Job Cuts Stay In Fairfield Budget As Spending Plan Moves Forward

FAIRFIELD, CT — Job cuts planned for the coming fiscal year will remain in the 2021-22 budget after a divided Board of Selectmen voted Monday to approve the spending plan with only minor adjustments.

The $335.5 million budget left the board meeting with a slightly lower mill rate increase than was originally presented. Selectmen voted to add about $315,000 in found revenue to the document, decreasing the projected tax rate hike from 1.98 percent to 1.88 percent.

One area of the budget that remained unaltered, however, was First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick’s staffing changes to the majority of town departments.

“My administration has initiated a long overdue reorganization of town government,” she said. “We identified where redundancies existed.”

The budget eliminated a net total of four town jobs as part of the restructuring, which is expected to save about $541,000. A key element of the reorganization is Fairfield’s new early retirement program, in which 17 staffers opted to participate. Another two employees were laid off.

Among the affected departments are public works, which is set to eliminate eight positions and add five; and recreation and library services, which are expected to lose a mechanic and a custodian, respectively.

“We looked very closely at all of these positions,” Kupchick said.

The personnel change that received the most scrutiny was the elimination of the town’s conservation administrator. In recent days, a petition was started to restore the position to the budget, and has received nearly 700 signatures. The town’s former conservation administrator, Annette Jacobson, was terminated in February, the same month former conservation director Brian Carey resigned after being charged in the town’s fill pile scandal.

While the conservation commission works to find the department's next director, Fairfield has hired consulting firm SLR and attorney Tim Herbst to assist with day-to-day operations.

“The feedback I’m getting is that this is untenable,” said Selectwoman Nancy Lefkowitz, citing input from conservation commissioners and environmental advocates. “I would want to hear from the public and be able to evaluate some of the questions.”

Kupchick said human resources protocol made it difficult to publicly disclose specific personnel decisions earlier in the process, but that the conservation department’s responsibilities would not change and the proposed reorganization aligned with staffing in nearby municipalities.

“This is part of a broader reorganization,” she said. “It’s not simply about dollars and cents. It’s about, in my opinion, efficiencies.”

Lefkowitz motioned to reinstate the conservation administrator position as part of the budget, but was outvoted by Kupchick and Selectman Tom Flynn.

“Fear is a strong motivator to maintain the status quo,” Flynn said. “We have to try new things.”

Lefkowitz also motioned to restore $500,000 in education funding, but was again voted down. Kupchick had proposed a $7.5 million increase in school spending — $2 million less than the $9.5 million hike the Board of Education requested. The $2 million reduction is likely to result in a $1.5 million cut rather than the full $2 million, as the school district is expected to see $500,000 in healthcare savings, Kupchick said.

In the end, the budget — a roughly $18.3 million increase compared to 2020-21 — passed, with Flynn and Kupchick in favor and Lefkowtiz, the board’s sole Democrat, opposed. Of the year-over-year increase, $7.9 million would go to resolving financial cliffs created by the town’s decision not to raise the tax rate last year, $7.5 million would be for the school board, and $2.9 million would cover other expenses such as pensions, capital, salary reserves and debt.

A total of $315,000 in revenue was added Monday to the budget in the form of several relatively small adjustments approved by the board, none of which exceeded approximately $100,000.

In a prepared statement, the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee criticized Kupchick’s budget.

“The first selectwoman — who ran on a platform of transparency, fiscal responsibility, and being pro-education — has proposed a budget with an unprecedented and unaffordable tax increase, a disturbing lack of transparency, and that is hostile to education,” the statement said.

Despite Monday’s approval, the budget is far from finalized. Next, the spending plan will go before the Board of Finance for consideration, and, once passed by that body, it will head to the Representative Town Meeting for a vote in May.

The Board of Finance will hold its first budget hearing Thursday.