Is The Borough Worth It?

To the Editor:

A borough is an incorporated area that typically provides services to a section of a town. There have been as many as 45 boroughs within Connecticut at various times during the state’s history; most were incorporated during the 19th Century when town government was less efficient and services such as firefighting had to be more decentralized.

Today, the borough in Connecticut is an expensive anachronism; of the 45 boroughs, only nine remain. As parent-town governments became more capable, the clear benefits of eliminating the “town-within-a-town” duplicate structure became increasingly evident. Thirty-six of the boroughs either grew and became independent towns, or were disincorporated and consolidated into their parent town. Sadly for Newtown, the Borough of Newtown labors on as one of the nine remaining boroughs.

Established in 1824, the borough is home to approximately 650–700 households. If you drive through the borough, the only things that distinguish it from the rest of Newtown are the occasional fire hydrant, street lights on some of the major roads near town center, and sidewalks in the approximate rectangle of Main Street, Church Hill Road, Queen Street, and Glover Avenue.

The borough has recently approved, by the affirmative vote of about 19 people at a poorly attended public meeting, a fiscal year 2008-09 budget of $218,190. This is a worrisome 19 percent increase over the 2007-08 budget, but the application of “operating reserves” from previous years will mitigate the property tax increase for borough residents. Still, those residents can expect a 0.61 mill rate “surcharge” on top of the 23.2 proposed mill rate for this year’s town property tax bill.

What do the borough residents get for their money? Not very much…and even less, depending on which street they live. The $218,190 budget breaks down roughly into thirds — one-third of the money goes to the costs of supporting the organization itself, one-third goes to maintaining fire hydrants, and one-third goes to everything else. The organization costs include the salaries of 11 borough staff personnel, whose titles would indicate that they duplicate the function of Town of Newtown officials, administrative expenses and nearly $10,000 for the loosely defined purposes of “consulting” and “auxiliary help.”

If you live in the Borough, you should ask yourself the following questions:

With a roughly five percent property tax increase already coming from the town this year, am I getting my money’s worth from the “add-on” borough property tax that I will pay? (Hint: look outside your front door. If you don’t see a sidewalk or street lights, you’re paying a lot for the availability of a fire hydrant that may be somewhere in your vicinity.)

What is done by the borough that could not be done at least as efficiently by the town?

How does the borough organization relate to and coordinate with the town organization to avoid wasteful duplication of efforts?

Is the borough a needlessly expensive anachronism that has out-lived its usefulness …or is it really just a “Main/Glover/Queen Street Homeowners’ Association” under the guise of a broader charter?

George Schmidt

12 Old Castle Drive, Newtown                                        May 20, 2008