Town Council Critical of Budget Postcard Sent to Voters

Town Clerk's Office employees mailed out postcards to voters Tuesday, reminding them of the April 2 budget referendum. The previous night, several Town Council members questioned the completeness of the information before voting to authorize the postcards to go out.

The postcard includes the ballot question for a revenue and expenditure budget of $80,517,583 and says it represents a $1,904,959 expenditure increase from the prior year (2.42%). "The proposed Budget represents a mill rate increase from 29.26 to 30.50."

Voting during the referendum on April 2 will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"While I believe the voters should be informed, this postcard does not inform them," Town Councilman Tony Unger said. "There's no mention of the decrease in the Grand List, which would increase the amount of taxes. The Grand List has gone down. Without any other changes, taxes would go up on every individual."

"Debt service has gone up and it says nothing about the debt service," Unger continued. "Our revenues from other sources have gone down. The mill rate increase is really saying taxes are going up 4.2%. It's misleading. I really can't support this postcard."

The portion of the budget to be covered by property taxes would go from $66,701,637 to $68,994,686 for an increase of 3.44%. But the mill rate, which is used to calculate individual tax bills, will go up by 4.24%.

Same Way Every Year

Town Councilwoman Debra Dutches said she asked officials for information on the debt service, capital projects and rolling stock, so she would have the information for Monday's council meeting. 

Dutches, who is the Town Council liaison to the Board of Finance, said she received some of the information she asked for, but not all of it.

"The Town Council should be informed as we go to referendum," Dutches said. "I too agree this postcard is minimal in what it gives to the voters and it's unfortunate that the Town Council, as legislative body, truly doesn’t know what is going out to the town."

On Tuesday afternoon, Vavrek said Dutches was given every piece of information she had ever asked for throughout the budget process. He added that the information on the budget postcard was put together the same way it is every year.

At Monday night's meeting, Town Council Chairwoman Enid Lipeles said Town Clerk Marsha Beno told her the postcard was the same as last year and just the numbers have changed.

Town Councilman Ray Knapp said, "I will be voting against it, because I believe we're sending out false information."

A Reminder for Voters

But Town Councilman Nick Kapoor said, "This whole thing is troubling. If this doesn't go out, nothing will go out. I would like to see something instead of nothing, so there is higher turnout."

Town Councilwoman Dee Dee Martin said, "I would question if it's wrong. It's not complete. If you take it at its best, it's a reminder to voters that this is what the date is."

Lipeles said Beno told her that Tomchik provided the numbers.

The Council approved the mailing of the post card by a vote of 6-2 with Unger and Knapp against it.

During a public comment session, Steve Kirsch asked the town to update the budget information on its website. Before the meeting, he said he clicked on a link and it brought him to a dated Feb. 8 version of the budget proposal, rather than what was approved by the Board of Finance.