Resident trooper concerns threaten May 21 budget vote

KENT — The town and education spending plans for 2010-11 were approved at the annual budget town meeting at Town Hall on Friday, May 21.

The town government budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, is $2,645,477, a 1.4-percent increase over this year’s budget.

The total budget for fiscal 2010-11 for education spending is $6,220,339, an increase of  0.15 percent.

While the meeting was relatively short at under 30 minutes, there was still some drama and debate during the budget vote.

At the beginning of the meeting, First Selectman Bruce Adams told the audience that the budget vote had been moved from the first item on the meeting’s agenda to the next to last item.

Adams explained that Town Treasurer Barbara Herbst was at a budget meeting in Cornwall, where she serves as the town’s finance officer.

“I was hoping by moving this item to [next to last] on the agenda she would be here by the vote,� Adams said.

Despite this, and despite resident Suzi Williams reading the motion for the budget slowly, Herbst did not make it in time to attend the meeting.

Before the vote, resident Andy Ocif pleaded with residents to reject the budget because there is no line item for a Resident Trooper program.

The program was taken out of the fiscal 2009-10 budget and has not been added to the 2010-11 budget.

“The first selectman does not think we need one and I strongly disagree,� Ocif said. “One-hundred-and-eighty-four signatures were obtained on a petition asking to reinstate the resident trooper and presented to the Board of Selectmen. I said this once and I’ll say it again, not having a resident trooper is a step back for the town.�

Town resident Peter Pecora then made a motion for the budget to be tabled.

“I would like to see some sort of committee formed to find some sort of compromise to the resident trooper issue,� Pecora said. “Therefore, I would like to see the budget tabled until then. Tabling it would reduce the negative stigma of the budget being defeated.�

Town resident Wendy Murphy spoke against Pecora’s motion.

“I know that this discussion has already been held repeatedly,� Murphy said. “The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance had already discussed this and it satisfies me for the present time. I know that next year is a different situation, but I don’t feel that this topic has not already been well covered.�

Pecora’s motion failed by a voice vote with a wide majority shooting his motion down.

Afterward, the budget passed by a hand vote of 57 to 13.

Residents also passed the five-year Local Capital Improvement Projects (LoCIP) plan.

The total of the proposed plan is $2,218,000, with $443,600 to be funded by the town each fiscal year. The rest of the money comes from the state.

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