Friday, April 26, 2019
www.towntimes.com
Volume 23, Number 4
Middlefield budget headed to referendum By Bailey Wright Town Times
reduced by $35,367.
Middlefield’s Board of Finance has sent its proposed 2.5-percent spending cut to residents, who will vote on the budget at a referendum next month.
Middlefield Historical Society curator Ken Twombly points to some of his ancestors who were passengers on the Mayflower, while at the society's community center office. Bailey Wright, Town Times
Historical Society helping locals find Mayflower connections sachusetts coming up next year, Twombly is hoping to help other residents learn if Ken Twombly was going they can also trace their linthrough some artifacts when eage back to the ship. he found a letter indicating a member of his family was on Twombly, a member of the Middlefield Historical Socithe Mayflower. ety, is hosting a genealogy He later learned he actually workshop Thursday, May 9 had 11 ancestors on the to help residents learn the ship. basics of doing genealogy research in hopes of helping With the 400th anniversary others who may have had of the Mayflower’s voyage one or more descendants from England to Mas-
By Bailey Wright Town Times
y your we will pa h our airfare wit
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among the 102 Mayflower passengers. The workshop will run through the basics of genealogy research. It is scheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the library hall. Attendance will be limited to about 20 people. Interested attendees must call the library to register. See Mayflower, A7
On Thursday, April 18 the board adopted a $16.5 million budget proposal, which would result in a tax decrease. It calls for a mill rate of 33.47, a drop of 2 mills from the current rate. A homeowner with a property assessed at $161,000 would have their taxes cut by about $326. Residents are scheduled to vote on the budget May 13. The budget calls for $4.9 million for municipal expenses, a $115,715 decrease from the previous year, and about $11.6 million for education, a $535,745 decrease. The biggest savings comes from school district expenses, which decreased by about $535,000 since last year due to a decline in enrollment. The cost of town employee insurance benefits was
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Robert Yamartino, Middlefield selectman and Regional School District 13 Board of Education member, said First Selectman Edward Bailey worked very closely with Durham First Selectman Laura Francis and Superintendent of Schools Kathryn Veronesi to get the new benefits package by going out to bid collectively as three organizations and accepting the same rate. “I think that level of cooperation effort can't go unmentioned,” Yamartino said at a recent meeting. The finance board altered Bailey’s March budget with reductions of about $378,668. Those decreases included the insurance cost savings from the school board and a $45,344 decrease in capital funding, largely due to the fire department receiving a grant to cover requested equipment. The board did increase several line items, including $20,000 for snow removal because it felt the original proposal was too conservative. See Budget, A2
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