KENT, Conn.—The Board of Finance whittled away at the $16.9 million proposed municipal budget Tuesday night, April 14, seeking to keep the mill rate flat in 2026-’27.
The budget covers three areas of spending: the five-year capital plan, town operations and educational expenses that include local elementary school and Region 1 expenses. The regional budget funds the Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Pupil Services and Shared Services.
If passed at its current level, the mill rate would be 17.45, up 0.58 from current spending. Each mill produces $845,006 in taxation.
At the end of the session, the board of selectmen’s budget stood at $5,370,465 and total education costs would be about $8.1 million. The Region 1 portion is approved by a six-town referendum and the local board of finance cannot dictate reductions.
At a proposed $5,337,470, Kent Center School’s budget would have been up $139,978 or 2.69 percent from current spending. The board of finance’s first cut Tuesday came quickly. The board of education was instructed to reduce that bottom line by $30,000.
Finance board members have been concerned for several years about declining enrollments and rising costs. School officials expect next year’s enrollment to be 182 students from kindergarten through grade 8, although the number of kindergarten students is hard to predict.
A number of the students are non-residents, usually the children of teachers at the school, and pay a modest tuition fee. The board of finance has repeatedly urged the school board to boost the cost of tuition, and it was marginally increased last to $4,594.95 for the first child and $2,297.40 for a second child. A new rate for the 2026-27 year had not been set by the time the finance board met Tuesday.
Finance members were informed that the school is losing two teachers this year and that the board has opted not to replace them.
With only 11 Kent students expected to go to Housatonic Valley Regional High School members questioned where graduating eighth graders go after leaving KCS. They were told that some move on to private schools.
Finance member Tegan Gawel noted that the staff at the elementary school will all be given 3.5 percent salary increases and the superintendent is to receive 4 percent. “Town employees are getting 2.8 percent,” she said. “I have a problem with that. It doesn’t seem fair.”
But finance member Jason Wright said that in a “rough economic environment I don’t want to go to the low end. I don’t think there is much we can do about that.”
Finance Chair Nancy Odea Wyrick said she had focused on one number in the school’s budget—the contingency fund. That is funded at $40,000 in the latest document. In addition, the school can reserve a portion of its excess funds at the end of the year —up to 2 percent of the total budget—in a non-lapsing fund designated for school use.
The board members agreed that “we don’t have to fund [contingency] twice” and Odea Wyrick suggested that the bottom line for the whole budget be reduced by $30,000. The Board of Finance cannot dictate where the Board of Education chooses to make reductions, however.
Wright termed the cut “a very modest step to take—it shows the town folks that no one is immune to the steps that need to be taken.” He called for a committee to be appointed to see if the education budget can be approached more innovatively in the future, “to see them open themselves up to having bigger ideas on some things.”
Turning their attention to municipal spending, Wright said that he did not think it “doable” to cut a full mill this year. Nevertheless, member Casey Cogut suggested pushing the $200,000 in the capital plan proposed for Swift House improvements back a year, removing $40,000 from taxation in 2026-‘27.
The capital plan funds projects over five years, with proportional amounts being set aside each year to achieve full funding in the fifth year, in the case of Swift House in 2031. “We don’t know what it will be used for,” Cogut argued. “I don’t see any reason to tax people this year. We should push it back [to 2032] until the [Swift House Investigative Committee] files its report and we know what we want to do.”
Cogut also focused on funding for decontamination of boats at Lake Waramaug, an effort designed to prevent hydrilla, an invasive plant, from getting into the lake. Kent shares the shoreline with Warren and Washington, but has only 15 percent of the water’s edge, about half of which is usurped by a state park.
Cogut termed the plan to decontaminate boats—for which Kent was asked to pay $20,000—“half-baked.” He cited two earlier agreements signed with Warren and Washington, both of which may have lapsed.
“I’m not sure of the basis for our $20,000 assessment,” he said. “The contract that says 20 percent is not an agreement that was meant to cover this type of expense. My notion is we are at the mercy of the other towns [from what] I think is an illegal contract. I think [decontamination] will be a hot button topic. It doesn’t make any sense [for us] with so few residents living on the lake.”
First Selectman Eric Epstein recalled last year’s “hot button” topic, the brouhaha over whether enhancing devices could be used on the lake. Although Kent has little property on the lake, voters turned out in droves to prohibit them.
“If you move to remove the [decontamination] funding, by the looks of what happened with wakeboarding, the town may disagree and want it added back in,” he said. He predicted that if Kent refused to support its 20 percent allocation, “It will strain our relations with the other two towns.”
Nevertheless, he had just learned that Washington reduced its budget for decontamination from $40,000 to $26,000. If Kent made a similar adjustment, the $20,000 would be reduced to $13,000. The town also pays $3,000 annually to help with other costs associated with maintaining water quality in the lake.
Town Treasurer Barbara Herbst reported that the state pays $35,000 annually in lieu of taxes for the state park. Entry is free for Connecticut residents.
Wright has advocated for the first selectman to negotiate with the other two towns for cheaper to their town beaches. Warren, for instance, charges non-residents $30 for a day pass and $100 for a season pass.
Cogut said that if the total cost of the decontamination project is now $65,000, Kent’s percentage should be $7,550. Using that figure for the budget would give Epstein some bargaining power in trying to negotiate lower fees for the Warren and Washington beaches, he argued. The rest of the board agreed.
The finance board continued to cast a gimlet eye on the rest of the municipal budget. They questioned capital plan items such as a new generator and flooring for the lower level of the Community House. Epstein explained that the Community House does not have a generator and eventually will be designated as an emergency shelter.
Their final consideration focused on the salary of the cemetery sexton. When the town took over responsibility for management of the cemeteries two-and-half years ago, a salary of $28,000 was arbitrarily set because no one knew what hours might be required.
It was stated at the time that the salary would be revisited in future years when more accurate data was available. This year, it was revealed that the sexton worked an average of 29 hours a month, but again, accurate hours had not been tracked.
The selectmen opted to make the position hourly, not salaried, and set a rate of $50 an hour. At 29 hours a month, that yields an average to $18,000 a year. The Cemetery Committee objected to the steep reduction, fearful of losing a productive employee who has done much to organize and improve management and care of the town’s six cemeteries.
The selectmen promised to ask the board of finance to restore the funds while further assessment is undertaken but the finance members opted to leave the sum unchanged.
The annual budget hearing will be held at town hall on Friday, May 1, at 6 p.m., followed by a town meeting vote on Friday, May 15, also at 6 p.m.
