Fairfield Budget Up Nearly 6%; Includes Job Cuts, Infrastructure

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year would raise the mill rate and tax levy while reducing town staff and investing in infrastructure.

First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick presented her spending plan for 2021-22 on Monday to the town’s Board of Selectman. The $335.5 million budget is an $18.3 million — or 5.77 percent — increase over 2020-21, and would see the mill rate rise 1.98 percent and the tax levy go up 6.34 percent.

“Due to the impact of revaluation, many people are going to see a much higher increase in their taxes,” Selectman Tom Flynn said after the presentation.

Fairfield’s recent revaluation resulted in property values in five neighborhoods spiking by more than 10 percent. Selectwoman Nancy Lefkowitz, too, noted the 1.98 percent mill rate increase is not necessarily reflective of what residents will see on their tax bills.

“I think that we need to really look at the way we’re investing in our town and what those numbers reflect,” Lefkowitz said.

Much of the increased expense is related to financial cliffs created by town officials' decision not to raise the tax rate a year ago amid the coronavirus pandemic, Flynn said in an interview Tuesday. Of the $18.3 million increase, $7.9 million would go to resolving the cliffs, $7.5 million would be for the Board of Education, and $2.9 million would be spent on other expenses such as pensions, capital, salary reserves and debt, he said.

On the town side of the budget, Kupchick is proposing a roughly $6.4 million — or 6 percent — year-over-year spending increase.

“The budget will continue to modernize town government,” said Kupchick, whose plan includes a nearly $800,000 increase for capital replacements.

In her presentation, Kupchick discussed funding building, road and bridge maintenance; vehicles and equipment for public works; online permitting software; an automated time card system; and conference room upgrades to accommodate virtual meetings.

The budget, which incorporates the town’s new early retirement program, reduces town staffing by four employees for a savings of just over $600,000. Among the affected departments is conservation, which is no longer budgeted to staff a $123,000 administrator position or a $73,000 secretary role, although a part-time wetland compliance officer job is budgeted to become a full-time position at an additional $38,000 cost to the town.

The conservation department is in an unusual situation following the resignation of its director, Brian Carey, last month after he was charged in late 2020 in connection with the town’s fill pile scandal. While the conservation commission works to find the department’s next director, the town has hired consulting firm SLR and attorney Tim Herbst to assist with day-to-day operations, Kupchick said in an interview Friday.

Education spending makes up 65 percent of the town’s total budget, and Kupchick plans to cut the school board’s requested $9.5 million funding increase down to $7.5 million.

“I believe that this budget continues the town’s commitment to education,” Kupchick said.

A divided school board passed the school district’s roughly $194 million budget in January. Of the $9.5 million hike the board is seeking, more than $2.5 million is dedicated to filling a financial hole created when the district used excess funds generated in early 2020 by the onset of the pandemic to pay for maintenance and transportation in 2020-21.

“I, of course, am not happy that the budget has been reduced,” Board of Education Chair Christine Vitale said in an interview Sunday. “I think it’s really shortsighted not to make an investment in one of the biggest draws that brings new families and new businesses potentially to town.”

If the finalized version of the town budget does require education cuts, the board will try to avoid reductions that would directly affect students, Vitale said, adding cuts could include staffing reductions and delays in maintenance or technology purchases.

After Kupchick’s presentation Monday, the Board of Selectmen began its budget hearing process, which is set to continue through Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday. Selectmen will vote next week on the budget, which will then proceed to the Board of Finance and, finally, to the Representative Town Meeting in May.