ESSEX—The board of finance made no changes to the proposed town government and Essex Elementary School budgets after the annual budget hearing last week, sending the combined $14.38 million budget plan to a vote at the annual budget meeting on May 14.

About 50 residents turned out for the April 19 public hearing on the proposed $6,853,640 town government budget and a proposed 47,535,591 appropriation for the elementary school. While there were questions and some discussion, there were no calls for significant changes or reductions in the spending plan.

The town government and elementary school budgets are combined with the town’s $7,701,887 share of the Region 4 education budget for a total proposed $22,090,118 spending levy for 2012-2013. The Region 4 budget, which funds the operations of Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School, goes to the voters of Chester, Deep River, and Essex in a 12 noon to 8 p.m. referendum on May 8. Essex, with more students attending the two secondary schools, faces a $294,943, or 3.98 percent, increase in its share of the total $17.5 million Region 4 spending plan.

The town government budget is up by $221,621, or 3.34 percent. The elementary school budget is up by $131,801, or 1.78 percent. The total proposed spending increase is $648,365, or a 3.02 percent increase over the current combined town/schools appropriation.

First Selectman Norman Needleman, who expressed satisfaction with the apparent positive response to the proposed budget, said this week the spending plan would require an increase in the property tax rate of between five-tenths to six-tenths of a mill. A mill generates about $1.1 million in tax revenue under the current grand list. The current tax rate is 17.98 mills, or $17.98 in tax for each $1,000 of assessed property value.

Needleman noted the board of finance sets the tax rate after the budget is approved, while adding that he would urge the board to fund a portion of the total $388,117 capital expenditure plan with a transfer from the town’s undesignated fund balance. The proposed increase in capital funds for the volunteer fire department, road repairs, and parks and recreation, is $126,667.

Needleman noted that using some money from the fund balance for the capital expenditure plan would hold down the tax increase. “The six-tenths of a mill would be the high end but I am hoping it would be lower than that,” he said. The undesignated fund balance currently contains about $2.72 million.

While Bruce MacMillian, the unsuccessful Republican nominee against Needleman in the 2011 election, has requested a referendum vote on the spending plan and a split vote on the town and elementary school budgets, the budget vote on a combined town/elementary school spending total is expected to occur at the May 14 annual budget meeting. A paper ballot vote is expected at the town meeting, though a petition from voters could still force a referendum vote on the budget.

ESSEX— Voters at a town meeting Monday approved a $50,000 special appropriation for emergency management items and authorized  years of waivers for the annual payment in lieu of taxes for the Essex Court elderly housing complex.

About 15 residents turned out for the town meeting, approving eight agenda items, including for appointments to town commissions, on unanimous voice votes with little discussion.

The $50,000 appropriation for emergency management items is the third and final expenditure for improving the town’s emergency management operations to be approved by voters since Tropical Storm Irene last August. Selectmen conferred with town emergency personnel and volunteers after the storm to develop a list of items that would be needed in an emergency.

Voters last fall approved appropriations of $32,528 for various emergency management items, and $38,000 for the nearly completed relocation of the town’s emergency operations center from a ground floor room at town hall to the former judge of probate office on the building’s first floor. The $50,000 will pay for various communications equipment, signs, and new appliances for the kitchen of the ground floor of town hall. All of the special appropriations were from the town’s undesignated fund balance.

The town has been waiving the annual payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for the Essex Court elderly housing complex for several years after tenant complaints and other issues a decade ago depleted the reserve fund for the 36-unit complex in the Centerbrook section. The PILOT waivers cover the current year, 2011-2013, and date back four years to 2007-2008. The total lost revenue for the town is $48,293.

Selectman Joel Marzi said the waivers allow the Essex Housing Authority to avoid rent increases at the complex. Bruce MacMillian, a former chairman of the housing authority board of commissioners, supported the waivers. “It’s a good use of our money and its not major money,” he said.

Board of Finance Chairman Jim Francis said the waivers were for multiple years because some of the waivers since 2007-2008 were not approved by a town meeting. “We’d like to clean up the record,” he said.

Voters also authorized expenditures of $4,000 for the park and recreation commission for repairs to the tennis court at Grove Street Park, and $3,050 to the tree committee for tree planting in town this spring. Both expenditures were from capital reserve funds already included in the current town budget.

