No one is being unpleasant — yet — but rarely does stodgy Ridgefield see as clear or significant a political power struggle as the one evident in suggestions the Charter Revision Commission is collecting from boards and commissions.
The Board of Selectmen proposed that it be given authority to set an annual “maximum budget expenditure figure” that would act as a ceiling on increases in the combined town and school budget that the Board of Finance presents to voters.
The selectmen, viewing themselves as the town’s leading policy-making board, believe they should have more control over taxes — the school budget accounts for 65% of annual spending.
This, the selectmen theorize, wouldn’t conflict with state statutes protecting the school board’s authority over its budget because the ceiling they’d set would govern overall spending — for all town departments, as well as the schools.
The school board begs to differ.
It does so in a two-page letter to the Charter Revision Commission, signed by Chairman Austin Drukker and bearing the names of all nine board members.
The letter suggests the selectmen’s goal isn’t simply to hold down taxes but to protect town-side spending at the expense of the school budget. “Government in Connecticut was specifically set up to prevent conflict between town boards that need to utilize the same dollars in order to fund their needs,” the school board writes.
The selectmen argue that, although state law gives school boards exclusive control over how they spend their money, many Connecticut municipalities give city councils and mayors or first selectmen power to determine how much a school board has to spend.
In Ridgefield, that authority lies with Board of Finance, and with town voters who approve or reject the finance board’s budget proposals.
The selectmen, it appears, want a share of that power. And the school board’s worried.
It’s a significant debate, which the Charter Revision Commission may or may not want to take on. Any recommendations the commission makes would go through review by the Board of Selectmen, and approval or rejection by voters.
Recent charter commissions have mostly tinkered around the edges of town government workings, clarifying language, tidying up little problems.
This commission has been asked to wade into the thick of the town’s fiscal operations, and rearrange the balance of power.
It bears watching.