Items approved, transfers made, housekeeping done at meeting

CORNWALL — It took 20 people 20 minutes to unanimously approve a 2010 town budget, transfers to cover a line-item overrun and a rather odd piece of business having to do with fire alarms, all at the annual town budget meeting May 22.

Moderator Norma Lake began by saying she hoped it would be reported that, unlike other towns, Cornwall was conducting its annual town budget meeting with a very congenial crowd.

With budgets and regional assessments dropping and the mill rate remaining the same, and no resident state trooper program to reconsider, there is little to debate here.

That’s not to say there is complacency at any level. Those budget decreases did not happen without a lot of work by town boards and employees.

“In years past, I have always complimented the selectmen and school board for working together to give us a good budget,� said finance board Chairman Ralph Gold. “I think this year those thank-you’s have to go a lot further. [First Selectman] Gordon [Ridgway] came to me in January and told me he was going to reduce the selectmen’s budget. I just looked at him and told him he was out of his mind.�

Gold said it was not just the boards, but all town departments that are already saving wherever they can, including using double-sided printing.

The grand list will increase by more than $4.4 million;  Gold noted Cornwall has come to expect to collect 98 percent of taxes owed.

“Tax Collector Jean Bouteiller has been working really hard. She’s well above that,� he said. “Most of our town employees live here. They have roots here. They really care, and it shows. Every town employee and volunteer needs a thank-you.�

Overall, town expenses will drop by an estimated $259,154, or 4.10 percent. Adding in debt and capital spending brings the amount needed to be raised by taxes and other revenues to $6,055,053.

The mill rate will remain at 12.05 mills. It was cut nearly in half two years ago after a revaluation of taxable properties nearly doubled the grand list.

The grand list is the total assessed value of all taxable property in a town.

The mill rate determines property taxes in Connecticut towns. A mill represents $1 in tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value. A 15-mill tax rate would translate into a tax bill of $1,500 for the owner of a home assessed at $100,000.

All that said, voters were asked to consider transfers to this year’s budget to pay for town vehicle maintenance and snow removal cost overruns. As to the latter, the warm evening made it easy to forget that not long ago town crews were battling winter roads; but the town still needs to cover $40,000 spent over the $70,000 that was budgeted.

While Ridgway made a comment about whether one can dare to assume winter is over, even in May, residents approved the transfer of $20,000 from the contingency fund and $20,000 from the capital projects account road maintenance line item.

Road maintenance will not suffer for it, Ridgway explained, because about $20,000 was saved by postponing some work from last summer. The cost of sand and oil have dropped significantly between then and the bids sought this spring. Maintenance will remain on schedule, with roads in the northwest corner of town set to be sealed.

Also on the agenda was a proposal to gather $6,000 from various line item surpluses for highway truck maintenance. That question was amended.

“As soon as we put our signatures on the meeting call, the road grader lost its transmission,� Ridgway said.

Surplus funds from the line item for road materials were tapped for another $5,000.

A final item, an amendment to a town ordinance, was approved after a brief discussion.

Ridgway distributed copies of what he called a “rarely seen� ordinance, deeming them free souvenirs just for showing up.

The ordinance regulating fire alarm systems was changed to substitute “building official� for “fire marshal� where applicable.

It means automatic alarms installed on homes and buildings will need to be registered with the Cornwall building official. Previously, the fire marshal, whose office is in Sharon, was responsible for registrations. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and people were not aware of the procedure.

“The thing is, people need to get a building permit anyway to install the alarm. They haven’t always been doing that, because they didn’t know,� Ridgway said. “The main thing is the need for it to be set up with a keyholder. One of the reasons to install an alarm is because someone is not always around. But when the alarm goes off, there may be no way to get into a house to check it out without doing some damage.�

The fire marshal will still be in charge of handling issues such as chronic false alarms.