With the exception of the finance department, New Canaan in looking to its operating budget for next fiscal year should not add any new staff, the town’s highest elected official said Wednesday.
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi cited a tough economy in calling for the freeze and said only the very highest-priority, must-do capital projects should be considered as the budget-planning season gets underway.
What follows is the full text of a statement Mallozzi read at the top of a Board of Selectmen meeting at Town Hall that officially kickstarted budget talks with municipal department heads:
“We begin this 2016-17 budget season in a very different economic environment that we have in years. A relatively strong economy over the past four years has allowed our town to expand services and invest in much needed capital projects. We should be very proud of all we have done and remind folks that we have no intention of going backwards.
“But in a time of job loss, corporate re-structuring, major employers leaving our state, increased housing inventory and, most importantly, structural changes in all areas of the economy due to technology, the Board of Selectmen must recognize that the tone and direction of our town is expected to emanate from us. In my nine years of occupying one of these three chairs, it is clear that most of our residents look to the there of us for that direction, leadership and vision. I don’t take that lightly and I know the two of you don’t either.
“So, my personal expectations when this budget process ends is this: Essential capital investments must be determined and be made while others with merit but not of the highest level of need will have to be delayed. Operationally, we must continue to fund departments at the levels we do today, but any expansion of staffing or services cannot be contemplated at this time. Priority should be in maintaining services unless there is a direct and huge impact on improved services. Many times we have been led to believe that staff expansion or technical systems would lead to better management and/or a reduction of costs. The jury is still out on some of those investments and I am personally unwilling to support additional initiatives during these times.
“As usual, there must be one clear priority set each year. In good times and bad we have had to prioritize what we must. Staffing at the fire department, the FLES program in our schools, increased Social Services and investments in our roads, schools and Town Hall all come to mind over the past 10 years.
“The area of priority where we must increase staff and expertise ASAP is in our town finance area. The Audit Committee and many of us now recognize that we have been running town finances ‘lean and mean’ and we simply cannot continue to do so. While we should be proud of the investment in expertise and in systems we have made over the past four years, we still don’t have a finance department that can spend the time and energy it should on internal controls and internal processes. There are departments that have had little or no review of their financial operations—ever. We were encouraged to do so in our tax collector office and we are glad that we did. This same type of review needs to be replicated throughout town departments and I will support measures within this budget that seek to do just that.”