New Round Of Cuts—

Petitioners Force Third Budget Referendum

By John Voket

By noon last Wednesday, Town Clerk Cynthia Simon had qualified well over 100 signatures more than necessary to force a third townwide budget referendum. Ms Simon said she stopped the verification process early that afternoon once she exceeded the minimum number of signatures required by about 100, “just so there is no question that we have enough.”

The town clerk verified 877 petitioners calling for a third vote although she said just 765 were required. Ms Simon said she expected early on that petitioners would be successful in their effort to force a third machine vote, having distributed dozens of petition documents to more than a half-dozen residents requesting them last Friday.

The last budget referendum, which was the second vote on the proposed 2006-2007 spending package to fail, would automatically move the process to a town meeting. However, by charter, a petition campaign securing qualified signatures of at least five percent of Newtown’s registered voters or taxpayers would force a third machine ballot, removing the budget endorsement from a public arena back behind the voting curtains.

The town meeting that was originally set for next Tuesday evening to conduct the budget vote, will now be held to set the date for the next referendum.

Last Monday, the Board of Selectmen met to decide the date and location of the town meeting. At that meeting, selectmen knew there was a strong possibility that petitioners would be successful in bringing the budget proposal to a third referendum.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal told The Bee that a machine vote will likely be held Tuesday, May 30 — the day after Memorial Day, but not before taxpayers endorse that date next Tuesday at 7:30 pm at Newtown High School.

During the Monday meeting, Town Finance Director Benjamin Spragg also presented selectmen with the latest round of municipal-side budget cuts that totaled $176,000. That reflected the mandate put forward by the Legislative Council following the failure of the second referendum.

That $176,000 combined with the $590,000 ordered cut from the Board of Education’s side of the budget would provide another two-tenths of a mill reduction bringing the latest townwide proposal to $95,370,206.

While the Board of Education is not required to present line-item reductions, Mr Spragg broke out the additional town-side reductions for the selectmen. Those further cuts eliminate the acquisition of a $27,000 police patrol car, reduce the Fire Commission Marshal fees by $20,000, and cut $14,500 from public works overlays.

In addition, a $35,000 reduction in contractual winter maintenance, and $47,500 cut in debt service interest were made. Mr Rosenthal told fellow selectmen William Brimmer, Jr, and Joseph Bojnowski that cut was realized by putting off some planned borrowing at least six months.

A Parks and Recreation summer program is being eliminated to save $22,000, and that department will lose $5,000 from its capital budget line. This is the second summer program being cut since the first budget referendum failed.

A $5,000 cut was also made to the library budget.

Mr Rosenthal also clarified to fellow selectmen that incorporating the latest reductions from the Legislative Council, the full impact of the budget would affect a 4.6 percent increase in taxes if approved at the next referendum.

“I’ve gotten a number of calls, and there were several letters in The Bee that reflect inaccurate information,” Mr Rosenthal said. “I’ve heard a lot of residents saying that their taxes are going up six, eight, ten percent. But if this budget passes, the 4.6 percent increase will be lower than last year’s final budget, which passed on the first try.”