First Selectman Ken Kellogg has yet to do a thorough review of the Board of Education’s $60 million budget proposal, but both he and Board of Finance Chairman Michael Manjos expressed their belief that the spending increase is still too high for voters to pass at the referendum on May 5. On Tuesday, the school board cut $500,000 from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jack Zamary’s proposal, which had carried a 5.7 percent increase over the current $57.2 million budget. That reduced the increase to 4.88 percent. “My initial feeling is that number would still present a significant challenge at referendum,” Kellogg said Friday. The first selectman is still crunching numbers for the municipal spending plan for fiscal year 2020-21.
