Volume 16, Issue 9
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Friday, June 12, 2009
Old Home Days parade, festival and fireworks draw crowds
Above, Boy Scouts of Troop 27 are greeted by fans Juliana DeFileo and Evan Hempel, below. More photos on pages 28-29. Photos by Sue VanDerzee Fireworks photo by Jen Schulten
Middlefield town budget referendum fails By Chuck Corley Special to the Town Times Like the school budget the week before, the town of Middlefield gave an emphatic “No” to the municipal budget proposed for 2009-10. Despite maintaining the same 6.35 mills for the town’s portion of the budget, the same as in 2008-2009, nearly two-thirds of voters voted down the $4,063,635 gross town budget. In an abysmally low turnout, 237 people voted against the
In this issue ... Calendar............................4-5 CRHS Senior Awards..26-27 Devil’s Advocate...........15-22 Durham Briefs..............11-12 Libraries.............................30 Middlefield Briefs ........13-14 Mini Page ...........................39 Obituaries ..........................31 Sports .............................34-37 Spotlight ........................32-33
proposed budget, with 128 in favor. While the matter was voted on by nearly eight times as many people as in the town meeting (where it failed 2620), the 365-voter turnout still represents only 12 percent of registered voters in town. Now that the budget has failed, it will return to the Board of Finance for further adjusting. A special meeting is already planned for Thursday, June 11, to set a mill rate for the tax bills. Chairwoman Ellen Waff intends on using the 25.92 mill rate from 2008-09 because the town has not yet approved either a municipal or a school budget for 2009-10, and the bills must go out in June for expeditious July payment. The charter states that after a referendum defeat, the Board of Finance has 14 days to bring a new budget before a town meeting for a vote. Presumably, some of the discussion about what to do next with the budget will take place
on June 11 (after press time). Some of the budget items the finance board discussed looking into at prior meetings involve raises for the town’s union employees as well as debt service for Powder Ridge. Although the finance board can’t directly affect union raises, they have asked the First Selectman to approach the unions on numerous occasions, which he did in late May. The board has also discussed completely removing funding for union positions at previous workshops. Where else they may cut, though, remains to be seen. Elected officials have already had their raises removed for 2009-10, while positions such as the Wetlands Enforcement Officer are being combined with other jobs such as the Sanitarian. The finance board was also going to remove summer help for public works, but are funding the position to avoid paying unemployment wages.