Budget Arises From Raucous Town Meeting

What began as an orderly Financial Town Meeting gradually turned into a game of "Who Can Yell the Loudest?" on Tuesday night in the Coventry High School gymnasium.

Of Coventry's 24,566 registered voters, approximately 381 were present and initially worked through agenda items quickly after being shown PowerPoint presentations from both the municipal and school sides of Town that summarized the fiscal 2014 budget recommended by the Town Council. 

Using a voice vote, voters passed the $93.3 million 2013-2014 budget, comprised of a $25.3 million municipal budget and a $67.8 million school budget, without much discussion apart from an amendment made to reflect $170,000 no longer needed by the school department to reopen Oak Haven Elementary School. Also passed was a 3.5% property tax increase that will raise the residential tax rate from $18.06 per thousand in property valuation to $18.69; and the commercial rate of $21.76 per thousand in valuation to $22.52, in order to maintain existing services. 

For a home valued at $150,000, the 3.5% tax hike would result in an increase of $94.35 for the fiscal year. Equivalently, a $200,000 home would show an increase of $157.25.

"I know a 3.5% increase sounds like a lot to you, because in my house it sounds like a lot, too," said Town Council President Gary Cote. "However, this is the first increase to a property tax in five years, which comes out to about 7/10 of 1 percent per year, to maintain the services that you currently receive. I'm asking for your approval of this budget, I'm asking for your indulgence of this Council and I'm asking for you to understand that we're here to represent you and are doing the best with what we have with this budget."

Voters approved a resolution item allowing no more than $3,165,500 to be used to pay principal and interest on the Town's outstanding bonded indebtedness, which currently lies at approximately $29.4 million when factoring in the issuance of school improvement bonds approved by taxpayers last November.

Taxpayers also authorized the Council to expend any Federal or State grant funds received during the fiscal year for General Fund purposes, Capital Improvements or for other activities provided by the Town Charter or State Law. 

$86,000 in total Capital Improvement Program requests were passed by voters to be used by the School Department for the installation of a surveillance system at Coventry High School and technology infrastructure improvements district-wide. This figure was amended from $156,000 following the School Committee's decision to not move forward with plans to reopen Oak Haven Elementary School as an early learning center, eliminating the need for $20,000 in security updates and $50,000 for the installation of a new fire alarm system in the currently vacant school building.

The meeting seemed to be wrapping up around 8 p.m. as voters authorized the issuance and sale of Tax Anticipation notes for fiscal 2014, and moved on to the final resolution regarding the Town's 2013-2014 proposed tax levy of approximately $64.6 million - an increase of nearly $2.3 million from fiscal 2013.

Following a boisterous voice vote that many residents considered "too close to call", Moderator Timothy Williamson announced that the "ayes" had won the vote in favor of approving the levy and made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The decision came as a shock to many individuals who then requested that a more accurate standing vote be taken - an action that Williamson had earlier explained to be the correct voting method in the event of an unclear voice vote.

Shock then quickly turned into chaos and confusion when Williamson reiterated his decision that the vote had passed the levy, stating: "I am the moderator and I decided that the voice vote was clear and showed that the majority of people passed this motion,".

The fate of the levy became even more unclear when Sen. Lou Raptakis revealed two typographical errors in the resolution, rendering the initial vote null and void. The resolution was put back before Council and School Committee members for amendment, but the opportunity for a standing or paper ballot vote was not offered by Williamson.

Many voters left angry before the issue was resolved, while a number of late-comers who had not participated in the earlier votes trickled into the meeting - adding more inconsistencies to the matter.

For the next hour, many taxpayers took to the microphone to express their disdain regarding Williamson's judgement. Some accused him of being unclear while explaining meeting ground rules and voting procedures, others cited bad gymnasium acoustics as the reason for the discrepancies in opinion about the voice vote outcome, while others accused Williamson of being "power hungry" and "making things up as he went along".

In between voter commentary, Town Manager Tom Hoover and Town Solicitor Fred Tobin explained that despite passing the budget itself, the Town cannot move into a new fiscal year without passing all resolutions, including the levy. In the event that a budget is not passed at an FTM, the Town Charter requires the use of the current budget on a month-to-month and prorated basis until the issue is resolved.

"I just want to make sure everyone understands what the consequences are for this vote since the budget, capital improvement items, and everything else were all explained and approved," said Hoover. "We now have a resolution which purpose is to send out tax bills to support what was approved. If this motion goes down and a levy isn't approved, we will be unable to meet our obligations for essential services. We'd be in a state of limbo."

Council President Gary Cote expressed his confusion as to why voters would overwhelmingly approve a budget, but reject the levy that is intended to pay that budget.

"If you didn't want to approve a levy, you shouldn't have approved anything," he said. "You approved tax anticipation notes against a levy you won't approve. How does that make sense?"

He also explained that without passing a complete budget and levy, the Town would not be able to make its required pension contributions. If this happens, it is possible that any state aid allocated for Coventry could be withheld. 

Cote then made a motion to "do away with the voice vote and go directly to a standing vote". His motion was temporarily put on hold by Williamson to allow more voters to speak at the microphone, but was ultimately never revisited.

Here's where it gets a bit confusing.

Williamson then proceeded to make a motion which would table the motion made to pass the levy, therefore allowing a new motion to be made to decide on a standing or paper ballot vote. His motion was overwhelmingly rejected - putting the levy resolution (which had just been amended to correct two typos), back on the floor for another voice vote. The final voice vote to pass the levy received a loud chorus of "ayes" from voters, as well as a loud chorus of "nays". Moderator Williamson once again decided "the ayes have it", before adjourning, rendering the levy approved and leaving voters either content with the passage of the entire budget package, livid for not being given the option of an alternate voting method, or simply scratching their heads as to how the once orderly meeting got out of hand so quickly.

"I'm glad the budget passed and that the Council presented the best budget we could," said Cote on Wednesday morning. "But I am sorry that the moderator didn't maintain control of the meeting and that it turned into the fiasco that it did."