Voters confirmed the appointments of Susan Malan to the conservation commission, Barbara Zernike as an alternate on the zoning commission, Virginia Willetts as an alternate on the parks and recreation commission, and Wally Schieferdecker as one of the town’s two representatives to the regional Connecticut River Gateway Commission. Schieferdecker, who had questioned the town’s continued membership on the regional commission at a meeting earlier this year, later volunteered to fill a long-standing Essex vacancy on the commission.

Bruce MacMillian

ESSEX— Bruce MacMillian, the unsuccessful Republican nominee for first selectman in last fall’s town election, has asked the board of selectmen for a split vote and a referendum on the town/elementary school budget plan for 2012-2013.

Appearing at Wednesday’s board meeting, MacMillian urged the selectmen to authorize separate votes on the town government and Essex Elementary School budgets. He also called for a referendum vote on the budgets in place of the planned May 14 annual budget meeting. MacMillian said separate votes on town and school budgets has been allowed under state law for nearly a decade, with 39 Connecticut cities and towns currently using a split vote.

MacMillian, who lost to Democratic First Selectman Norman Needleman by 399 votes in the Nov. 8 election, praised Needleman and the current board for “an outstanding job in the preparation and presentation” of the proposed $6.85 million town government budget, including preparation of a detailed “citizens guide to the Essex town budget” handout. He contended a separate vote on the town government and elementary school budgets would be “the next step in transparency.”

MacMillian noted the town’s $7.4 million share of the Region 4 education budget will already be acted on in a three-town referendum on May 8. He contended a separate vote on the town and elementary school budgets would give voters “more options.”

MacMillian also requested a referendum vote on the 2012-2013 budget, whether the spending plans are presented for a separate vote or not. The town budget was sent to a referendum vote last year after an initial spending plan was rejected on a paper ballot vote at the annual budget meeting in May. A revised and reduced budget was approved on a 532-438 vote in a June 7 referendum.

The board of selectmen, with Needleman as a member, had sent the 2009 budget directly to a referendum, where it was approved in a low voter turnout. In 2010, the budget was approved on a voice vote at the annual meeting.

Needleman acknowledged a separate vote on town and school budgets is allowed under state law, but said he is not in favor of separate votes, and does not believe 2012 is the year to use a split vote for the first time. Needleman added that he would prefer the 2012-2013 budget be voted on at the annual budget meeting, not a referendum, suggesting it is “uniquely New England” to vote on municipal budgets at a town meeting.

Selectman Joel Marzi, MacMillian’s GOP running-mate last fall, said he views referendums as a “last resort” option for voting on a town budget. Marzi suggested holding a paper ballot, rather than show-of-hands vote, at the May 14 annual budget meeting as a compromise option. He also questioned whether a town meeting approved ordinance would be needed to set up a split vote procedure for the town and elementary school budgets.

While the board of finance is also expected to discuss MacMillian’s request for a separate vote, it is likely the town and elementary school budgets will be going to the voters next month as a package. Though MacMillian or others could petition to force the budget to a referendum, it also appears likely the budget plan will go to a paper ballot vote at the May 14 town meeting. The town and elementary school budgets will be presented for discussion at the annual budget hearing on Thursday April 19 at 8 p.m. in the auditorium at town hall.

REGION 4— The Region 4 Board of Education approved a revised $17.5 million budget for 2012-2013 Monday after a sparsely attended public hearing where no one objected to the spending plan.

The $17,506,213 budget was approved on a unanimous vote. The budget, which funds the operations of Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School, represents a $181,280, or 1.05 percent ,increase over current funding. The budget is reduced by anticipated revenue to a $17,264,934 net budget that is assessed the taxpayers of Chester, Deep River and Essex based on the number of students from each town attending the two secondary schools.

Board Chairwoman Linda Hall of Deep River announced before the public hearing that school administrators had found another $62,190 in reductions from the $17,568,403 budget that had been approved by the board on March 7. Hall said the savings come from a reduction of $119,000 in debt service expenses resulting from a refinancing of district bonds, and $88,000 from a reduction in the total cost of health benefits for district staff.

The new-found savings result in reductions in each town’s share of the net budget, but Essex still faces a steep increase in its share of the Region 4 budget because of a higher number of students from Essex at the two schools when the average daily membership from each town was tallied last October. Essex, with 434 students, now has a $7,701,887, or 44.61 percent, share of the budget. The Essex assessment is up by $296,752, or four percent, from the current amount.

Chester and Deep River, with fewer students, have a lower share of the budget. The Chester assessment is 44,683,977, down by $38,337 from the current amount. The Deep River assessment is $4,879,070, down by $103,313 from the current amount.

