No Surprises As Borough Election Returns All Incumbents To Office

By John Voket

Only 177 borough residents, along with four who voted absentee, made the effort to cast ballots over the 14 hours polls were open in the basement of Edmond Town Hall May 4. And in the end, the results yielded no real surprises, as all but one candidate ran unopposed for a slate of officers who are charged with overseeing the Borough of Newtown.

There are fewer than a dozen of these governments left in the state, including the one occupying a roughly two-square-mile jurisdiction encompassing most of Newtown’s center. This town within a town operates with its own limited governmental staff that includes its warden or municipal leader, a Board of Burgesses, a clerk, an assessor, tax collector, building inspector, engineer, attorney, auditor, historic commission, tree warden, zoning commission and board of appeals, as well as a zoning enforcement officer.

While many daily operations within the borough depend on town agencies and employees, such as planning, probate, health, and police services for example, the borough still assesses residents annual borough taxes and fees to help sustain its independent operations. These charges are in addition to any other taxes and fees payable to the town.

According to the Newtown Registrars of Voters, the borough has 1,226 voters qualified to cast ballots in the biannual borough election. And save for one challenger for burgess, George Schmidt, all the candidates were elected for another two years.

The borough’s elected leader, Warden James Gaston, also serves as vice chair of the Newtown Board of Finance. He expressed his gratitude for those who turned out during a brief interview with The Bee following the election.

“I do want to thank the voters — it was a pretty good turnout,” Mr Gaston said, adding that the 15 percent who voted mirror the number who a typically vote in local townwide elections.

But the low turnout compared to the cost to mount borough elections every two years does concern local officials.

“We have repeatedly asked the Secretary of the State’s Office for a an expedited or less costly process, but we are continuously told that statutes won’t allow it,” Mr Gaston said.

He is pleased to have spent his first term whittling down the borough’s operating budget, which is reflected in lower tax rates, which borough residents must pay on top of their regular Newtown municipal property taxes.

“We reduced the mill rate more than ten percent over the past two years — 5.9 percent last year and 4.9 percent this year,” Mr Gaston said. Savings in legal costs and revenues from additional building fees along with drawing down on the boroughs reserve account all contributed to lowering the “cost of doing government from $218,000 in 2008, to $210,000 in 2009.”

He said while several officials either working solely for the borough, or handling both town and borough business receive a nominal stipend, “for the most part it’s voluntary work. Those receiving compensation probably earn a dollar an hour or less.”

In the coming term, Mr Gaston said he looks forward to completing the borough’s ten-year sidewalk plan, which will finish off restoring and resurfacing of all existing sidewalks. In the future, Mr Gaston anticipates launching a two-phase sidewalk installation that will extend sidewalks on Queen Street, and on South Main, to add linkage to new Queen Street sidewalks.

“Our goal is to connect downtown with Hawley and the middle school, Reed School, Fairfield Hills, and the Newtown Youth Academy,” he said. “This is among the top requests of property owners, and has received the endorsement of the Board of Selectmen.”

The borough also recently completed its historic district expansion encompassing about two-thirds of all qualifying residences and businesses, he said.

Besides Mr Gaston being returned to office, the borough election returned the following officials: Burgesses Joan Crick, Marie Walker, and Betsy Kenyon; Darlene Spencer as clerk; Jodie Enriquez as tax collector and assessor; John Madzula to the Board of Assessment Appeals, along with Janet Woycik who was also on the ballot for Zoning Board of Appeals; Linda Shepard and David Francis to the Zoning Commission; Palmer Chiapetta as Zoning Commission alternate; and Robert Taylor who was the second candidate for ZBA.