WETHERSFIELD - As it turns out, former Deputy Mayor John Console is not running for a seat on the Town Council this coming municipal election, but the former petitioning candidate stepped away from the race with some parting words regarding the budget and the ongoing Wethersfield High School renovation project--a couple of issues he said he had been planning to address when he announced a short-lived campaign weeks ago.

       â€�"I had full intentions of running for office,” Console said.

       Apparently the Independence Party thought differently. When party chair and founder Paul Copp announced the slate over a month ago, Console was not on it--a move that Console says caught him by surprise. Console had announced his run for Council just days before Copp released a list of candidates that included Republican nominees--cross endorsed by both parties--Charles Carey and Jodi Latina.

       â€�"I guess I’m out of the running for now,” Console said. â€�"But I’m not going away by any means.”

       When asked about Console around the time of the announcement, Copp said that the party had never received the paperwork seeking a nomination. Copp wished him well, saying that the two agreed on a lot and that he had wanted him to run. Console maintains that he had his paperwork in on time.

       â€�"Either the paperwork didn’t flow properly or Paul had a different game plan,” Console said.

       Either way, Console’s game plan, although delayed, remains the same. It centers on the budget, which he believes the Council can get down to a zero percent annual increase.

       â€�"It can be done,” Console said. â€�"I’ve gone over it many times. It doesn’t have to be raised at all.”

       Console says that if he had it his way, all town departments, with the exception of public safety, would take 5 percent reductions. The budget process would â€�"start from scratch” with department heads laying out their expenditure needs--figures that would take the 5 percent cuts, he says.

       While the issue of tax increases, which Democratic Councilors characterize as a compromised raise that maintains town services while keeping added tax payer burden at a minimum, is being raised by Republicans in the coming election, Console says that both parties could have done better in this area during their years they had the majority.

       â€�"They’re hanging their hat on ‘we kept them at a minimum amount,’” Console said. â€�"It should have been a zero amount and that could’ve been done.”

       Zero percent can be done, but at the cost of town services, Mayor Paul Montinieri said.

       â€�"Of course you can do zero percent,” Montinieri said. â€�"All you have to do is slash departments, and reduce staff and services. It would be a very dark story for Wethersfield.”

       Most of the budget increases are driven by contractual raises, he said.

       â€�"The Council, frankly, doesn’t have control over that,” Montinieri said.

       The rest is inflation-driven, he said.

       â€�"This is about fighting for our community and being fiscally prudent at the same time,” Montinieri said. â€�"Both Democrats and Republicans have grappled with this together.”

       Councilor Stathis Manousos had similar thoughts, but said he thinks budget increases in the past two cycles could have come in lower.

       â€�"[Console’s] entitled to his opinion, but we did what we thought was responsible at the time,” said Manousos, who served in the then-Republican majority during the four budget cycles prior to the current Democratic majority. â€�"I would agree that there is a balance that needs to be struck, but I would add that during the years we were in the majority, our average increase was 2 percent.”

       He emphasized a doing more with less approach-something that he says Republicans accomplished while in the majority with the establishment of a school CIP fund, a pay-as-you-go road improvement initiative, and all-day Kindergarten.

       After serving four consecutive terms as a Republican councilor, Console did not receive his party’s nomination before the last election, running instead as a petitioning candidate in 2013.