Cristina A. Ross

Town Council Approves 5% Budget Increase; Last-Minute Reductions to Board of Ed, Library Spending Requests

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The Town Council last week approved a budget for next fiscal year of about $175 million, an approximately 5% increase over current spending. The figure includes a Board of Education operating budget of about $91.5 million, up about 3.7% year-over-year. During a meeting held April 2, members of the legislative body in a divided vote made reductions to the Board of Ed ($250,000) and New Canaan Library ($107,000) spending requests for fiscal year 2025. In proposing the Board of Ed cut, Councilman Rita Bettino said that she was wary about adding fixed costs in the form of 13 staff positions to the district following a town-wide revaluation that could see significant increases in taxes for some, depending on the mill rate. 

While the positions that the district is adding “don’t add up to $1 million necessarily, they are ongoing costs and they don’t go away and they just get built upon, going further,” Bettino said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

She added, “I’m just uncomfortable adding any more ongoing expenses than I believe are necessary. It’s not just the salaries.

Amy Murphy Carroll

ARPA: Selectmen Vote to Transfer Remaining $750,000 to Town’s General Fund

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to transfer all remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act or “ARPA” to New Canaan’s General Fund. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll during their regular meeting voted 3-0 to return the $747,634 to the fund so that the town can spend however it wants, rather than along ARPA-specific guidelines. Murphy Carroll, who served on a joint Board of Finance and Town Council subcommittee that made recommendations about ARPA allocations, said the federal dollars can be used to reimburse communities that lost revenue due to the pandemic. “We did lose approximately $3 million in revenue, and I was always a fan personally of pulling it in, because once you pull it into the town, you can use it for whatever purpose,” she said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference “If you allocate it directly this way, you have to really align with ARPA requirements. So I think it makes all the sense in the world for us to pull this in and then just allocate it out of our General Fund.

Alicia Meyer

Board of Ed Chair To Step Away Temporarily Following Drunk-Driving Arrest

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The chair of the Board of Education said Monday night that he will step away from the elected body temporarily. Dan Bennett read out the following prepared statement at the start of the Board’s regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School, his first public comments since being arrested last week for drunk-driving:

“I wanted to make a statement to this Board and the public. After the completion of this meeting, I will be absent from Board meetings and participation in Board activities for a few weeks as I deal with a personal situation that requires my and my family’s attention. With the help of my wife and family, we will manage this situation with humility and respect. I will make no further comment on this matter, which I hope that you understand.

Cristina A. Ross

West School Cell Tower: Town Council Calls for ‘Active’ Utilities Commission

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In a blow to the town’s highest elected official, New Canaan’s legislative body asserted last week that the town needs an active volunteer commission that advises on utilities. Weeks into his first term in 2017, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said that he wished to dissolve the Utilities Commission while tackling cell coverage in New Canaan himself. 

Since then, Moynihan has brought no one forward to populate the six-person commission, which is down to three members—not enough to qualify as a quorum—and hasn’t posted a meeting agenda in four years. 

This summer, after it became known that Moynihan was planning to erect a cell tower behind West School, fellow members of the Board of Selectmen pushed back. In October, when Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams called for the reinstitution of the Utilities Commission, Moynihan said he didn’t “see the need” for it. 

Even so, Corbet and Williams this month pushed again for a reactivated Utilities Commission. 

And last week, the Town Council voted unanimously during an informal straw poll that New Canaan needs an active Utilities Commission and that the Council will do whatever is necessary to flesh that out, including taking input from the Board of Selectmen. “Right now, as we have a very active first selectman—he is having the thought process and the meetings that are not public meetings,” Councilman Cristina A. Ross said during the elected body’s Dec. 14 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Betty Lovastik

Town Committee to Private Group: We Can’t Change a Town Ordinance Allowing You To Place Ads in Waveny Ice Rink

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A committee of New Canaan’s legislative body at its most recent meeting decided against a recommendation to amend a local ordinance in order to allow a private group to have advertising in a makeshift ice rink planned for a public park. Though certain members of the Town Council Bylaws & Ordinances Committee argued in favor of allowing New Canaan Ice Inc. to run 10 to 15 paid “dasher board” ads along the walls of a rink planned for Waveny, others cautioned that making such an exception to a clearly written ordinance would set a bad precedent. Tom Butterworth, a Committee co-chair, noted that there appears to be a lack of enforcement with respect to the Section 42-8(G) of the Town Code, which reads: “No person shall distribute any handbills or circulars or post any bills, notices or advertising matter of any kind and nature in any park.”

Yet “we want a pristine Waveny,” Butterworth said at the Nov. 22 meeting, held via videoconference. 

“We want to have a rule that basically tells the world that Waveny gives you this pristine experience with nature,” he said. “And that’s a laudable goal.