The budget includes three new part-time positions, or increased hours, along with an increase in the annual stipend for the athletic director shared by the two schools. There are increased hours for a social worker and a part-time custodian at the middle school, along with $33,000 for a part-time teacher assistant to run in-school suspensions at the two schools. Providing and staffing an in-school suspension option for students with discipline problems is now required by state law. The total cost of the staffing upgrades is $87,420.

Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy told the eight residents at the public hearing, including Chester First Selectman Edmund Meehan, the proposed budget is a “responsible and transparent” spending plan that meets the needs of the school district while taking in to consideration the economic climate in the state. The proposed $17.5 million Region 4 budget goes to the voters of Chester, Deep River, and Essex in an eight-hour 12-noon to 8 p.m. referendum on Tuesday May 8.

ESSEX— Voters will act on a proposed $50,000 special appropriation for emergency management items and tax waivers for the Essex Court elderly housing complex at a town meeting scheduled for Monday April 9 at 7 p.m., in the town hall auditorium.

The $50,000 appropriation, which includes funding for new appliances for the kitchen in the lower level of town hall, is the third special appropriation for emergency management improvements to be presented to voters since Tropical Storm Irene last August. Last fall, voters approved expenditures for $32,528 for various emergency management improvements, and $38,000 for the nearly completed relocation of the town’s emergency operations center from a room in the lower level of town hall to the former judge of probate office in the building.

Voters will also be asked to approve a waiver of payments in lieu of taxes for the Essex Court elderly housing complex in the Centerbrook section. The proposed PILOT payment waivers include the current fiscal year, 2011-2012, and date back four years to 2007-2008. The town began waiving the PILOT payments after tenant complaints and other issues from 2001 to 2004 depleted the reserve fund for the 36-unit complex.  Total lost tax revenue for the PILOT waivers would be $48,293.

The town meeting agenda also includes authorization to tap two existing capital sinking funds in the current town budget, including $4,000 for the parks and recreation department for repairs to the tennis court at Grove Street Park, and $3,050 to the tree committee for tree plantings this spring. Voters will also be asked to confirm the appointments of one member of the conservation commission, and alternate members for the zoning commission, parks and recreation commission, and the regional Connecticut River Gateway Commission.

ESSEX—Rick Ayotte, the local resident who purchased the former Mazda dealership site at 7 Main Street in Ivoryton last December, is moving forward with plans for a private care club on the property that fronts on the Mill Pond of the Falls River.

Ayotte, under the name of his company, Little Village Construction LLC, purchased the 1.5-acre parcel and former dealership building from a New York-based holding company last December for $250,000. The former Crest Mazda dealership closed in June 2010, but the property was one of the first auto dealerships in the area dating back to the early 1900s. It operated for decades as the Beherns and Bushnell Buick dealership.

Ayotte said Thursday he hopes to establish the Essex Motor Club on the property by this summer. “It will be a private club for auto enthusiasts and collectors,” he said, with dues-paying members allowed to use the riverfront property and store their vehicles in the building.

Ayotte said the club would have about 50 members, with the front section of the dealership building set aide for a club meeting room and library offering information on antique and vintage cars. “It’s going to be a class operation, a real place for car collectors,” he said.

Ayotte, who owns five cars with his wife, Sara, has been working on the building and surrounding property over the past three months, removing the blacktop and planting grass over the former dealership parking area. Ayotte said he is also planning some limited sales of vehicles from the site, probably selling some collectable vehicles for club members and associates on a consignment basis. “It’s an idea that is still evolving,” he said.

Though the former dealership is located in a residential zone, Ayotte has already received all of the local approvals needed for his plans. Despite periods of vacancy, the dealership has remained a valid non-conforming commercial use that predates the adoption of local zoning regulations in the early 1960s.

Joseph Budrow, zoning enforcement officer, said both First Selectman Norman Needleman and Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Stuart Ingersoll have signed a K7 form that is required under state law to resume the dealership use. Approval is also needed from the state Department of Motor Vehicles. While the form refers to a dealer/repairer location, Ayotte said there would be no major motor vehicle repairs done on the site.

CHESTER— The Chester Board of Education has approved a $4,225,900 education budget for 2012-2013, sending the spending plan to the board of finance for further review and inclusion in the total town spending package that goes to the voters for approval in May.

The proposed budget, which funds the operations of Chester Elementary School, represents an increase of $61,831, or 1.48 percent, over current funding for the school. Enrollment at the kindergarten through sixth grade school is projected at 256 students in 2012-2013, down by about three students from current enrollment.

