were also very aware that the burden of paying for town services and our schools falls on our
residents, as it has for decades. She stated with the suggested reductions to the Board of
Education budget, it was clear that our mil rate would still be in the top 3 highest mil rates in
New London County. She stated our residents deserve investments in our schools for the
amount of taxes they were paying.
Councilor Buhle concluded her remarks by noting as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, once said,
“Budgets are moral documents.” She stated when we write a budget for our town
government, we are making statements of our values and priorities. She stated that she
believed the proposed Fiscal Year 2024/2025 Budget would show that our children and
students were worth the investment.
Chairman Rodriguez thanked Mayor Allyn, III, the Town Council, Superintendent Hartling,
and the members of the Board of Education for their hard work in putting the proposed
Fiscal Year 2024/2025 budget together. She stated that no one wanted to see increases,
however, they have to recognize that Ledyard has been holding the line for many years with
$0 increases, or extremely minimal increases in past years. Therefore, she stated that they
knew at some point the town was going to see a bigger increase. She stated that she believed
they all have worked diligently to put together a responsible budget for the upcoming year.
She thanked everyone for their time and hard work.
Councilor Garcia-Irizarry addressed the Board of Education’s proposed Fiscal Year
2024/2025 Budget. She explained when Superintendent Hartling submitted his proposed
Budget that he highlighted some savings he was trying to accomplish by eliminating and/or
consolidating Bus Routes, and some other general adjustments that amounted to $168,212.
She stated most of the Education Budget was comprised of Transportation; Utilities;
Services, and Special Education, etc. She stated some of the increases were due to the
addition of positions, and materials that were necessary for the students, such as a new Social
Worker position, a full-time Unified Art Teacher; Classroom Equipment; Curriculum,
increases in the Substitute Teachers salary, noting that these were a few of the items that
were added to the upcoming budget. She stated although the proposed Board of Education’s
Budget included an increase of $2,461,455or 6.85% over the current year’s budget that there
were a number of expenses that were not included such as: a Special Education Teacher, a
full-time Math Coach, Transition Kindergarten Teachers, General Interventionists; English
Language (ELA) Interventionists; a full-time English Teacher; a Literacy Paraprofessional;
Director of Curriculum, Late Buses, a full-time Mathematics Teacher; a full-time Family
Consumer Science Teacher; etc. She stated that she could continue to add to the list of things
that were not funded in the upcoming budget, because they were trying to be responsible with
their taxpayers’ dollars. Therefore, she stated the proposed Education Budget was lean, while
still trying to meet a certain level to provide for the kid’s needs. She stated the Board of
Education spent a lot of time and work to develop the proposed budget. She thanked the Board
of Education for thinking about the students needs.
Councilor Garcia-Irizarry continued by addressing the General Government’s proposed Fiscal
Year 2024/2025 Budget in the amount of $29,060,750; an increase of $428,178 over the
current year’s budget was also very lean. She stated that she hears residents question what
the town was doing with their taxes; and therefore, she believed they needed to do a better
job at educating the residents about what they were doing with their money. She stated
Ledyard was running a very tight ship, noting that because they have kicked things down the
