Government

Selectmen Restore Placeholder for Kiwanis Park Funding; Board of Finance Decision Looms

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday proposed a spending plan for next fiscal year that restores funding to operate Kiwanis Park, though the future of the Old Norwalk Road facility remains uncertain. The selectmen voted 3-0 to pass along to the Board of Finance an overall operating budget of about $153.6 million, representing a year-over-year spending increase of 1.1%. The figure includes Board of Education spending. In a budget season that has seen the finance board call for an operating reduction of 2% in municipal departments, an initial draft proposed spending plan before the selectmen had essentially de-commissioned Kiwanis Park by removing funding for it. Yet Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams during the Board’s regular meeting at Town Hall pushed to have $47,000 restored to Kiwanis so that recreation officials have a chance to reinvigorate the park under a reduced-hours schedule next summer.

Board of Selectmen

Selectman Williams Calls for Closer Look at Certain ‘Special Projects Funds’

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Selectman Nick Williams last week called for the town to pay closer attention to privately donated money that’s earmarked for specific local projects and causes and is controlled by municipal department heads and the volunteer bodies that oversee them. The money in various “Special Projects Funds” is “floating around” and the town “ought to get a handle” on them, Williams said during the Jan. 23 regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. 

“Somebody has got to bring together all of these funds and [say], ‘Here is the purpose, here is what the money was supposed to be used for, there is still some money left over, the purpose has gone away, what do we do with the money?’ Something like that,” Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. The town’s annual audit defines “Special Projects Funds” as those “used to account for donations from individuals and private organizations to be used for the stated purpose.” They cover funds for a wide range of causes, including the New Canaan Police Department K9 program, Waveny House and garden, platform tennis, land acquisition, New Canaan Food Pantry and Family Fourth. Some of the project names listed in the audit are more generic, such as “Human Services” (fund balance of about $133,000, as of June 30) and “Parks & Recreation” ($41,182).

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Op-Ed: Tax Reality Check

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If current real estate trends hold, the property tax rate in New Canaan is set to grow by at least 10% in the next real estate revaluation. Think of real estate values and property tax rates as being two ends of a see-saw. If the real estate values that make up New Canaan’s Grand List – our near completely dependent source of spending on schools, parks, infrastructure, etc., through property taxation – decline, our property tax rate (mill rate) will need to offset this decline by an equivalent amount even if our budget (spending) is flat. 

Unfortunately, there is a reckoning in the form of our real estate values/Grand List. An analysis of all property transfers from the beginning of April, 2019 to December, 2019, listed in the NewCanaanite (a representative sample of 239 transactions) shows our Grand List down 10% currently versus the 2018 revaluation (after a 7% decrease in that reval), all else being equal. Keeping the see-saw visual in mind, if we had another revaluation this year our property tax rates would likely increase by ~10% even with a flat town budget (spending).

Board of Selectmen

After Dulos Case, New Canaan Police Investigators Seek More Video Surveillance Throughout Town

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Police investigators in New Canaan hope that the town’s plan to install cameras at Waveny’s entrances as a result of the Dulos case leads to more video surveillance throughout town. For the fourth straight year, the New Canaan Police Department Investigative Section is asking that municipal officials especially consider installations at the town border and entrance and exit ramps of the Merritt Parkway, according to an end-of-year report from the head of the section, Lt. Jason Ferraro. “This is directly supported by the Dulos case and the huge role that video evidence played in leading to the arrests of [Fotis] Dulos and [Michelle] Troconis,” Ferraro said in the report, discussed briefly at Jan. 15 regular meeting of the Police Commission and obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. 

“We realize this is a capital item but having LPR’s [“license plate recognition” cameras] located at strategic locations would greatly improve our ability to get ahead in an investigation and improve the likelihood of an arrest occurring. Hopefully the approval to install cameras at Waveny Park as a result of the Dulos case will be the beginning of more cameras at vital locations within New Canaan.”

The Board of Selectmen last month approved the hiring of a Bridgeport-based technology consulting firm to put together an RFP for updating security systems in New Canaan.

News

Police Chief: ‘High Likelihood’ of Drug Possession, Possible Dealing in New Canaan Schools

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Getting a drug-sniffing dog access to public schools ranks high among  New Canaan Police Department priorities for this year, Chief Leon Krolikowski said Thursday. Police officials “are hopeful we will be able to get some folks in line” and finalize an agreement with the district so that the department’s K-9 unit can do its work inside schools, Krolikowski said during a budget hearing before the Board of Selectmen. 

“Because we do know as we sit here today that there’s a high likelihood that there are some kids in the school in possession of drugs and maybe distributing it,” Krolikowski said during the Board’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “And what are we going to do as a town to prevent that from happening and frankly make our kids safer?”

Asked by Selectman Nick Williams where New Canaan is in the process, Krolikowski said “stalled.”

“It’s been tabled, I believe, by the superintendent and Board of Education,” he said. “It’s been a years-long effort to try to move that along and we are login to continue to do that and be a little bit more aggressive in trying to push that along. Get something in place that we are at least comfortable with.