Finance Board Endorses Council CIP Adjustments

By John Voket

The Board of Finance March 25 approved adjustments to the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that included delaying moving electrical utility lines from poles to underground conduits at Fairfield Hills. The board also agreed there would be enough anticipated capital savings from overestimated school district projects that additional funds could be transferred to accommodate new CIP priorities requested by the council.

Those projects include additional funds for a new Newtown Hook & Ladder headquarters, and the completion of a related Sandy Hook water line extension and streetscape projects.

The savings came from removing $350,000 previously earmarked for the utility work at Fairfield Hills. Additional savings were projected to come from overestimates and unspent contingency funds for the high school expansion project, and evidence that anticipated middle school roof replacement costs may have been overestimated by anywhere from 25 to 50 percent.

Plans to fast track a water main extension and streetscape improvements were endorsed by the council after more than 15 Sandy Hook business owners came to a March 17 meeting, rallying around the companion projects. Several business owners who spoke argued those investments would ultimately pay for themselves in taxes generated by new mixed development projects that were already on the drawing board with appropriate financial backing.

The approved CIP changes by the numbers include:

*Change Year 1 to reflect the $1 million proposed for the Capital Road Program.

*Move the Sandy Hook Streetscape at $200,000, and Sandy Hook Water Main at $450,000 into Year 1 of the plan.

*Add the Hook & Ladder Building at $500,000 in each Year 1, 2, and 3 for a total of $1.5 million.

*As well as adding Sandy Hook Streetscape at $200,000 each Year 2 and 3.

*In Years 4 and 5, add the Sandy Hook Streetscape at $200,000 each year.

*Move underground electrical project at Fairfield Hills out of Years 1 and 3, placing it in Years 4 and 5 — freeing up additional funds in Years 1 and 3.

*And factoring the net cost for the middle school roof projects after state reimbursement instead of the current gross costs estimated in the current CIP proposal.

The finance board also agreed with council’s recommendation to expedite the bidding process for the Year 1 projects to make sure that the projects are not taking more of the town’s resources than are needed; and review the high school project for the surplus available from the variance between what was approved and the bid award to determine if there are more capital funds available.

The measure to fund the newly recommended CIP adjustments passed 4-0. Finance board member Martin Gersten was absent, and Chairman John Kortze abstained stating he was a property owner in Sandy Hook, and while his property would not be directly impacted by streetscape improvements, he did not want to present the appearance of a conflict of interest as outlined in the town’s Ethics Code.

Vice Chair James Gaston said for the record that he would vote on the measure, and that he did not see his position as the chief elected official of the Borough of Newtown, and his support of the Newtown Land Trust as conflicts.

Less than a week after the decision to keep the Fairfield Hills electrical service above ground, First Selectman Pat Llodra was pleased to report that AT&T crews responded to the campus, and righted all the leaning poles that were erected as a temporary measure until the utilities could be trenched and buried underground.

During the March 17 council meeting and the March 25 finance meeting, she reported that the poles could sustain the current needs of the campus, and could do so indefinitely without compromising visitor safety in any way.

After final adjustments to the anticipated Year 1 debt service for the newly recommended capital projects are made by Finance Director Robert Tait, the council will build that expense into the figures its members will consider during final budget deliberations April