The Daily Five: Budgets and All That Jazz

1. After a long and lovely (albeit not very beneficial for the plants) dry spell we can expect some rain today, possibly even thunderstorms this afternoon. Weather.com is predicting a high temperature of 62 degrees with a 90 percent chance of rain. Overnight lows should dip to about 53 degrees and there's a chance of thunderstorms later in the day. 

2. Now that the Lyme-Old Lyme School budget referendum has been held and the budget passed, the towns of Old Lyme and Lyme are ready to present their budgets. Lyme's share of the school budget this year is 21 percent, based on the number of students attending school. 

This year’s proposed budget for the town of Old Lyme has only a slight increase ($169,825 over the FY 2013 budget), which will boost the mill rate marginally, from 19.26 to 19.30 mills. Lyme's budget is presented online here. Both budgets will be up for voter approval on May 20. 

3. East Lyme's budget will be presented at the annual town meeting, which is scheduled for May 13 at 7 p.m. East Lyme's Mill Rate is going up by .74 mills, which is just a slight increase over the previous budget. The town's budget referendum will be held May 23 at East Lyme Community Center.

4. Old Lyme's newest nightspot is all set to open this Friday. The SideDoor, the intimate jazz club at Old Lyme Inn, is holding its grand opening on May 10 featuring the jazz stylings of George Wein and the Newport Allstars. Tickets are $100, with 10 percent of the proceeds going to support the Newport Festival's Foundation, and even at that price, they're going fast!

Call (860) 434-2600 or email guestservices@oldlymeinn.com to make a reservation. The evening will include a number of surprise festivities and an open bar. 

5. While I'm on the topic of music, I ran into Frank Pappalardo, Chairman of the Sound View Commission and leader of the band Red Satin at the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday and was eager to find out how the big band's big New York gig playing the Leatherneck Ball went. Apparently it went swingingly. There was just one slight hitch. One of the band members forgot the date and was, in fact, in Old Lyme not long before the band was due to take the stage.

A quick round of phone calls to friends of friends who could fill in at the last minute produced a substitute who, dressed in a spare suit Pappalardo happened to have, was ready to play when the first set started. The regular musician arrived in time for the second set.

Aside from the fact that the substitute musician was African American and the regular band member is not, Pappalardo said he's pretty sure that, musically at least, no one noticed.