Legislative Council Chair Mary Ann Jacob told The Newtown Bee following a March 4 meeting that a public hearing on the proposed 2015-16 budget, originally planned for March 18, is now going to be held a week later on Wednesday, March 25.

Ms Jacob said that based on the anticipated timing of budget actions at the Board of Finance, the council would need the extra week to properly and legally notice the public hearing. The council still plans to hold a regular meeting March 18, Ms Jacob said.

Besides confirming the date for the budget hearing, Ms Jacob said on March 4, the council unanimously approved a Business Incentive Plan, which includes a temporary, partial property tax abatement for a new medical building being developed at 170 Mt Pleasant Road.

The panel also approved, with member Dan Amaral opposing, eminent domain action to secure an “all-purpose” utility easement on Crestwood Drive that will eventually serve the new Sandy Hook School.

She said the council also approved shifting $1 million per year earmarked in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for demolition at Fairfield Hills to instead underwrite a stepped-up plan for local road construction and improvement projects.

“The bottom line remains the same, but we moved some of that the capital funding that was originally for demolition to fix the roads,” Ms Jacob said.

Action on authorizing the town to enter a settlement agreement on a commercial parcel at 75 Church Hill Road and a move to tighten and clarify request protocols in the CIP were postponed and will likely be handled at the regular March 18 meeting, Ms Jacob said.