The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper.
(July 17, 2019) — Is our Haddam Town Budget up 1.3% or 11.21%?
And Why does it matter? It matters because an understanding of the answer can help our Haddam voters make a more informed decision in the forthcoming proposed $7mm bond ordinance, August 6th.
Ok, so what is the answer? Mr. Joseph Centofanti, the Chairman of our Board of Finance, said the answer is 11.21%. At the May 23 Town Budget Meeting, Mr. Centofanti was asked directly about the apparent discrepancies in the proposed town budget (up 1.3% or 11.21%). The question to Mr. Centofanti was: is the correct proposed increase for the Total General Government, also referred to in the Budget as Total Town Budget, is it up 11.21%? His answer: “Yes”.
Now, how could there have been any misunderstanding or confusion on this? The Haddam Bulletin of May 2019 ran a lead article by Alan Aronow titled: “Town Budget Review. Government (+11.2%) and School (-1.5%)”. Seems pretty clear. But then, Haddam News published on May 16 an article titled: “Budget hearing: no mil rate increase anticipated, proposed budget up 1.3%”. This also seems clear, except that it is in sharp contrast with the Haddam Bulletin’s 11.2% increase. What happened?
My analysis, from our Town Budget documents, is that Haddam News used its own terminology of “operating” budget to come up with an increase of 1.3%. This number works only if you exclude two major items from the Budget: that being, Capital Improvement (up 50%) and Debt Service (up 79%). When you add those two significant figures back in, then you get the correct Total Town Budget increase of 11.21%.
Now, would you like to verify this yourself? (And please do). Here is the process: go online to the Town of Haddam website (haddam.org, Departments, Finance, Budgets, 2019-2020 Adopted Annual Budget, page 10). It’s all there – make the effort in order to make an informed decision August 6th. In the interim, newspaper Editors, please ensure your reporters use accurate numbers and specific budget terminology in this very important subject matter.
By Maurice D. Adams
Editor’s Note: Maurice Adams is a Contributing Editor to Haddam-KillingworthNow.com/Haddam News.
