Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia Halstead announced that absentee ballots will be available for the annual budget referendum during office hours Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm.

The town clerk’s office, within Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, will also host special absentee voting hours on Saturday, April 25, from 9 am to noon.

Any person who is a registered voter in the Town of Newtown or who is a US citizen assessed for at least $1,000 for real estate or motor vehicles on the 2014 Grand List for the Town of Newtown is qualified to vote at the referendum.

Any qualified person who meets any of the following criteria may vote by absentee ballot:

*Active service in the Armed Forces;

*Absence from the town during all the hours of voting;

*Illness;

*Physical disability;

*Religious tenets that forbid secular activity on the day of the referendum; or

*Duties as a referendum official at a polling place other than your own during all hours of voting.

Any person who is eligible to vote by absentee ballot may apply in person or by mail to the Town Clerk of Newtown, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown CT 06470.

Voters can download an absentee application by visiting the following site:

www.ct.gov/sots/LIB/sots/ElectionServices/ElectForms/electforms/aabeng.pdf

Absentee ballots can be returned in person to the town clerk by 4:30 pm Monday, April 27, or by mail before the closing of the polls at 8 on referendum day.

The referendum will be held on Tuesday, April 28,from 6 am to 8 pm, in the gymnasium at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street.

Questions should be directed to the town clerk’s office, 203-270-4210.

The referendum will include the following budget questions:

Shall the sum of $40,142,567 be appropriated as the budget for the Board of Selectmen for the fiscal year?

Shall the sum of $71,587,946 be appropriated for the budget for the Board of Education for the fiscal year?

The referendum will also include these advisory questions:

Do you deem the proposed sum of $40,142,567 to be appropriated for the Board of Selectmen as “too low”?

Do you deem the proposed sum of $71,587,946 to be appropriated for the Board of Education as “too low”?