Madigan’s presentation was her first as finance commissioner, having joined the council earlier this year. The budget will go through a series of workshops with the rest of the city council before it reaches its final draft. Madigan added that she expects a fair about of changes to the document to stem from those workshops.
The proposed tax rate for 2013 comes out to about $6 per $1000 in assessed property, indicated a .01 percent decrease from this year’s budget.
The Department of Public Safety could benefit from some new hires if certain budget proposals remain by 2013. Commissioner Madigan indicated she’d like to see two new police officers, two new firefighters and one dispatcher.
Commissioner Madigan continued to announce positives from the budget, including that the seven firefighters the city paid through the federal SAFER grant would be retained due in part to the success of the emergency medical service revenues. The grant was due to expire at the end of the year and totaled about $640,000 annually. The council voted earlier this year to allow the fire department to assume the city’s ambulance service from Saratoga Emergency Medical Services (SEMS).
Projections for the ambulance program in 2013 account for over $710,000.
There were a few casualties to the proposed capital budget, including the $600,000 Mayor Scott Johnson had earmarked for a parcel of land along Jefferson Street adjacent to the Recreation Center. He had proposed using money from the sale of tax-delinquent properties in the city to possibly defray costs associated.
Madigan agreed that the need for parking exists, but that the proposal required further planning and had “lost its funding source.”
The Department of Public Works also dealt with some cuts, with $144,000 take from the labor line. Madigan said this was a realignment to adjust money added at the last minute in 2012. She said it would not mean layoffs to the department. There were also several pieces of equipment requested that was subsequently cut.
The focus shifted to Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco who went on the defensive regarding the city’s agreement to sell water to homes in Wilton. The agreement to sell water to within the Floral Estates subdivision has come under scrutiny from the public as well as other members of the council who challenged whether the city allows the sale of water for residential purposes.
A contract from 1998 coupled with amendments made in 2001 restrict water to commercial properties within a certain portion of Wilton, which requires it flow through a specific meter near Weibel Avenue.
The city attorney Joe Scala argued that he doesn’t feel the contract is as restrictive as other people are interpreting it. His office and attorneys for the Wilton Water and Sewer Authority both claim the sale is legitimate.
For now, Commissioner Madigan is waiting to deposit the $54,000 from Floral Estates residents while the legality issues around the sale continue to swirl. Sticking points continue to be that water is being sold for residential and not commercial purposes, and that the water in question would not pass through the Weibel Avenue meter as the contract stipulates.
No members of the council oppose the selling of water to Wilton, but rather the process in which it’s sold.
The public comment period prior to the budget presentation was relatively quiet, though one woman addressed the council regarding allegations of disrespect from city police officers. She alleges that police officers patrolling her neighborhood near Jefferson Terrace made inappropriate comments which inferred that the residents themselves were the problem with the troubled neighborhood. The woman claims the patrolmen also called them names.
