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Community Corner

Community Update

Please, vote no on the Madison Town Budget going to
referendum. 



Going to referendum the Board of Selectmen Town budget is at
a 5% increase and the School Board of Education budget is to be increased
1.9%.  However, Social Security is being
raised only 1.5% and over 100 families in Madison
utilize the Food Bank out of need every week.  
Madison’s budget increase over the past
two years exceeds Clinton and Guilford’s growth by 17% and Westbrook and
Branford’s growth by 10%.  It is time to
place the brake on these increases.  The
Board of Education did a fine job in relation to the economy, but the Town did
not.



At the second public hearing on the budget it was stated
that all the reserve funds had to be increased, however it was suggested more
than once that these could be boosted with the anticipated year end surplus.
Last year the Town and Board of Education together had $448,000 in year end
surplus.   With the sharp decline in
Special Appropriations (out of budget spending for emergencies) it is expected that
the surplus should be higher this year. 
So why increase tax revenue when funding for the reserve increases may
already be available in the coffers?

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.



When many businesses are closing and people are becoming
unemployed in Connecticut the Town of Madison is asking us to fund 7 new
positions to this budget: a Park Supervisor for Salt Meadow Park, a Park Ranger
to open and close all the parks,  a
Developer Manager at Scranton Memorial Library,  part time clerk in the Town Clerk Department,
an additional police officer in response to Sandy Hook, a staff position for
Madison Alcohol and Drug Education at $60,000 (for a group that was once all
volunteer then was grant funded and now they lost their grant), and an
additional paramedic (Although the last time funding was provided to the
Madison Ambulance Association to increase the number of paramedics they spent the
funds in a different manner. In addition, they admitted in a budget workshop
that they cannot guarantee more staff will reduce long waits on calls since
first call-first served and they cover Clinton
where there are no paramedics on staff and yet the Town of Clinton
does not fund those from Madison).



This spending does not seem prudent or rational in this
economy.  During the Budget Public
Hearing the audience, by a very large majority, very clearly asked the Board of
Finance to cut the budget, but they did not. 
This proposed budget was presented with no information on a possible mil
rate, as was provided at hearings in the past.  Without a proposed mil rate it is difficult
for residents to determine the impact on their financial future, for some it
can mean the difference between staying in their home or placing it on the
market. Why is a mil rate not being made public?  Without
reasonable answers and figures during this poor economic period in the State of
CT the
residents should vote no at the referendum on Tuesday.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.



Feel free to find this information in the Town Annual Report
and budget workshop minutes on the Town website, the Public Hearings is viewable
on television, and the budget binder available in detail at Town Campus.  Or telephone the public figures responsible for
increasing your taxes at rates above neighboring towns.

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