To The Editor:

I’m impressed that the new first selectman, so early in his term, was able to submit a budget with only a modest increase given all the contractual obligations the Town is committed to. Across the nearly 50 departments many requests for increases were denied. Senior & Social Services budgets stick out because they were actually cut.

The 11,424 Newtown seniors (50+) make up 42% of the population. (For 60+, it’s 20%) Their tax contributions to schools, roads, parks & recreation and other town services are proportionally higher.

The Senior Center and other services are bulging beyond capacity. The Director creatively initiated a restructuring to shift funds to do more without increasing the budget. Instead, savings were swept into the General Fund and the combined areas were cut by $36,628. In fact, it cuts funding by $108,959 below what it was in 2023 – 2024.

Transportation is an area of major cuts. SweetHART bus service for seniors and disabled gets cut $26,845 relative to this years budget and it’s even 8.1% less than 2023-24 funding. Limited HART services, while well used, leave a chronic and major transportation short fall for seniors and anyone without their own car. Over the years many solutions have been investigated. Nothing succeeded.

This past year, through a lot of hard tenacious work funded by a ARPA grant and a very generous bequest Newtown Easy Transit services was started. Combining Easy Transit, HART and FONS Newtown Rides, ridership has jumped. Still requests for transportation are not met. The budget cuts jeopardize the new services and their futures when soft money is no longer available.

I ask the Board of Finance to restore Senior and Social Services budgets. The accounting to do this is complex. Perhaps the new Contingency line could be used so that there would be no increase beyond the Board of Selectmen 2026- 2027 budget.

Ned Simpson

Sandy Hook