To the Editor:

On April 25 Newtown voters will go to the polls to vote on the town budget for the coming year. Among the items to be voted on is a long-term bond for a new senior center.

Incredible as it may seem, there have actually been Letters to the Editor of this newspaper from persons urging the seniors themselves to vote against bonding for the new senior center. Let's take a look at the reasons stated or insinuated in these letters for opposing a new senior center, and whether they stand the test of scrutiny. Here's what the letters allege, followed by the truth:

*The letters insinuate that Newtown's seniors will be the ones to pay $3 million for the senior center and that they will pay it all in the coming tax year. That is false. The town will bond the $3 million and bonds will be paid over a 20- to 30-year period of time, just as a homeowner mortgage is paid over a long period of time. So the principal repayment over 20 to 30 years will not be more than $150,000 in any year. The interest rate on the $3 million bond will be about 2.5 percent or less, or about $75,000 per year. The total cost, to the town, then, comes to less than $10 per taxpayer, per year.

*The letters state that the town and school budgets will raise our taxes by 1.8 percent in the coming year and that the State of Connecticut will hit us with an additional 30 percent contribution to the State Teachers Retirement Fund. Not true. First of all, the Legislative Council has already reduced the town and school budget increase from 1.8 percent to less than 1 percent. In other words, if you currently have a $10,000 real property tax bill, your taxes will go up by less than $100. Secondly, as someone who spent six years in the Connecticut State Senate, I can tell you that any state plan that makes Connecticut towns pay into the Teacher Pension Fund is "Dead On Arrival" in Hartford.

*The letters allege that Newtown has the highest mill rate in Fairfield County. That is totally false. It's not even close to true. As Casey Stengel used to say, "You can look it up."

*The letters say that seniors need equitable tax relief instead of tax increases. I agree completely. But voting against the senior center is not going to save seniors any money worth mentioning. A senior center and tax relief for seniors are separate issues and each stands on its own merits. The Board of Finance has said that it will take up meaningful senior tax relief next year and the Legislative Council has shown strong interest in such a tax relief plan.

Don't buy into the negativity of the nay-sayers. We need a new senior center. Vote for it on April 25.

George C. Guidera

24 Equestrian Ridge, Newtown         April 12, 2017