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Town ID’s $695,000 in Planned Capital Spending This Fiscal Year That Could Be Delayed

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Saying New Canaan should consider putting off some capital spending in the near term until a clearer picture of the economy emerges, town officials last week identified nearly $700,000 earmarked for the current fiscal year that could be delayed. Prepared with input from public works and district officials as well as the first selectman, the draft list of more than 75 items total $695,000 and range from small expenditures such $29 for signage and striping up to about $63,000 for a solar project at a town building, documents show. Board of Finance Chair Todd Lavieri said the main question now facing the town is whether the spending could be delayed or deferred “until we have a little more clarity.”

“You guys control this,” Lavieri told First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, Public Works Director Tiger Mann and town CFO Lunda Asmani during the finance board’s April 7 meeting, held via videoconference. “We can’t tell you what to do and how to do this. But I guess it would be our recommendation, or at least our consideration, to hold onto the spending at least for another month until we got more clarity.”

The comments came during a discussion within the finance board and no formal action has been taken on the recommendation. They also came as New Canaan and the nation grapple with a hard stop to the economy that’s seen businesses forced to slow down or shutter altogether for health reasons as unemployment claims soar.

Around Town

Op-Ed: Rocketing Tax Rates, Declining Property Values

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I needed an attention grabber for a title, but this piece focuses on the implications of publicly available data and is not intended to be provocative. It is a summary of how your tax dollars are being spent locally and what needs to be done to change it if we are going to start being fiscally responsible and have the best shot at maintaining, or I dare say, growing property values over time. Although the topic may seem boring, bear with me, because the numbers are enthralling…unfortunately in a bad way currently. First, a caveat in anticipation of some nasty and/or ignorant responses that will likely come my way for discussing the fiscal reality behind the veneer: we have excellent schools, a beautiful town and everyone I know, including myself, wants to keep it that way. I have gone to Hartford to give public testimony multiple times this year to fight against forced school regionalization as well as statewide car and property taxes that will exacerbate negative trends facing all residents. Second, my experience with every town representative I have talked to is that they are well intended people. They are representing us on a voluntary basis and have spent many hours in town meetings, along with work outside of meetings.

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Op-Ed: Something’s Gone Askew in Town Budget Talks

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Something seems to be askew in this year’s deliberations over the town budget. 

The budget process began in November 2018, when the Board of Finance unanimously adopted “Budget Guidelines for Fiscal Year 2019-2020.” The BOF analysis was thoughtful, thorough, and conservative. It determined that a $3 million (2 percent) cap on spending growth would protect the town financially while continuing services at levels citizens demand. 

Meeting the guidelines became a consensus goal for Town managers and school leaders. The guidelines were the centerpiece of an offsite budget meeting of all the key stakeholders on Nov. 17.

Board of Selectmen

First Selectman: Town Should Consider Paving Saxe Baseball Diamond for Expanded YMCA Parking

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The town’s highest elected official on Tuesday distanced himself from a resident’s proposal to build a new police station where a Saxe Middle School baseball diamond now stands, saying instead that a parking lot could go there. The New Canaan YMCA “has a horrible deficit of parking,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Saying that the Saxe baseball field could be built anew at Kiwanis Park, Moynihan said the question facing New Canaan now is “whether or not the town wants accommodate the YMCA, which definitely needs more parking and whether or not people would be agreeable, because that baseball diamond right now is in the worst possible position it could be.”

“There is no parking,” Moynihan said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “You can’t park at the YMCA.”

The idea appeared to catch Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams off-guard. 

“So you are not now talking about new police station at Saxe, but additional parking for the YMCA?” Williams said. 

Saying he loves the YMCA and that he knows Moynihan is a member, Williams noted that the organization “had a big spend to do a renovation” recently. 

“They should have thought about parking,” Williams said. “But for us to take Saxe fields and turn it into a parking lot, I am not supporting it.”

“For the same reasons I would be opposed to putting a new police station at Saxe field, I would be opposed to putting a parking lot—just a parking lot, which probably is even worse—at Saxe fields,” he said.

Board of Assessment Appeals

After Reval, Total Reductions through Assessment Appeals Expected To Be Minor

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Town officials said Tuesday that the value of all taxable property in New Canaan is not expected to change substantially as a result of assessment appeals following the recent revaluation. The Grand List likely will see a reduction of about $20 million after the Board of Assessment Appeals completes its work, according to Sebastian Calderella, the town assessor. During a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Caldarella provided the following history of appeals after a town-wide reval:

 

“It varies, depending on where the market is going,” Caldarella said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. 

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan noted that the figures Caldarella cited are not final since some people appeal local assessment decisions in court. Officials have said New Canaan’s Grand List would decline by some $570 million as a result of the revaluation, to about $7.7 billion overall. Selectman Nick Williams called the $20 million figure is “a proverbial drop in the bucket” as part of the overall Grand List.