First Selectman Tesoro to Recommend Transfer of $510,870 to Board of Education Following Passage of State Budget
June 7, 2019 — On Tuesday, the Connecticut legislature approved a two-year state budget that the Governor is expected to sign in the coming days. In this budget, the teacher pension expense will not be shifted to the municipalities and Trumbull’s Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) funding will not be reduced at the accelerated rate originally proposed.
Earlier this year, the Governor’s administration proposed shifting the teacher pension expenses to municipalities and accelerating the schedule for reducing Education Cost Sharing (ECS) funding. In total, these proposals would have cost Trumbull $1.2 million. First Selectman Tesoro accounted for both the proposed pension cost shift of $510,870 and the reduced ECS allocation of $655,538 when crafting her budget. The Board of Finance and Town Council approved a final budget that accounted for the $1.2 million, while still maintaining First Selectman Tesoro’s recommended increase in education funding of $2 million over the previous year.
“As promised, I will recommend to the Board of Finance and the Town Council that the monies set aside for the teacher pension expense totaling $510,870 be transferred to the Board of Education,” said Tesoro. If this recommendation is approved, the total increase to the Board of Education budget will be $2.5 million, a 2.5% increase over last year. “The ECS adjusted revenue should remain in the Town budget to further offset the mill rate and ensure that the tax burden on residents is kept to a minimum.”
“I want to thank all of our residents who contacted Trumbull’s State Delegation and State elected officials to express your concerns with the potential loss in funding. Your emails and calls alerting our officials to the negative impact a $1.2 million reduction would have on our town and schools made a difference,” Tesoro stated. “When we work together, we can do great things for the town of Trumbull.”