Government

Public Works: Buildings ‘Buried’ Under Locust Lot Could Raise Cost of Repaving Project

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Public works officials are seeking $500,000 for next fiscal year in order to repave the Locust Avenue Lot, a project that could cost far more depending on what the town finds at it starts to dig up the pavement. 

Thought two years ago to be right for an approximately $4 million decking job, Locust Avenue Lot will need to be taken out and replaced in one shot, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann, a project will take about two months to complete. 

The true cost won’t be known “until we get in,” Mann said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held Tuesday at Town Hall. “We have been told the buildings that were there prior were actually knocked down and buried under the paving structure. If that’s the case, that is probably one of the reasons why the pavement is failing. This number $500,000 does not take into account if we have to go in and dig out everything that is there.”

The $500,000 request is part of a $5 million overall proposed capital spending plan for the Department of Public Works in the area of administration-and-engineering (nearly half of that total represents the town’s pavement management program). In order to find out just how much the paving project will cost, Mann said, the town needs to “dig a couple of test pits.”

“We will go forward and see if we can do some analysis, find out where the buildings were, ask some people who were around to see if they know where the buildings were buried and then go in,” he said.

Board of Education

Police Chief: We Will Restart Effort To Allow Drug-Sniffing Dog in New Canaan Schools

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The chief of police said Tuesday that officials plan to re-start their efforts to work with the district on a plan to allow a trained drug-sniffing dog into New Canaan schools as part of a wider effort to prevent use and abuse of narcotics. 

Responding to a question from Selectman Kit Devereaux while presenting the New Canaan Police Department’s proposed budget, Chief Leon Krolikowski said effort had “stalled” though “we are going to try and restart that movement, to try to do something reasonable and balanced.”

“Because I don’t think anyone wants drugs in school and we want to do our best to try to prevent it from happening and use every tool we have to stop that,” Krolikowski said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall. “And we are going to do our best to restart that process and get that discussion going again. Certainly the biggest drug of choice in New Canaan is alcohol and close to that is prescription drug use, misuse of it. Xanax, that’s a big drug. That is being used, and that is from a fairly recent investigation and we see that, a substantial use of Xanax, especially younger people using and abusing it along with other drugs and substances.

News

‘It Has Started To Fail’: $2.2 Million South School Roof Replacement Drives Board of Ed’s Capital Budget Request 

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The estimated $2.2 million replacement of the roof at South School is driving the superintendent of schools’ overall $4.1 million capital request for next fiscal year. 

The project had been scheduled three years ago, yet the Board of Finance at the time asked whether the district could defer it, “so we did,” according to the Dr. Bryan Luizzi. “We really feel you cannot defer it any more,” he told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting Monday night, in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “We are spending a lot of time with rain problems after storms and water incursion is an issue. And so we need to keep up with it, or other problems happen and we want to avoid those.”

The comments came as Luizzi proposed an approximately $92 million operating budget for fiscal year 2020, a 2.55 percent increase over current spending. The Board of Ed is to vote on the proposed budgets next week, at which point it goes to municipal bodies for discussion and approval, with a final vote in April. 

The South School roof replacement should be able to get done in a single summer starting when school lets out, Luizzi said.

News

Superintendent of Schools Proposes 2.55 Percent Spending Increase

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The superintendent of schools on Monday night proposed a $92 million budget for New Canaan Public Schools next year, a 2.55 percent increase over current spending. Of the approximately $2.3 million projected spending increase over this fiscal year, more than $1.6 million is due to employee salaries, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting. The budget also anticipates spending less money in areas that include contracted services ($94,554), property services ($440,302), supplies ($58,707) and equipment ($56,016), he said. The salary figure of $1.6 million represents an increase of about 2.8 percent over current spending, Luizzi said. The increase is driven mainly by contractual increases with unions representing district employees ($1.4 million), as well as “grid progressions” for teachers advancing on the salary schedule ($189,410), he said.

FY 2020 budget

Op-Ed: Reval Reveals Tax Shock

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$1 billion of property value lost in decade-long rout
Half the town is in for a surprising tax hike in the New Year
Critical moment for staying competitive with neighboring towns

What happens when a town’s revenue base declines for a decade while the government goes on a spending spree? 

We’re about to find out. 

Home Value Rout

For revenue, New Canaan’s government relies on taxing property. That property is getting reassessed much lower—with a proposed assessment decline of more than $500 million representing a fair market value loss of almost $750 million. On average, more expensive homes have declined the most, with the assessment of homes previously assessed at between $2 million and $5 million declining by 10 percent. At the same tax rate, those property owners will pay for a smaller percentage of government spending as a result of that decline.  A majority of New Canaan homes were previously assessed at under $1 million. Their new assessment shows an average 2 percent decline.