Durham Residents Approve Budget; Elect Fronc, Friedrich to School Board

Durham voters overwhelmingly approved next year's town budget on Monday night.

About 100 residents attended the annual budget meeting at Coginchaug High School, where a month ago the town's finance board laid out details of the spending plan that will increase Durham's mill rate by just over three-quarters of a mill.

The $6.4 million budget received the support of most in the audience during a voice vote. The 2013-2014 fiscal year begins July 1.

Voters also elected residents Raffaela Fronc and Dr. Victor Friedrich to the Regional School District 13 Board of Education. Fronc, a Republican, has served on the board since December after she was elected during a special election and Friedrich, a Democrat, will replace Mary Jane Parsons who did not run for re-election.

"I had some wonderful teachers when I was in school and you know, school sticks with you forever," said Friedrich, a semi-retired ssociate professor of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City who called Durham his home for the past 25-years.

"I feel a tremendous debt. I feel really that I have to give something back. This is my chance to do that," he said.

Fronc, who serves as Science Coordinator and Director of ESL/Bilingual Education for West Haven Public Schools, said she looked forward to continuing the work she began last December.

"We've done a lot of work. There's a lot more work to be done," Fronc said. "I'm ready to do it."

Fronc and Friedrich were each elected to 3-year terms set to expire in June 2016.

At the meeting, residents re-elected Robert Czarnecki and Chris Flanagan each to a two-year term on the Durham Middlefield Interlocal Agreement Advisory Board.

In addition, voters adopted a five-year local capitol improvement plan and agreed to transfer $40,000 to install a 15,000 gallon water tank at Deerfield Farm that will be used by firefighters.