Volume 21, Number 9
www.berlincitizen.com
Thursday, April 20, 2017
IMPORTANT LESSONS DISPENSED AT GOLF CLINIC
Mayor, BOE president talk budget By Ashley Kus Citizen staff
Mayor Mark Kaczynski and Board of Education President Matthew Tencza sat down with The Berlin Citizen recently, two weeks before the referendum, to talk about a trying budget season. A video of the interview is posted on The Citizen website.
Timberlin Golf Club hosted its annual Junior Golf Program last week, during April vacation. The four-day clinic focused on game skills and life skills. Youngsters age 5 to 12 were invited to participate. Speaking to The Citizen in 2016, Timberlin head pro Marc Bayram said, “We don’t just teach about golf we teach about things they can do off the course as well as on the course.”
Plans move forward for historical meeting house
Worthington Meeting House on Worthington Ridge will be getting an upgraded design as plans to renovate the 18th century building move forward.
A bid was recently awarded to an architect to prepare schematic plans for the final design and construction. The design cost of $20,000 will come from grants ob-
tained by the Friends committee, as well as Berlin’s Historic District Commission. “People want to see it done,” said Lorraine Stub, president of the Friends committee. “Sometimes you don’t value what’s in your own town.”
The $85.3 million budget, with a 2.7 percent increase to the Board of Education, raises the tax rate by .87 of a mill or 2.8 percent. A house valued at $250,000, for example, would pay an additional $150 in property taxes. The Board of Education recently discussed the elimination of 11 teaching positions due to budget constraints. Tencza said the reductions would have been much higher if the Town Council budget committee had not recently added $500,000 to the school budget. The funds were reconfigured from other accounts with two town items cut. Projects for Scalise Field and the high school track resurfacing were removed.
See House, A2
See Budget, A3
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“It’s that one icon that really stands out in town,” said David Evans, town councilor and liaison to Friends of the Worthington Meeting House committee.
“There are some job cuts, that’s not what anyone wants to see but we really are in a difficult year,” Kaczynski said.