COVID-19 New Canaan

Letter to Town Council: Postpone New Canaan Budget Vote

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Please delay your current budget that was created before the pandemic. Can’t we just focus on the essentials for getting through this period? Who knows how much money we may need by the end of this unprecedented time.  

Regarding the Memorandum of Understanding and the taxpayers’ commitment to fund $10 million, we have no guaranty that the library costs will not rise for the new building, the high school costs certainly did. Who knows how much the library will cost at the end of the day—they have already spent  $5,875,000 and haven’t broken ground. 

Just last week we read that the Waveny House costs are going from $1 million to $2.8 million to renovate two bathrooms and install an elevator in order to make it ADA compliant. So things change. But a change we really don’t need is for our taxes go up at a time with such financial uncertainty. Finally, please allow those of us who care about saving the 1913 library landmark building the time to do fundraising, and educate people on the issue.

FY 2021 budget

Letter: Don’t Rush New Canaan’s Budget Vote

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Due to the corona virus pandemic, Connecticut’s governor recently issued guidelines that delay decision-making on our state’s 2020-21 budget by 30 days. 

On March 23, 2020 The Darien Times reported that Darien’s Board of Finance made the decision to delay its budget process by one month, taking advantage of the governor’s new guidelines. Darien’s Board of Finance will vote on that Town’s budget and set its important mill rate at its May 14 meeting. 

Darien’s mill rate will be officially set June 10, 2020 when Darien’s Representative Town Meeting votes. Legislative powers of the Town of Darien are vested in that Town’s RTM’ which, according to its website, is composed of 100 members representing the Town’s six districts. The original date for the RTM budget vote was May 11. Following our governor’s issued guidelines, the RTM vote was moved to June 10.

Government

‘Gaming the System’: Town Eyes Change to Fees at Dump

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Saying some residents take unfair advantage of a standing rule, municipal officials are considering a change to how the town charges those bringing brush and construction debris to the dump. As it is, it’s free for those with a Transfer Station sticker to dump the first 300 pounds of material, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Yet “we have people that are gaming the system,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen at their Feb. 25 meeting in Town Hall. “[They] will come in multiple times a day—290 pounds, 275 pounds, things of that nature, where they are weighing at their house and then coming in and gaming the system,” Mann said.

Board of Education

Op-Ed: The Town Has Spoken, Government Must Act Accordingly

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To the Editor, NewCanaanite.com:

We are back in the midst of town budget season. 

The Board of Education has approved a budget for the 2020-2021 school year that will support New Canaan Public Schools’ continued excellence. The budget calls for a 1.47% increase and would represent a compound annual growth rate over the four years ending next year of just 1.88%—below inflation. The increase is the lowest proposed for next year among any of our nearby peer towns. New Canaan’s per-pupil spending is also lower than other towns, including Darien, and yet our school system is top in the state and among the best in the country. 

Next year’s BOE budget also reflects an important investment in the health and wellness of our kids—a change to school start and end times to align with physician recommendations and over two years of BOE work to develop the optimal solution. There are many opinions on start times, but the BOE has been deeply driven solely by what is best for New Canaan kids at all ages. Although this change comes with a cost, it is manageable, particularly due to the significant and sustainable cost savings that NCPS have been able to realize.

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Proposed Spending Plan Calls for $250,000 Toward Land Acquisition

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The proposed capital spending plan now with the Board of Finance includes $250,000 for land acquisition, a figure that represents five times current spending. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, a longtime proponent of creating and building up the Land Acquisition Fund, noted during a press briefing last week that Westport puts about $250,000 into its own similar fund “and they have $3.2 million” in it now. “I would like to have more built up for land acquisition,” Moynihan said during the briefing, held Feb. 6 in his Town Hall office. “So I am in favor of that general direction.”

The $250,000 request for fiscal year 2021 appears under the Conservation Commission in the proposed capital spending plan that the Board of Selectmen recommend 3-0 last month.