Norwalk Dems study budget basics

By Nancy Guenther Chapman

NORWALK, Conn. – Four Norwalk Democrats are prepared with fresh ideas for this year’s budget battles, one Common Council member said.

Common Council members Warren Peña (At Large), David Watts (District A) Anna Duleep (At Large) and Matt Miklave (District A) attended a Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) workshop titled “2013 Municipal Budgets: Overcoming the Challenges” Saturday, Watts said.

“The Democratic caucus is looking for fresh ideas – I think the National League of Cities and CCM will help us become better council people,” Watts said in an email.

The foursome car pooled to the Southington Police station, where Bristol’s comptroller and Avon’s town manager led the course.

“We learned about taking a more proactive, wonky approach to crafting budgets,” Duleep said in an email. “We discussed a new state law requiring municipalities to give their Boards of Ed no less than the dollar amount that BOE received the previous year.”

The class was free because Norwalk is a member of the conference, but “gas to Hartford is not cheap,” Watts said.

The Democrats also attended the state capital on the opening day of the legislative session and plan to make several trips back to discuss Educational Cost Sharing, he said, adding, “We are working hard for the city and we are using our personal money to become better educated.”