It gives me little comfort to find the already-trimmed town budget is counting on our share of state education aid to rise sharply, which may or may not happen.
Here is the key section from a decent overview story in today’s Hartford Courant:
“In West Hartford’s original budget proposal, officials allocated a conservative $11.4 million for ECS revenue, or the same amount it expects to receive during the current year, said Chris Johnson, West Hartford’s finance director. But in the $203 million budget for 2007-08 the town council adopted April 24, ECS revenue was projected to be $15.5 million, or the amount allocated in the education committee’s proposal.
“‘There’s a certain amount of risk and uncertainty that exists with it, but it’s the best number we had at the time,’ Johnson said, explaining the reasoning behind using the education committee’s figure. ‘You have to make the most reasonable estimate.'”
In general, I’d prefer a more conservative approach.
The West Hartford Blog 