Despite the fact that fewer than two out of every ten qualified residents bothered to come out to the polls on April 24, the local municipal and school budgets, as well as two bonding authorizations, were approved.

The low vote count was not lost on top elected officials who turned out to hear the official results, with First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, Board of Education Chair Michelle Ku, and Legislative Council Chairman Paul Lundquist all expressing dismay at the closing numbers.

According to a new ticker provided by the Registrars of Voters, as the polls closed at the Newtown Middle School, 2,605 of the 16,619 eligible voters had cast actual ballots. Forty-three additional absentee ballots were cast.

In 2017, 3,385 budget votes were cast.

While the Yes versus No votes on the separate budget requests were somewhat tighter, 2,197 taxpayers sent a resounding message calling for $1.5 million in bonding for local road repairs versus 417 who opposed that spending; and 2,210 voted to bond $1,685,400 for a Middle Gate School roof replacement, versus 795 who voted No.

The municipal budget, which contains all the debt service costs for town and school projects, passed 1,640 to 969; and the school district operating budget request was approved 1,525 to 1,083.

A municipal budget of $41,066,967 and a school budget of $76,054,231 will now be implemented for the 2018-19 fiscal year beginning July 1. The total budget of $117,121,198 - a 2.35 percent increase over the current year - will generate a mill rate of 34.24. A mill represents $1 in taxation for every $1,000 in taxable property.

While expressing happiness that the budgets had passed, Mr Rosenthal said, "I regret the turnout this year."

Noting the voter count "was even lower than last year," he is still "pleased the margin was convincing."

About the town side of this year's budget, Mr Rosenthal said, "The message I tried to convey was roads and infrastructure." The referendum outcome told him: "The public wants us to address roads."

Next year's budget will focus on roads again, he said. "We need to address the infrastructure quickly."

Mr Lundquist was only half joking when he said the road bonding helped drive enough voters to the middle school polling location to carry all the budget measures forward.

"I think the headline for the night is, 'Wake up, Newtown - we need more voter participation.' It's unacceptable to have so few people deciding on so much money being spent," the council chairman lamented. "Slightly over half of those who turned out voted Yes, so the spending endorsement was actually endorsed by seven or eight percent of the entire population."

Mr Lundquist said he was glad about the outcome, but saddened by taxpayers' apparent unwillingness to turn out and let their voices be heard.

When asked whether it was time for Newtown to consider changing from an elective budget endorsement to one that is decided by elected leaders, he ventured that maybe the time had come to "take the burden off the public."

The council leaders admitted that such a changeover would require "some pretty broad-based reform," while pointing out that voter turnout was "still pretty low" for local elections as well.

"Even looking at this year versus last year, we know there were about a thousand fewer people who came out," he added. "It's just so disappointing."

Regarding the spending package, Mr Lundquist said he was pleased with how "responsible, clean, and thoughtful the budget requests were on both the Board of Ed and municipal sides."

"My thought was, with the reasonably small increase we [recommended] we could still move the town forward. And I'm happier to offer the taxpayers a choice to accept that small step forward rather than just making a flat budget for them," he said.

Ms Ku also was concerned about the low participation.

"It's great to know that so many of those who did turn out support the budget so many staff and administrators and department heads put forward, and that so many elected officials reviewed over the past few months," she said.

The school board chair said the ongoing cooperation between education and municipal leaders proved that "we can discuss the budgets without personal and political agendas, and put all that aside to come up with a plan that is best for the town."

Ms Ku said for her, the council's restoration of contingency funds that were temporarily removed by the Board of Finance was important.

"Having that contingency is key to planning for our future," Ms Ku said, adding that she and her board will look for the budget process to begin again for the 2019 fiscal year "in about four months."