Pushing up against a deadline to approve Newtown's Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), the Legislative Council picked up where it left off one week earlier, eventually approving the five-year guide for projects and their corresponding bonding with several modifications.

This year's journey for the CIP was longer and more complex that in years past because the former administration of First Selectman Pat Llodra decided to give the incoming newly elected administration a chance to review it separately and make any changes members felt were appropriate.

The final step in the process occurred January 17 during the council's regular meeting following some high level discussion on possible future open space funding. Council members sought to clarify the implications of using a placeholder designation in the CIP, which could serve as evidence to possible future grantors that the town was committed to proving matching funds in the event an attractive open space parcel became available for preservation.

Town Finance Director Robert Tait explained that based on past practice, it appeared to be both more practical and efficient if the council authorized an open space appropriation and simply held off on any bonding until a parcel was approved for purchase and the funds were needed. Mr Tait also confirmed that if funds were appropriated in a specific year of the CIP but not bonded, that appropriation could stay viable in the capital plan for the subsequent five years.

The only downside to that practice is that the eventual bonding is always assumed, Mr Tait said, so the earmarked funds would always be included in a debt forecast, and would factor into each year's debt cap. That debt cap currently stands at 9 percent, but there is a goal of bringing it down to 8.5 percent in the coming years.

Concerns about maintaining the debt cap across the current CIP resurfaced a short time later, when Councilman Ryan Knapp requested an amendment that would have shifted a number of projects, mostly in later years. He suggested by making the various changes to the CIP, it would ensure the council approved a project plan that honored the intent to keep each year's borrowing under the debt service cap.

Councilman Chris Eide countered with an amendment preserving several planned projects that involved various facility safety improvements as well as one school district project, but that effort died for lack of a second. The vote for Mr Knapp's amendment then failed on a roll call vote 8-3 (Councilman Jay Mattegat was absent).

The council moved on to a $350,000 capital request from the C.H. Booth Library Board, with a number of officials voicing concern that the request included bonding for technology that would be long obsolete while the 20-year bond was still being paid off. Mr Knapp suggested reducing that line in 2018-19 by $50,000.

"We need to make sound fiscal decisions and part of that is how we fund things," he said. "When you get into bonding for technology, you're bonding for operational expenses. It's easy to put things on the credit card."

Mr Knapp suggested shifting planned technology funding to the capital nonrecurring account, or incorporating it into the library's annual operating budget.

His amendment passed 9-1 with Councilman Dan Honan abstaining because he said his wife has long served on the library board.

Council Chairman Paul Lundquist then offered an amendment to reduce Fairfield Hills building demolition bonding by $2 million for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, and in the following year, reduce a Parks and Recreation request for building and lighting new pickleball courts at Fairfield Hills from $420,000 to $250,000.

He noted that with planned building projects happening on campus, including a possible new police headquarters, his motion would create some "white space" on the campus, in effect placing a one-year moratorium on funding demolition.

Regarding the pickleball courts, Mr Lundquist said he favored a "staged approach" to its development, funding enough to build the courts as planned in 2021, but delaying the installation of lighting until some time in the future.

His amendment passed unanimously.

After a few more minutes of discussion, Mr Lundquist called for a vote on the full amended CIP, which passed 10-1, with Mr Knapp dissenting.