Selectmen Juggle Priorities In 5-Year Plan

By Dottie Evans

The Board of Selectmen took their first shot at prioritizing department requests for Newtown’s 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) August 18, and their preliminary rankings for the upcoming 2004–05 budget year are ready for review by the Board of Finance.

According to Finance Director Ben Sprague, there is no time to waste deciding what projects need doing now and what projects can wait a little longer.

“The Board of Finance wants us to prioritize the plan, put it in some order, move items around if need be,” Mr Spragg told the selectmen at their regular meeting.

A month after receiving town department CIP requests spanning the five budget years 2004–05 to 2008–09, the Board of Selectmen discussed prioritizing the proposals according to timing and need.

“We’ll keep to the projects that are closest in time. We’ll have an opportunity at budget time to go through the list again,” said First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, as he asked the selectmen to focus mainly on what projects should go forward during the first year.

Not surprisingly, capital road projects gained the top spot. Improvements and repairs to town roads will require $2 million this next year from the general fund, and $2 million every remaining year of the five-year CIP cycle. A total of $10 million has been requested for the entire period.

Second on the selectmen’s list was $225,000 toward revaluation, which is a state-mandated process scheduled to take place every four years. Since Newtown’s last property revaluation was completed in October 2002, another would be scheduled in 2006, and must be paid for by the town. The tax assessor has requested that the balance of the $450,000 needed be set aside the next year, in 2005–06.

The remaining project requests that made the selectmen’s A-list for 2004–05 were the following, in descending order.

The Sandy Hook Center Streetscape Project, funded by an outside grant, will receive $200,000.

A new pumper truck for the Botsford Fire Department was approved at $385,000. The following year, Newtown Hook and Ladder will get its new pumper truck at $395,000.

A grader replacement, a one-time expense of $250,000, will be allocated this next fiscal year.

The new Parks and Recreation maintenance facility design and renovations will be initiated at a cost of $200,000. The maintenance facility, which may be located at Fairfield Hills in the old laundry building, will cost approximately $1.6 million. Since there has been a delay in purchase of the property, “the project was bumped forward a year,” Mr Rosenthal said.

A total of $1 million was allocated for construction at the Commerce Technology Park, a 37-acre tract of undeveloped land that will be conveyed to the town when the Fairfield Hills purchase is finalized. The technology park is a project that will eventually cost the town $5.4 million by fiscal year 2008–09.

A total of $200,000 has been allocated for a design plan to renovate the police station (Town Hall South). The renovation is another project that Mr Rosenthal said had been “bumped out” or moved to a later completion date in the CIP schedule. Therefore, the initial $200,000 will not be spent until the year 2005–06. Total cost of the renovation is estimated at $4.95 million.