Democratic Town Councilors want to increase taxes 1.1%; Republican Town Councilors want no increase!

It's a showdown, folks, between Democratic Town Councilors, who want to increase property taxes, and Republican Town Councilors, who want no increases in property taxes this coming year.

According to information submitted to a local reporter, Republican Town Councilors want further reductions of $707,000 in our Town's budget from the amount agreed to by the Democratic Town Councilors in tonight's budget negotiations, $416,000 of which would come from the proposed increase in the Board of Education's budget and the remaining $291,000 of which would come from the Town's budget.

Republican Town Councilors are targeting reductions towards the Board of Education's legal expenses.  Last year alone, Shipman & Goodwin--the law firm of which Attorney Gary Brochu, the President of the Board of Education, is a partner--billed the Board of Education $129,949.50 in legal expenses, according to information provided by School Superintendent David Erwin.

In that press release a Republican Town Councilor has expressed "continued concern that the relationship of the BOE president, Gary Brochu, and his law firm who works for the BOE is not transparent enough...."  This individual asserted that by "targeting $100,000 of...suggested reductions towards school legal expenses would necessitate a harder look at the relationship."   He added that more  importantly, it would allow our Town government to get a hold of those legal costs through allowing other law firms to bid for the BOE's legal services and through renegotiating those legal services.

Also Republican Town Councilors are proposing the elimination of raises to the twenty-one school administrators employed at Berlin's Board of Education.  Next year these administrative salaries were proposed to be $2,790,584, which total does not include their benefits.  In addition, these Councilors want $250,000 in additional cuts to Berlin's Board of Education administrative salaries to be achieved by "equating...assistant principals or other administrators as the BOE sees fit...."

Apparently the heart of the standoff between the Republican Town Councilors and the Democratic Town Councilors appears to lie mainly around the legal fees of the BOE and the school administrators salaries, with the Democratic Town Councilors not wishing to cut more, and perhaps forcing the Board of Education to cut $100,000 in its legal fees and forgo the proposed raises to the twenty-one Board of Education administrators, who are each already earning over six-digits in salaries alone, excluding benefits.