Thursday, May 23, 2019
www.berlincitizen.com
Volume 22, Number 14
Residents head back to the polls Tuesday
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE SATURDAY
By Devin Leith-Yessian The Citizen
At the conclusion of a raucous meeting on May 14, the Board of Finance passed a budget which increased the school system’s allocation and reduced municipal spending, resulting in a 2.8 increase in spending overall.
Berlin’s Memorial Day parade will conclude at Berlin Veterans Memorial Park, pictured, Photo courtesy of the Berlin Veterans Commission where a ceremony will be held.
A salute to fallen heroes By Devin Leith-Yessian The Citizen
Organizers are hoping to have one of the town’s biggest Memorial Day celebrations ever on Saturday, complete with a parade featuring the high school marching band and fire engines, and a ceremony where a Connecticut Army National Guard lieutenant colonel will speak. The police department will lead the procession from St. Paul’s Church on Peck Street to Farmington Avenue, where it will turn right and march for around a mile to Massirio Drive. It will then turn left, passing the Veterans of Foreign Wars building and entering the Berlin Vet-
erans Memorial Park, where a ceremony will be held. The parade is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., followed by the ceremony around an hour later.
urday, which allows the Monday holiday to be used as a rain day.
Colaresi said he’s looking forward to hearing from this year’s guest speaker, Lesbia “The town really supports Nieves, saying she’s a great us. Farmington Avenue will role model for the growing be wall-to-wall people,” Vet- number of women who are erans Commission Chairper- signing up to serve their son Charles Colaresi said. country. Seeing all that support means a lot to the veterans who march second in line behind the police department, Colaresi said, adding that the event also gives youngsters a chance to learn about Memorial Day and the sacrifices veterans have made. This is the second year the parade is being held on Sat-
“More and more women are getting recognized in the military. She’s got quite a resume,” he said. According to a release from the Veterans Commission, Nieves is a veteran of the war in Iraq and now serves as the Surface Maintenance Director with the state National See Heroes, A11
The finance board changes made to the Town Council’s previous budget proposal, which failed at referendum on April 30, adds $500,000 to the education budget and trims $179,000 from the town side. These moves are in line with what voters called for at referendum and bring the municipal budget to $45.4 million and the Board of Education budget to just shy of $45 million. A mill rate increase of 1.52 mills – up to 34 mills – would be needed to cover the expenses based on the current expectations of revenue from the state, which would raise taxes by $266 on a home assessed at $175,000. The revisions went to the Town Council, which was scheduled to meet Wednesday. The council can accept, reduce or reject the budget. The referendum on that budget will be held Tuesday, May 28. While he acknowledged that neither the finance
board nor the Town Council can dictate what the Board of Education spends its budget on, Board of Finance Chairperson Sam Lomaglio said he hopes that the BOE would use the added $500,000 to maintain interscholastic sports at McGee Middle School and fund the Effective School Solutions program outright. “We decided that with the $500,000 that they could add the ESS in and do the McGee sports,” he said. “That’s what we’re hoping.” At a May 9 public hearing held by the finance board, students and parents shared stories about how ESS had impacted them, including some saying it had prevented suicide. Board members pointed out that the program is expected to be funded for the next academic year through money saved up this year. "They're scaring ESS kids … [Y]ou've got families and students standing up there crying and that's the way the Board of Education wants to stand in front of the public?" Board of Finance member Salvatore Bordonaro said at the May 14 meeting. The finance board also looked at reducing the amount of funding for school resource officers. See Tuesday, A15