BOF eliminates $304k from budget
- 8 minutes ago
- 4 min read
As Stafford Free Press reported last week, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) met and voted to cut $154,000 from the Department of Public Works budget. On July 7, 2026, First Selectmen Bill Morrison reported this to the Board of Finance (BOF) but still said he could not talk about what cuts will be made to get to that number—despite speculation during the public comment portion of the meeting. Meanwhile, the Board of Education (BOE) has not met since the last BOF meeting. This left the BOF to decide what the BOE should cut.
Superintendent of Schools Scott Sugarman said any cuts “north of $100,000 would be difficult.” The BOF had hoped that the school district would have a clearer picture of how much it may have left over after all of this year’s bills are paid. But Sugarman said invoices continue to be paid into August, and that they won’t know for certain until the audit is complete in December.
BOF Chair Steve Geryk asked if Sugarman felt confident that what is—or could end up—in the district’s non-lapsing account could cover a $200,000 cut. Sugarman noted that not only was he not confident in that, but that there are policies governing what the non-lapsing funds can be used for. Stafford Public Schools’ policy reads:
“Any expenditure from the nonlapsing account shall be authorized solely by the Board of Education. Expenditures from the nonlapsing account shall be made only for educational purposes, generally on one-time non-recurring expenditures, such as capital expenditures, extraordinary expenditures, or emergency expenditures, which may be necessary, but not otherwise budgeted for. The nonlapsing account shall not be used to reduce the percentage increase of the budget for the following fiscal year.”
Sugarman did acknowledge that the district has a small window in which it can put any leftover money toward its self-funded health insurance account, which could reduce the amount it needs to put into that line item next year. Geryk expressed disappointment that the BOE had not met to discuss cuts, saying that the BOF was “flying blind” while “trying not to do harm.”
“Not having a budget in place is already hurting the town,” said Geryk after board member Dave Walsh suggested waiting a few more weeks, asking department heads to report to the public what they have already lost, and “renegotiate” between the yeas and the nays. After more discussion, Tony Pellegrino suggested a compromise. Rather than asking the BOE to cut $200,000 from its budget, he suggested cutting $150,000, which was more in line with what the BOS had already cut from its budget.
Pellegrino added, “Every year we have a conversation about driving off the cliff. Each year we get a little bit closer to that cliff. But it’s not just our town, it’s the way everything is right now… Either government is broken, or something is wrong… The public cannot continue to take more tax burdens on in an economy that is not moving forward.”
Geryk noted that WIllington has had multiple budget votes, passing all of it except for the Board of Education vote. Over in Somers, the third referendum failed on July 1, 2026, and Geryk noted that he had seen residents angry about losing services in Somers. Just over the town line in Somers they have already cut hours at the library, senior center, and help at the transfer station. Several employees have been laid off, and non-union employees will not get a raise. The potential loss of these services, Geryk said, has many Somers residents angry.
He noted that Stafford residents have already reacted negatively to the comparatively small loss of services in town, such as closing of the swap shed at the transfer station and the loss of congregate meals for seniors (which have been reinstated thanks to a donation from American Sleeve Bearing). “We need to get to a point where the taxpayers understand that there is really nothing left to cut,” Geryk noted.
Ultimately, the board voted to approve the $304,000 in cuts 4-2. Shelly Hurchala West, Rob Proulx, Pellegrino, and Geryk voted for the cuts while Walsh and Harold Blake Hatch voted against them.
The new mill rate and public comment
If this latest budget passes at $47, 867,029, the new mill rate would be 25.35. That’s down from 38.59 mills this year and 26.013 mills at the first referendum. But, as one public commenter noted, that decline won’t have much impact on people’s bills.
Leonard “Butch” Clark said that after talking to the tax collector, he learned that 5,588 property tax bills were sent out. He noted the numbers are not exact, as it doesn’t account for motor vehicle taxes, but that according to his calculations each bill would go down by $17.98 after $100,000 of cuts. He estimated that even if the Town cut $1 million, it would save people less than $200 on their tax bills. Of course, these numbers aren’t exact, as a decline in the mill rate impacts each property differently.
“I wouldn’t want to be sitting up there right now,” Clark said, but that further cuts to the budget would result in cuts to services without substantial benefit to the taxpayers. “We’re not getting anything for these cuts.” He suggested Stafford would have to cut $2 or $3 million for people to see a substantial difference in their tax bills, saying, “You can’t do that. It’s not there.”
But the night’s first public commenter, Henry Brooks, asked if the Department of Public Works cuts would include employees, noting that the Town’s director of human resources was in the executive session at the last BOS meeting. He said that the BOF accepted the cuts without asking where they would come from, though Hatch did ask, and the First Selectman said he could not yet talk about it. “It’s not our purview to decide what to cut,” Geryk said, but he also noted that before voters head to the ballot box, they will know more about where those cuts will come from.
Expect another referendum vote before the month is over.