Middlefield has a budget
Posted on:
Friday, June 26, 2009 - 11:21am
In the nick of time, mere days before the end of the current fiscal year (2008-09), residents passed both outstanding budget proposals. On Tuesday, voters in both towns passed the District 13 education budget for next year (beginning July 1) and on Thursday evening, Middlefield voters also passed a town budget for next year (also beginning July 1).
After a lengthy public hearing consisting mostly of citizen comment on the undesirability of cutting a constable’s hours, the assessor’s hours, lifeguards, overtime for Public Works and Durham Middlefield Youth and Family Services (DMYFS), as well as seemingly endless political sniping between members of the Board of Finance (BOF), with a Democratic majority, and Republican First Selectman Jon Brayshaw and Republican Town Committee chair Kathy Kokoska, resident Lucy Petrella cut to the heart of the matter and asked BOF chair Ellen Waff how to move the budget forward.
Waff replied that decisions could only be made in a town meeting, which prompted Petrella to ask that the hearing be ended and the town meeting start. Two hours after the hearing began, it was closed, and the town meeting called to order.
Mary Johnson was elected moderator without opposition, and resident Dick Boynton rose for the second time (the first time was during the public hearing) to offer his motion to amend the budget. That amendment was to delete various amounts of contributions to the reserve funds, which are used to fund large equipment purchases over time, and move those contributions into the assessor’s, constable’s, DMYFS, Public Works and lifeguard (Lake Beseck) line items.
The town charter states that budgets can be raised at town meetings only to the level of one-half of one percent; in Middlefield’s case that is just over $20,000. Boynton’s swaps equaled an addition of just over $19,000 so they met the town charter’s specifications, but the amendment had to be accepted by two-thirds of those present and voting.
Proceeding to a paper ballot, residents voted 133-29 to accept the amendment to the budget (way over the two-thirds threshold), and then after a bit of confused milling around because it was unclear to some whether passing the amendment was the same as passing the budget (it wasn’t), voted 118-14 to accept the whole budget.
Following the budget approval, the BOF set the new mill rate at 25.69, down from the current year’s mill rate of 25.92.
Comments
and lets get rid of those
Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 11:28am.and lets get rid of those awful schools too!
would hope
Submitted by Anonymous1 (not verified) on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 2:51pm.would hope that town leadership can reflect what the town feels.... and i am sure it is to not allow low income housing in middlefield...
it does not have to be
Submitted by Anonymous1 (not verified) on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 2:46pm.there are a LOT of rumors going around right now, and we ALL should be concerned. middlefield IS a small town and should stay that way. middletown and meriden we are not, nor should we be. it is very disheartening to hear that the town is trying to get money to "study" housing... WHY? durham left well enough alone and denied the request for a study. economic development should be centered on rte 66.... no need for it to sprawl into town. time to voice our opinions
huh
Submitted by Anonymous1 (not verified) on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 12:51pm.not sure what that comment is in regards to....just need to make sure that town or state built rental units are never built in town. this is a nice small town
Low Income Housing
Submitted by Patrick (not verified) on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 8:46pm.Anonymous1 should be concerned as I hear rumours of a massive new sewer system in town under the guise of economc development. Once the sewers arrive the low income housing will follow! You can't stop it as the developers sue the town and win approval for low income housing in court. Just look at the mess Middletown and Meriden have become! Middlefield is next.
and lets get rid of those
Submitted by local supporter (not verified) on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 7:41am.and lets get rid of those awful schools too!
finally a budget, now to the future
Submitted by Anonymous1 (not verified) on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:23pm.finally middlefield has a budget, and with only a slight increase.. as for the future, we will see how these cuts will affect the town and town services. good to see the town and the people so highly involved in the budget process... now let's keep the small town a small town and make sure that the affordable housing rental units are NEVER built in middlefield....