The Board of Finance approved $842,175 from the National Resources Conservation Service to buy out two properties that were heavily damaged by floods and at risk from future flooding.

The two properties are 328 Berkshire Road, which is worth $66,320 on the town's Grand List and paying $1,940 in taxes, and 330 Berkshire Road, which is worth $122,280 on the town's Grand List and pays $3,577.92 in taxes. The total impact in property taxes is $5,501, or roughly .0014 mills.

The Conservation Commission approved the properties for acquisition in December 2024.

Both residential properties had significant damage from the August 2024 floods. The houses are located in a flood zone and the Town and NRCS are looking to purchase these properties, demolish them and revert the area to a natural setting. This would provide the Town with riverfront open space for recreation, river access, and would provide buffering to the river.

The money for the acquisition comes entirely from NRCS and is paying well above the market rates for the homes as incentive to the homeowners to sell the properties to the town. The only thing the town's taxpayers are losing is the yearly taxes.

The property owners still have to sign draft acquisition agreements to further finalize the purchase. Finance Director Glenys Salas said she was not sure what the hold-up was on the property owners’ end, but suspected it was to do with the fact that neither property owner lives in Newtown anymore, and the agreement is going through the mail service.

"It seems to me that if I were one of the property owners I'd sign this as soon as possible," said Salas. "There will never be another opportunity to sell these properties at this kind of value."

However, from the town end there is no rush. The provision sales agreement also has to go before the Legislative Council for approval. For the most part the sale is a "done deal" according to Salas, since the town, NRCS, and residents have all agreed to the sale in principle.

In other BOF news, Salas reported the proprietary funds deficit was reduced from approximately $6 million for fiscal year 2025-26 to a projected $3.8 million for 2026-27. The town paid $1.3 million from the medical self-insured fund, $250,000 from the sewer fund, and $1.4 million from the water fund to reduce the deficit.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.