The budget includes $38,000 in new spending to fund two special education para-educator positions that are currently funded by outside grants.

There is also $11,600 in new spending for improvements at the school, including $5,600 for new fencing along the school driveway near a playground area, and $2,300 for repairs to the Project Adventure course on the school grounds. The budget also includes funding for full day kindergarten at the school, an initiative that is not expected to require any significant new spending.

The elementary school budget and a proposed town government budget for 2012-2013 will be presented at the annual budget hearing on Tuesday May 1 at the Chester Meeting House on Liberty Street. A total proposed spending levy for 2012-2013 will be presented to voters for approval at the annual budget meeting later in May.

The total spending package will include the Chester share of a proposed $17.56 million Region 4 education budget that goes to the voters of Chester, Deep River, and Essex for approval in a May 8 referendum. The $4.7 million Chester share of the Region 4 budget is down by $21,465 from the current Chester share because of fewer students from Chester attending Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School.

ESSEX— The board of selectmen has approved a proposed $6.85 million town government budget for 2012-2013 that represents a $222,285, or 3.35 percent, increase over current spending.

The board approved the $6,854,304 budget on a unanimous vote at a March 21 meeting. First Selectman Norman Needleman presented the spending plan to the board of finance the following evening. The budget plan that funds town government is combined with the town’s share of the Region 4 education budget and the budget for Essex Elementary School for a total 2012-2013 spending package that will be presented to the voters for approval in May.

Under the direction of Needleman, a Democrat elected to the top job last year after serving previously on the board of selectmen, town hall staff prepared a detailed four-page “Citizens Guide to the Essex Town Budget” that explains the budget preparation process and includes various town financial data. Preparation of the hand-out guide follows a contentious budget battle last year. After voters at the annual budget meeting rejected a proposed budget for the first time in decades, a reduced budget was approved on a 532-438 vote in a June 7 2011 referendum.

The budget includes a two percent wage/salary increase for all non-union town employees and elected officials, with the exception of the board of selectmen. Needleman, Democratic Selectwoman Stacia Libby and Republican Selectman Joel Marzi are not taking a pay increase for 2012-2013, leaving the salary for first selectman at $76,271, and the annual stipend for selectmen at $4,148.

The budget includes $174,681 for parks and recreation, an increase of $16,376, $270,664 for operation of the solid waste transfer station, $281,250 for the volunteer fire department, and $365,000 for the libraries in Essex and Ivoryton.

The budget establishes new totals, and operations plans, for the health department and police, two items that were debated in 2001. A $113,105 appropriation for the health department, up by $6,615, includes funding of $60,000 for a a combined health director and sanitarian. Needleman said Ivoryton resident Lisa Fasulo, who began working as a part-time health dirtector earlier this year, is expected to pass state exams for certification as a sanitarian, establishing a full-time health director/sanitarian position.

The budget appropriation for town police is $315,806, a decrease from the $343,000 that will be spent in the current fiscal year. This amount is supplemented by $108,000 for a single resident state trooper. Needleman said his plan is to fill one open police position by this summer, setting a local force at three-full-time officers, He would also fund two part-time police positions that would be used for up to two shifts per week and special events. Local officers would be supervised by the resident state trooper.
The budget also increases capital sinking funds for the fire department, parks and recreation, municipal property maintenance, and road repairs for a total proposed capital sinking fund appropriation of $388,117, an increase of $126,667 from the current amount. Needleman said all of the sinking funds have been underfunded since the economic recession began in 2008. The fire department capital sinking fund would be $125,000, up by $50,000, with $30,000 for parks and recreation, $75,000 for road repairs, and $25,000 for municipal property maintenance.

In voting for the budget, Marzi said he was not pleased with the proposed 3.35 percent spending increase, but was ready to send the spending plan to the board of finance and townspeople for further discussion.

The town is already facing a $325,000 increase in its share of the Region 4 education budget because of more students from Essex attending Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School. A spending increase of about 1.7 percent is also expected for the elementary school budget, which goes to the voters as part of the town budget. The Region 4 education budget is sent to the voters of Chester, Deep River and Essex in a separate referendum that is set for May. 8.

Needleman said he is hoping to limit any tax increase needed to fund the total spending appropriation to about one-half mill. The current tax rate is 17.98 mills, or $17.98 in tax for each $1,000 of assessed property value.

Needleman said the board of finance is expected to discuss funding the proposed increase in capital and sinking funds from the town’s undesignated fund balance as a way to limit the expected tax increase. The fund balance currently contains about $2.72 million, or about 13 percent of total operating expenses.

