The Daily Five: A Costly Storm, A Taxing Budget, Sewerage, and Girl Scouts—More Than Just Cookies!

1. Today will be mostly sunny with a high temperature of 46 degrees and an overnight low of 34 degrees. According to Weather.com, there's just a slight possibility of rain (a 10 percent chance during the day and a 20 percent tonight). 

2. Wouldn't you know it, the ," was proposed specifically with Old Lyme in mind.

The town, which has a sewer avoidance policy, is working on developing a new system that would allow it to treat its own waste without piping sewage. To do that, however, it will need easements permitting the town to pump tanks on private property.

What the town requires is not unlike existing easements that allow utility companies to go on to private property to check water meters or trim trees from power lines, but this rather unique situation will require a new law to allow a municipality to do what Old Lyme has in mind.

First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder made her first trip to the state Legislature recently to testify in favor of the bill but, she said, it became apparent during the hearing that the wording of the bill will need to be more specific if it is to pass.  

3. Lyme First Selectman Ralph Eno has been making quite a few trips to Hartford recently to testify on a number of proposals. The latest one was yesterday, when he spoke about the . 

that while he's in favor of tax cuts, this one would simply shift the burden onto the backs of other property owners. To make up the projected shortfall in Lyme, he said, the town would probably have to raise the mill rate by half a mill. And unlike a vehicle's Blue Book value, which is standardized, property evaluations are much more subjective.   

Eno also begs to differ with Malloy's assertion that town administrations would save money if they didn't have to deal with the vehicle tax. Eno points out that the proposed change would necessitate tracking and reassessing every vehicle's value each year to determine whether it is taxable, which is a far more daunting task for the tax assessor. 

4. Old Lyme spent last week reviewing the town's response to Superstorm Sandy but at last night's Board of Selectmen's meeting, the more recent blizzard was the topic of conversation. 

"It was a whole lot of snow," said First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder. "It was also a very costly storm. Cleanup continued a week after the storm. We had a lot of subcontractors with heavy equipment."

By the end of February, the cost of snow removal and cleanup amounted to $72,000. Since then, however, the town's costs have increased by an additional $10,000 and payments to subcontractors have added $40,000 to the bill, bringing the total cost up to well over $100,000.

"Certainly Old Lyme was very hard hit," Reemsnyder said. Because both the town and Connecticut declared a State of Emergency, which was approved by President Obama, Reemsnyder said she's optimistic that the town may receive some reimbursements in state and federal aid.  

5. Old Lyme's Board of Selectmen's meeting was uncommonly packed last night as three troops of Girl Scouts (62858, 60608, and 63121, all of Old Lyme) turned out to hear First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder make a special proclamation declaring March 12 "Girl Scout Day" in Old Lyme.

After reading the proclamation, Reemsnyder noted the many lasting accomplishments of Old Lyme's Gold Award-winning Girl Scouts, including a hiking trail "passport" that is still in use today. Of course, there's one Girl Scout accomplishment that never lasts long—yup, it's !