Budget vote this Saturday

WINSTED — Residents will have their say on the proposed budget for fiscal 2014-2015 at the town budget referendum on Saturday, May 31, at Pearson Middle School, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.The proposed budget is $32,515,357, approximately $1,179,010 less than last year’s town budget of $33,694,367.However, if approved by voters, the town’s mill rate will be raised from 31.21 mills to 31.91 mills.At the town’s annual budget town meeting on May 5, Mayor Marsha Sterling said approximately $600,000 in the proposed budget will be used for road improvements.“It will cover everything from clearing brush, fixing drainage and filling potholes,” Sterling said. “The focus is to get the roads passable, drivable and safe. This will not pave the roads, and this will not completely grade the roads.”Sterling spoke further about the proposed expenditure during the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, May 19. “I have taken the time to look at [former Department of Public Works Director James] Rotondo’s road plan,” Sterling said. “This is actually what he advised to spend every year for a five-year plan. That’s not to say the fixes in the plan will be exactly how we do things now because it’s a few years later. But the fact is we are going to be making a significant investment and that is how we’re going to fix the roads and make them passable.”Rotondo resigned from his position in February 2013.Sterling did not say which roads would be part of any road-improvement project at either the May 1 annual budget town meeting or the May 19 selectmen’s meeting.At the May 19 selectmen’s meeting, Selectman George Closson questioned the $600,000 expenditure.“It’s one thing to grind some asphalt and put some surface right back on a road,” Closson said. “However, when you are talking about roads like the area approaching the Holabird Avenue bridge, you have so many aspects of the project because that involves reconstruction. That kind of money would go a short distance on something like that because you have utilities and drainage issues in some of those areas.”At the May 1 annual budget town meeting, Board of Education Chairman Susan Hoffnagle said she was opposed to the proposed budget.“This budget was created by the mayor and not our town manager,” Hoffnagle said. “This budget creates a half-million-dollar Board of Selectmen slush fund. In our town’s charter, it says $50,000 is the amount the selectmen can spend without a referendum. The proposed contingency line item, or slush fund, is larger than the amount listed in the charter.”In the proposed budget, $500,000 is allocated towards the selectmen’s contingency fund.If the budget is approved by voters, the Department of Public Works budget would be $1,830,068, which is a $209,816 increase from the fiscal 2013-2014 budget.The proposed budget for the Winsted Police Department is $2,833,562, a decrease of $25,537 from the fiscal 2013-2014 budget.In the proposed budget, the department will remain at its current staff level, which includes Chief Robert Scannell and 18 officers.The proposed budget also includes $34,715 in order to pay for the lease of two existing police cruisers along with the purchase of a new cruiser and $30,000 in order to refurbish the police station, which is located in the lower level of Town Hall.The proposed budget for the Winsted Fire Department is $361,798, a decrease of $33,194 from fiscal 2013-2014.At the April 16 selectmen’s meeting, Sterling said if the budget is approved the department would receive new turnout gear and a new hydraulic rescue tool.