From 6 am to 8 pm Tuesday, April 25, polls will be open at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street, for voters to consider the proposed 2023-24 municipal and school budgets, as well as three different capital projects. Additionally, there will be special absentee voting hours at the Town Clerk’s Office Saturday, April 22, from 9 am to noon.

The ballot will contain seven “yes” or “no” questions, four related to the budget and three related to capital projects. Each budget question also has a corresponding advisory question to help inform the Legislative Council, in the event they are called upon to modify one or both budget proposals if they fail.

Voters will see the following language on their budget ballots:

1. “Shall the sum of $47,526,140 be appropriated for the Board of Selectmen for the fiscal year?”

2. “If the proposed sum of $47,526,140 for the Board of Selectmen is not approved, should the revised budget be higher?” [Advisory question #1]

3. “Shall the sum of $85,069,651 be appropriated for the Board of Education for the fiscal year?”

4. “If the proposed sum of $85,069,651 for the Board of Education is not approved, should the revised budget be higher?” [Advisory question #2]

5. “Shall the $1,550,000 special appropriation and $1,550,000 bond authorization for the remediation and replacement of the Municipal Center Roof be approved?”

6. “Shall the $1,200,000 appropriation and $1,200,000 bond authorization for the planning, design, engineering and installation of HVAC system replacements at Newtown High School be approved?”

7. “Shall the $450,000 appropriation and $450,000 bond authorization for the planning, design, and engineering of HVAC system improvements at Newtown Middle School be approved?”

The bottom line for the proposed municipal budget is $47,526,140 — a $634,741 or 1.4 percent spending increase over the 2022-23 adopted budget. Note the municipal budget includes debt service for all school capital projects.

The proposed school budget bottom line is $85,069,651 — a $2,935,012 or 3.6 percent increase over the current adopted budget.

The total combined budget requests total $132,595,791, a $3,569,753 or 2.8 percent increase over the combined current budgets. If approved by voters on April 25, property owners would see a tax rate increase of 1.29 percent at a new proposed mill rate of 26.24.

The current mill rate was 34.67. The proposed 2023-24 mill rate has been adjusted due to increased property values from the latest revaluation. A mill equals $1 in taxation for every $1,000 in taxable property.

In an April 19 interview, First Selectman Dan Rosenthal told The Newtown Bee, “a lot of work goes into preparing the budget” and that both the school and municipal budgets “get a lot of scrutiny as they travel through” the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance, and the Legislative Council.

“You can’t vote on the federal budget, you can’t vote on the state budget, but you can vote on the [Newtown] budgets,” said Rosenthal. “I support different points of view. While I intend to support the budget, I support people coming out to vote whatever their point of view.”

Rosenthal noted that the 2022 budget referendum attracted a mere 7.7 percent voter turnout. “We can do better than that,” said Rosenthal.

Council Chair, Superintendent Reflect

Legislative Council Chairman Jeff Capeci told The Bee it has “seemed quiet this year” in regards to feedback on the budget. “When there are issues, people are vocal,” said Capeci. “I’m not seeing that.”

Capeci noted he voted for the budget himself. He said that while inflation is currently high, the budget was “not reflective of that.”

“It makes good investments in the town and education,” said Capeci.

Superintendent of Schools Chris Melillo said the proposed budget is designed to help the school address the impact of the interruption to learning from COVID, both academically and emotionally, to students.

“In order to do that, we need to take the supports from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, which is sunsetting, and fold that into the regular budget,” said Melillo. “We worked really hard to mitigate costs to taxpayers by ensuring the students get what they need, while making cuts where we can. This budget comes close to past requests.”

With the Legislative Council voting to make a $550,000 reduction to the school budget request prior to the budget referendum, Melillo said that where those cuts will be made has not been decided by the Board of Education yet, but the goal will be to “work around the classroom to make that happen.”

“We are looking to make sure all academics and mental health initiatives are still supported,” said Melillo.

Responding to a request for comment, BOE Chairman Deborra Zukowski stated: “The Board was very impressed with the budget proposal presented by Mr Melillo and his staff. It was financially lean while still supporting our classrooms and the added services needed due to the events of the last several years.

“We also understand that our schools were not the only casualties of the pandemic. The costs to run our households have risen, and the recent reval has exacerbated the financial pain. While the reductions were larger than expected, we will do our utmost to ensure that our students continue to be well educated,” Zukowski concluded.

Capital Bonding Requests

Regarding capital projects, the explanatory text for the $1.55 million Municipal Center roof project states, “Approval of this Resolution will allow for the roof remediation and replacement at the Municipal Center which includes cupola repair and remediation of transite tiles. The specification for the new roof replacement is an architectural asphalt shingle.”

The selectmen at a March meeting had some discussion regarding the Municipal Center roof, with Rosenthal noting “it should be well within budget.”

The roof is mostly original to the building. When it was renovated to be the Municipal Center, there was some talk about replacing the roof but it was rejected at that time. As a result, only a couple strategic sections of the roof were replaced at the time. “The reality is that we got another 15 years out of it,” said First Selectman Dan Rosenthal. “It’s held up well.”

Rosenthal said there is some remediation that needs to be done related to existing asbestos tiles.

The explanatory text for the $1.2 million high school HVAC project reads, “Approval of this Resolution will allow for the replacement of existing rooftop heating, ventilating, and air conditioning units servicing B-wing at Newtown High School. This includes new HVAC equipment, electrical connections, piping connections, BMS controls, and variable air volume box control upgrades.”

Voters have previously approved $850,000 toward the high school HVAC project, at the April 2022 referendum. According to Rosenthal, the 2022 referendum was for work on the school’s A wing; the appropriation is for new equipment, connections, and control upgrades for B-Wing.

Explanatory text for the $450K middle school HVAC is as follows, “Approval of this Resolution will allow for engineering services for HVAC Improvements Design including a construction manager to assist with development of a schedule and cost estimate for the future installation of HVAC improvements to Newtown Middle School.”

The middle school HVAC project is needed because, as former Board of Education Head of Maintenance Bob Gerbert noted at a January council meeting, the middle school has “limited HVAC,” with rooftop units in A wing and E wing, and ductless units in the cafeteria and media center.

There are heating and ventilation systems in the cafeteria and two gyms, and the first selectman also noted complaints of mold growing in D wing. While labeled HVAC in the CIP, the project is primarily a ventilation and air quality project. Gerbert said ventilation is reliant on windows and “what comes in naturally” in schools using baseboard heat.

“There are certainly some important considerations on the ballot; I think more public engagement at the ballot box is always welcome,” said Rosenthal.

Referendum results will be made available on newtownbee.com as soon as they are available.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.