By Lauren Garrison, Register Staff

DERBY — The tax board late Friday evening adopted a budget that keeps taxes flat while retaining all city services.

The $33.72 million budget was passed in a 7-3 vote. The tax rate will remain at 26.4 mills.

This budget included $17.35 million for the schools, which includes $257,362 to operate the new middle school for a half-year. The tax board fully funded Superintendent of Schools Stephen Tracy’s budget request.

The school board had initially requested $17.9 million to cover contractual obligations and other naturally increasing items, which increase the current year’s $16.5 million budget.

“Things are going well. To be able to fully fund education is important, and we were able to do that without a mill rate increase,” said aldermanic President Kenneth Hughes.

Several factors contributed to the city’s ability to fully fund services without increasing taxes. A major contributor was the city’s recent upgrade from a bond rating of A plus to AA- by Standard & Poor’s. “It is so huge for our city to be a double A rating, it’s never happened before. I’m ecstatic,” Mayor Anthony Staffieri said Friday night. He said the city is rated with Shelton and other, bigger cities that “have so much more.”

Hughes also pointed to the city’s higher-than-expected tax collection rate — it was more than 97 percent, when the city had only expected 92 percent — as well as new businesses, such as Lowe’s, Starbucks, GameStop and Griffin Cancer Center moving in.

In addition, all non-union employees will not be receiving raises in the coming fiscal year, and the City Hall, library and Department of Public Works unions also agreed to forgo their raises.

Despite the tax board fully funding Tracy’s budget request, Board of Education Chairwoman Sheila Parizo voiced concerns about the cuts she would still have to make.

“I would have loved to have seen 100 percent funding,” she said, but in this economy, everyone has to tighten their belts. She said the district would have to find about $700,000 in cuts and would probably be looking at program cuts or layoffs. Continued...

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The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Derby High School media center to discuss budget cuts.

But Tracy was more optimistic. He said he was in discussions with the education labor unions on possible concessions. “We’re trying to get their help in closing the remaining gap,” he said.

Tracy added that he was hoping to convince the unions to switch to another health insurance plan, which could save the district about $280,000. Combined with about $150,000 in anticipated federal stimulus funds, Tracy expected he could reduce the gap to less than $100,000.

During the public portion of the meeting, which occurred prior to any discussion of the budget by the board, members of the public complained that the budget was being reworked.

Former Mayor Marc Garofalo complained that Staffieri did not present his budget until Friday night and the public would have no opportunity to comment on it.

Hughes later explained that the mayor delayed presenting his budget until the updated bond rating came in and refinancing of bonds had been done.

The tax board tried to reopen the public session after the mayor’s budget presentation, but the city’s lawyer advised the members it was not legal because it was a special meeting.

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