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Health & Fitness

Residents Have Heated Discussions During the Bethel Board of Finance Town Meeting

One resident said, ""The library is hemorrhaging money. Your cell phone does everything the library does."

[Editor's note: Changes were made to this blog at the request of the author, based on factual inaccuracies in the original post as detailed in the comments.]

Story and Photos by Paula Antolini

Non-profits funding, library funding, and issues with sick days benefits were some of the emotional topics discussed at the Bethel Board of Finance Meeting at 7:00 p.m. on April 10, 2013 in the Bethel High School auditorium.

Many residents voiced their strong opinions on various topics concerning Bethel's 2013-2014 budget.

One of the more prevalent complaints was the elimination of funding to non-profits such as "Meals on Wheels" and "Ability Beyond Disability" in Bethel, and "The Women's Center of Greater Danbury." 

Bethel First Selectman Knickerbocker urged the finance board to reconsider the budget to include these agencies. "It really baffles me this has come up again and they've failed to fund it," Knickerbocker said.  He talked about the agencies being "NGO's" or "non-government organizations" and said, "These are not charities. NGO's are important because they exist outside of government regulations."

Regarding this same issue of non-profits funding cuts, Bethel resident Al Vargas mentioned that in 2012 he made it his New Year's resolution to feed the homeless in Danbury.  "You have to prioritize when you are cutting," he said.  "The people that are living on fixed income are almost bleeding."

Nick Hoffman, Director of Development for Family and Children's Aid, spoke about the dysfunction of the process in which charities are granted funds and identified and that there is a "need for the process to be sheltered from political nonsense."

Resident Jennie Tessar said, "It is irresponsible to deny less than $1800 for much needed services to our community." 

Diane Craig said, "I will focus on services, they existed last year, so how can you say they were added?" She said she was most surprised that the mental health center was cut, and added, "How do you justify cutting services that were already part of our budget?"

A gentleman addressed the board and stated, "Two years in a row you have not financed Meals on Wheels.  I worked in a homeless shelter for 12 years.  People with no arms, no legs. Imagine.  People deserve at least a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."  He called the board "heartless" and said, "If I was sitting up there I would not be happy."

There was a large turn out from the Bethel Library and several speakers addressed library funding issues requesting funds to cover additional employees due to the recent library building expansion. They stated safety concerns in having only young female volunteers working alone in different areas of the library, which has no security personnel.

Jane Bickford, Chairman of the Bethel Public Library Board of Directors, reiterated the library budget cuts and stated, "It is difficult to understand how gradual phasing [regarding hiring more employees] can work.  We do not believe that a 15 year old student volunteer should be at a main desk alone, who may have to deal with an unstable person."  She said the staff is trained for a reference interview and records on the computer are confidential about patrons.  "The library needs staff who are adults, especially when it threatens our patrons or staff," Bickford said.

In direct opposition, resident Bill Hillman said, "Bethel is a safe town and crime is not likely to happen here," indicating that he was against the additional budget request from the library for that reason.

Board of Education Chairman Larry Craybas replied, "It would be irresponsible for us to say it would never happen here."  Bill Hillman then commented, "You cannot justify more employees in the library because of what happened in Newtown."

Resident Billy Michael said he was against any new public employee, and asked the board, "Why is this budget anti-business?  It will shift burden to commercial property and high end property." He then added, "The library is hemorrhaging money. Your cell phone does everything the library does."

A Mom of an ROTC student gave a heart-felt speech and urged the board to reinstate the ROTC instructor budget cut, stating the many advantages of that program.  She said the information received by the public indicated the ROTC Instructor position was eliminated along with the Reading Specialist and School Psychologist.

Bethel Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Smith replied that her information was not correct and that one or more positions could still be possible.  He said the information sent out indicated the order of preference, Reading Specialist, then School Psychologist, then ROTC Instructor, in that order.    

Dr. Smith said, "I will be more clear, I apologize if it was unclear."  He also said their new enrollment is 234 and freshman can take ROTC for one semester.  "We cannot provide the opportunity for every student that wants it."

A gentleman brought up the issue of $400,000 in unused sick leave, questioning the board, asking, "When a person retires do they receive money for unused sick leave?"

Terry Yonski, Director of Fiscal Services for Bethel’s schools replied, "Yes, certified staff receive pay for a portion, 50% for teachers and 60% for administrators. Around $400,000 per year for accumulated sick leave."

The gentleman replied, "That is $400,000 of our money that can go to the kids or the charities. You are giving $400,000 to retirees for unused sick time."

Find out what's happening in Bethelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The board will reapproach the budget at an April 22 meeting. The recommended sum is $67,013,616, with $26,124,905 on the town side.

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