Jan. 8 Update From Redding First Selectwoman Pemberton

**News Release Submitted by Redding First Selectwoman Julia Pemberton**

Jan. 8, 2025

Good afternoon!

A new year ushers in the budget season for Redding's Town government and Boards of Education for the next fiscal year commencing July 1, 2025.

The Board of Selectmen's annual budget workshop is this Friday, January 10th, from 8:30am-5:00pm at Town Hall. The Board of Selectmen will meet with department heads to discuss next year’s budget needs. The meeting is open to the public. View the agenda.

The Redding Board of Education will hold it's first budget workshop on January 16th, at 7:00 PM at the John Read Middle School Community Room.

The Region 9 Board of Education will hold budget workshops in February and March at Joel Barlow High School.

Visit the Town of Redding website for a complete calendar of Board and Commission meetings.

More on budgets......

All towns and cities in Connecticut are required by law to operate on the uniform fiscal year which begins July 1 and ends the following June 30th.

The Redding Board of Selectmen and the Redding Board of Education hold public budget meetings between January and March, developing budgets that will be presented to the Board of Finance at a public hearing March 19th, 2025, at 7:30 pm, at the Redding Community Center. The Region 9 Board of Education also holds public budget workshops that begin in February. All meetings are open to the public and include opportunities for the public to provide comment on the material presented.

The budget work continues into April, when the Redding Board of Finance will adopt a budget for the Town and the Redding schools to send to the voters. The Region 9 Board of Education adopts a budget for Joel Barlow High school to send to voters. The annual Town budget referendum takes place every year on the first Tuesday in May.

Change coming to Board of Selectmen

Longtime Redding resident and Board of Selectmen member Margaret (Peg) O’Donnell is stepping down from her position on the Board of Selectmen, where she has served for 8 years. Peg and her husband Scott are moving to Bethel.

A certified public accountant, Peg at one time or another has volunteered with many of our local organizations, as the treasurer to the Redding Boy Scouts, the Redding PTA, the Mark Twain Library, New Pond Farm, the League of Women Voters, and the Democratic Town Committee, to name a few.

Peg O'Donnell's service as a Town of Redding official began in 2001 when she was elected the Town's Treasurer, a position she was elected to 7 times, and served 14 years. Peg was elected to the Board of Finance in 2015, and in 2016 Peg was appointed to the Board of Selectmen. She was elected to her first full term as a Selectman in 2017.

The vacancy on the Board of Selectmen, by state statute (CT Gen Stat § 9-222), must be filled by the remaining members of the Board of Selectmen within 30 days. A special meeting of the Board of Selectmen will take place this evening at 6:30 pm at Town Hall to fill the vacancy.

Please join me in thanking Peg for her distinguished service to our community. I will miss her wise counsel, tenacity, friendship, and good cheer, and commend her for her unwavering commitment to good government, to building a bright future for our Town, and to the citizens of Redding.