Norwalk finance director illuminates details of Malloy’s latest order

NORWALK, Conn. – Gov. Dannel Malloy has provided education funding to Norwalk by eliminating funding to the city, Finance Director Bob Barron said Saturday.

“We’re not even close to being out of the woods here,” Board of Education Chairman Mike Lyons said in response to the Saturday email from Barron.

Malloy’s executive order revision, released Friday, would become moot if the legislature approves a budget.

“The revised plan and municipal aid estimates will be the basis for state spending for Fiscal Year 2018 in the unlikely event that a state budget is not enacted.  It is intended to provide municipalities, providers, and state agencies with some certainty about what funding to expect until a budget is adopted,” Malloy’s press release said.

Malloy’s original executive order, issued July 1, was described by most officials as cutting Norwalk’s education funding by $4.4 million. It also included a reduction to Norwalk’s November Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) payment, according to Lyons: the order would have paid Norwalk $1.7 million when $2.5 million had been budgeted for.

Malloy’s Friday order ensured that Norwalk will receive its full education aid payment “and will secure our investments in our students, and provide a level of budget clarity and certainty prior to the start of the school year,” State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25) said Friday afternoon in a statement.

Mayor Harry Rilling said Friday that he was waiting for an analysis from Barron.

The order increases the cuts in Statutory Grant aid to Norwalk by $469,022 (shown above in light blue) and pays for the reinstatement of the ECS funding by cutting the Municipal Revenue Sharing grant (shown in yellow), Barron said Saturday.

“For Norwalk, this means the education side of the budget is restored and the city side of the budget is cut.  For these six grants the city is cut by $1,617,232 (pink) and its Board of Education gains $1,148,210 (green),” Barron said.

“It’s important to note that several grants are not listed in the Governor’s revised Executive Order, specifically: Priority Schools, Town Aid Road, Grants for Municipal Projects, and Public and Non-Public School Transportation grants and also the proposed Special Education grant that was to replace the Excess Cost grant so the total impact of this action is still unknown,” Barron said.

Rilling, on Friday, said, “I’m still optimistic that we will have a budget and the governor’s executive order will be lifted.”