The annual budget hearing is set for Thursday April 19 at 8 p.m. in the auditorium in town hall. Voters would act on the combined town/elementary school spending package at the annual budget meeting on Monday May 14, unless the board of selectmen decides to send the spending package to a referendum, or voters force a referendum by petition.

ESSEX— A new barber shop has won zoning approval for a nearly vacant Centerbrook building, but a separate proposal for a coffee shop in another section of the building faces other steps to win approval.

The zoning board of appeals Tuesday denied an appeal of Sotira Tubaya of East Haddam for variances of three local zoning regulations that were required for her plan to open a coffee shop in a section of 57-61 Main Street. Most of the commercial building has been vacant for over two years.

Tubaya needed variances of regulations limiting new restaurants in Essex to no more than 10 seats, restricting new restaurants within 750-feet of an existing restaurant, and restricting new restaurants on a corner lot.
The board denied the variance requests on a 2-3 vote, though the proposal received support at the public hearing from the town’s economic development commission and two residents.

Tubaya said her proposed use was defined as a restaurant, though she is planning to serve only coffees, teas, and foods prepared off site, with no on site preparation of food. “This is not going to be a full service restaurant,” she said. Tubaya maintained her hardship was the town zoning regulations restricting new restaurants that date back to the 1980s.

Peter Lucchese, the realtor marketing space in the Centerbrook building, said most inquiries about the space have been for restaurants, with parties backing off after learning of the local restrictions. John Beveridge, representing the economic development commission, said the panel is working to fill vacant commercial spaces in town, and believes the coffee shop is a “very appropriate use for the site.” Jeff Berzin and Thomas Perkins spoke in support of the appeal, expressing concern about vacant commercial space in the town’s three villages. No one expressed direct opposition to the proposed use during the public hearing.

But board members, including longtime chairman Stuart Ingersoll, contended Tubaya was asking the board to approve a use that should fall under the jurisdiction of the zoning commission. “Three variances is asking an awful lot of the ZBA,” Ingersoll said.
Board members urged Tubaya to apply to the zoning commission for a zoning amendment that would remove some of the restrictions in zoning regulations on new restaurant uses in Essex. Joseph Budrow, zoning enforcement officer, said he had spoken to Tubaya and Lucchese Wednesday and found them interested in bringing a zoning text amendment application to the commission.

The zoning commission Monday approved a special permit allowing a barber shop in another section of the 57-61 Main Street building. The barbershop planned by Meagan Wozniak of Franklin would be a walk in shop for men.

ESSEX— The zoning commission has continued to April the public hearing on a proposal to drop an over age 55 restriction on a Bokum Road housing complex approved in 2007, though the proposed change drew no direct opposition at the hearing Monday evening.

Essex Glen LLC has asked the commission to amend regulations related to the development that specified the units would be sold to persons age 55 or older. The proposed new wording eliminates the term “active adult community,” and instead states the residential community would be “targeted for but not limited to occupancy by persons age 55 or older.”

The commission in 2007 approved the 55-unit complex, with the age restriction, on an 11-acre parcel on the east side of Bokum Road near the Valley Railroad tracks. But the complex was never built after the economic crash and national recession that began in the fall of 2008.

Lawyer and regional Judge of Probate Terrance Lomme, repesenting Essex Glen LLC, said the developers were not able to market enough units with the over 55 age restriction. Lomme, who was elected judge of probate for the nine-town region in 2010, had represented the applicants during the 2007 approval process. This is the second Essex land use application Lomme has presented in recent weeks after also representing the developer of the proposed seven-lot Foxboro Point subdivision before the planning commission at a March 8 public hearing.

Lomme, assisted by a planner and a traffic engineer, maintained that dropping the over 55 rule would not result in a significant increase in the number of school age children at the complex, or a significant increase in traffic on Bokum Road, which connects Route 153 in Essex to Route 154 in Old Saybrook. He said that other than dropping the age restriction, “not one blade of grass,” has changed from the plan the commission approved in 2007. The commission will conduct another review of the site plan for the complex if it approves the proposed zoning text amendment.

While some of the handful of residents at the public hearing questioned the claims about no changes in traffic and no increase in school age children, no one spoke in direct opposition to the proposed change. The planning commission, which offers advisory opinions to the zoning commission, has endorsed deleting the over 55 age restriction for the planned development.

The commission continued the hearing to its April 16 meeting to give members an opportunity to review the information presented by the planner and the traffic consultant.