Second Budget Referendum Set For May 9

By John Voket

Town Clerk Cynthia Simon is calling all qualified voters to the second attempt at passing the annual town budget referendum endorsing or rejecting the proposed appropriation, which stands at $95,960,206. The referendum will be held exclusively at the Newtown Middle School gymnasium on Queen Street between the hours of 6 am and 8 pm, Tuesday, May 9.

“Any person who is a registered voter in Newtown, or who is a US citizen who is assessed at least $1,000 for real estate or motor vehicles on the 2005 Grand List…is qualified to vote,” Ms Simon stated in a release.

Anyone wishing to vote, but who will be unable to attend the polls next Tuesday can obtain an absentee ballot Friday or Monday from the town clerk during regular office hours at Edmond Town Hall, 8 am to 4:30 pm. Special hours will be in effect this Saturday, May 6, from 9 am to noon, to distribute absentee ballots.

Voters cannot generally obtain an absentee ballot on the day of the referendum. Anyone attempting to do so in person will be directed to the middle school polling place to cast a vote.

Active service armed forces members, those facing illness or physical disability, poll workers who are engaged for the duration at the referendum, those restricted by religious tenets, or anyone who will be absent from town during all hours of the voting are eligible to cast an absentee ballot.

During a special Legislative Council meeting, which was advertised prior to the referendum in the event that proposal went down, its members reduced the budget by one-tenth of a mill, relegating a $100,000 cut to be made to the municipal side by the first selectman and Finance Director Benjamin Spragg, and a $195,000 cut to be made by the Board of Education.

While the school district will factor the $195,000 against its latest budget proposal of $60,996,154, the town side breakdown of cuts will touch several line items.

Mr Spragg said Monday that $40,000 will be cut from debt service and $20,000 from anticipated insurance costs. The insurance cuts would likely result from positions in several municipal departments that will likely go unfilled until either January, or the beginning of the 2007-2008 fiscal cycle.

An additional $15,000 will be cut from the Public Works line, $10,000 from Parks and Recreation, $10,000 from the Police Department, and $5,000 from the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers. During Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, School Superintendent Evan Pitkoff decried the additional $195,000 cut pointing out that the school budget was now down more than a half-million dollars from the original proposal he felt was already trimmed to the bone.

“The Board of Education will need to find more than $500,000 to fund programs and items proposed at the beginning of the budget cycle,” Dr Pitkoff said.

School board chair Elaine McClure echoed the superintendent’s concerns, also referencing the low voter turnout at the first referendum.

“To have a 22 percent voter turnout was a shame,” Ms McClure said. “I don’t want to see the schools go downward, because once that happens it’s hard to get back up.”