to seek in savings for the schools operating budget.

“There was a whole analysis that was done primarily done by Karen (Fassuliotis),” Mr. Fisher said.

“You’re telling me that in a $202 million budget you can’t find savings along those lines? We already know if they decide to change start time, that’s $2.5 million,” Fisher said, referring to possibility of changing the start time at Greenwich High School from 8:30am back to its pre-2017 start time of 7:30am.

“Nobody ever talked about the cost of going from 7:30am to 8:30am. That’s a huge amount of money,” Fisher said.

Mr. Fenton said that policy decision was made years earlier and had been part of the budget for many years.

“You said it’s primarily on the analysis of Karen (Fassuliotis), but some of the figures she laid out don’t hold water,” Fenton said. “I am curious, did you take it at its face, Karen’s analysis?”

“A lot of thought went into it,” Tarkington said. “We’re working off a decline of student enrollment of 143….it was consensus.”

Tarkington reminded the BOC that about 28% of town residents are classified ALICE, asset limited, income compromised, and employed, and that increased property taxes are passed onto them in the form of rent.

“A note on the substitute teachers, if the HR Committee of the BET hadn’t started to focus on it, would the schools have done anything about it? I don’t think so,” Mr. Fisher said. “It was a focus by the HR committee demanding the information.”

“A 12% absence rate when the national average is 5.8% and the ct average is 6%. 22 days out of 180, that’s ridiculous,” said Tom West from d11. “That says something about leadership of this organization.”

Students asleep in the GHS D wing. File photo from 2010. As recently as 1981, GHS started at 7:51am. Earlier, when GHS was in what is now Town Hall, the school day ran 9:00am til 3:00pm. When the Mianus Bridge on I95 collapsed in 1983, traffic was snarled for months, and GHS start time was pushed back earlier to get school started before the worst rush hour traffic.

Jennifer Alexis Jones from district 2 said the GHS later school start time had been implemented in response to experts and medical research based on student mental health and teens’ inability to go to sleep earlier.

“Mental health is worth $2.5 million in my opinion,” Jones said.

Mr. Fisher said after Greenwich took the lead on changing start time, other district did not follow suit.

He said he didn’t remember “a study,” but rather recalled “an outcry from athletes who didn’t like it because it interfered with after school sports.”

“I for one, grew up with 8:00am classes. I don’t remember having a problem. I also was forced to go to bed earlier,” Fisher said.

“Anecdotal feedback isn’t helpful for us today,” Jones said.

The Nathaniel Witherell

Mr. Fisher brought up the topic of the Nathaniel Witherell, the town owned nursing home, where their board has a new chair.

Fisher said he was not optimistic about progress at the Witherell.

“I remind everyone that there is a condition in the current year budget that they were to present a plan to break even before debt and capital,” he said. “They presented a plan but they can’t achieve it.”

He mentioned the target census was 184 beds but they consistently hover around 175.

“They can’t generate enough revenues to cover the costs,” Fisher said. “The condition was that if you can’t do it, open up the conversation about alternatives to privatize. I think it’s past time to do that.”

“They have no real estate costs. They get the benefit of town services like the Finance Dept and HR Dept and Purchasing Dept,” Fisher said.

Reopening the Budget

Mr. Fenton asked what it would take for the BET to consider reopening the budget.

“Depends what comes out of the meeting,” Fisher said, referring to the Thursday BOE meeting.

Mr. Waters said there was a discrepancy in Ms Tarkington’s mention of consideration of ALICE families.

Waters said, “There would be a trade off in the lower mill rate increase to help ALICE families, while school funding does not help ALICE families? I don’t know how you can argue one side of ALICE and not the other.”

Jenny Jones also mentioned Ms Fassuliotis’ analysis compared to Mr. Fenton’s analysis for the BOC.

“We are informed on some of the special education challenges the district has,” Jones said, going on to ask for the competing analysis. “There are material decisions made by the BET that do not appear to be grounded in the data that we have.”

Mr. Weisbrod said, “Karen’s ‘analysis’ – which I put in quotes because it’s really not analysis – a good half million was going to be saved by terminating 20 positions and bringing the level of teaching positions back to what it was in 2019. And the substitute teaching line was going to be reduced to a level that has never been experienced in the history of the town.”

“It’s fantasy and an impossibility,” Weisbrod said.

“Second, the step rate we pay entry level teachers was presented as being too high. The reason that is that all the Fairfield County communities are offering higher salaries, and because the teachers have the academic credentials that don’t warrant the first step. They are therefore in the third or fourth step.”

“That was the analysis presented by Karen. All of it is rubbish in my opinion. Garbage,” Weisbrod said.

At the end of the Q&A, Ms Jones was blunt.

She said looking at the budget year-over-year was, “the absolute worst way to run a budget.”

Using schools as an example, she said “the way you remove line items lacks vision.”

“Your education budget per person is not taking into account the uptick in children who are going to come into the school system in years 2, 3 and 4,” she continued.

“I feel like you’re reactionary and lack the ability to be thoughtful about the investments you make, and you don’t stick to your word,” Jones said.

Ms Tarkington said year -over-year the schools enrollment is declining and the district pays $28,000 per student annually.