Category Archives: Lyme

Op-Ed: Dip Into Region 18 ‘Rainy Day Fund’ to Dampen Debt Impact

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Mary Powell St. Louis

Town residents have received their postcard reminder about the 2025-2026 district budget meeting and referendum vote from Regional 18 school district both scheduled for May 5 and May 6 respectively.   

By means of background information on the school budgeting process, it is important to understand some of the Connecticut school laws defined by the general statutes. According to the Connecticut General Statutes Section 10-262(j) on minimum budget requirements, a school budget may not be less than the budget from the prior fiscal year except for limited circumstances defined in the statute. 

Additionally, section 10-51(d)(1) was amended in 2024, such that a regional school district can create a “reserve fund for educational purposes” rather than the prior designation of such fund for only “capital and nonrecurring expenditures.” The statute had also been amended in 2021 to change the amount regional school districts are allowed to appropriate from the current fiscal year’s budget from 1% to 2%.   

Key takeaway: Outside of exceptional circumstances, a school budget can never go down and there has been expansion for a regional school district like Lyme/Old Lyme in terms of how a budget surplus can be used.  

The Region 18 school district has long taken the opportunity to fund their “undesignated fund,” or reserve fund, for at least the last 10 years (per the annual October Board of Education meeting minutes on the district website). For the last four years since the change in the statute to support 2% funding of the reserve fund, Region 18 has appropriated approximately $700,000 annually to the reserve. The current reserve fund balance stands at $3.1 million. Although the Board of Education has not formally approved any of the current earmarked projects in the reserve, they are formulated in the five-year facilities plan for the district. There is no reason to doubt that at the October 2025 Board of Education meeting, the board will again vote to fund the reserve based on past experience and determination of a budget balance (unaudited at the time of the decision) in a similar range of $700,000.   

You may ask why these details matter. The 2025-2026 school district budget up for referendum stands at a 7.39% increase over the previous year’s budget and over half of the increase represents debt service (bonds) predominantly related to the $57.5 million PK-8 building project.  Debt service obligation (principal and interest) for the district is estimated to increase annually for the next five years then start to drop dramatically.

Rather than increasing the budget as proposed to cover the current year debt service requirement, I recommend the board consider the use of a portion of the reserve funds to dampen the impact of debt service on the budget in the next five years.  

Why not use all the reserve? Well, we don’t want to do that as it could adversely impact the credit rating of the district for future debt service.  Further, the forecasted campus improvement projects could not be funded for the foreseeable future.    

My suggestion is to use a portion of the reserve, equivalent to the maximum allowable 2% of budget holdback. Instead of increasing the budget by 7.39% to $39,650,803, the requested budget could be about $38.5 million, or a 5.5% increase.  Presuming the recent historical trend of budget surplus continues, this strategy would limit the growth of the budget until the debt service started to decline in five years, at which time the contribution to the reserve fund could be resumed.   

I hope that the residents of Lyme and Old Lyme consider contacting the Board of Education members about the above issues and that the board takes this into consideration at the district budget meeting on Monday May 5.  

Editor’s Note: The author, Mary Powell-St. Louis, was a member of the Region 18 Board of Education for eight years.

Referendum on Lyme-Old Lyme Schools’ Budget to be Held Tuesday, Budget Meeting Monday

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‘Rainy Day Fund’ Will Not be Used to Offset 7.4% Budget Increase

LYME/OLD LYME–Registered voters and qualified taxpayers on Tuesday will be asked to weigh in on the proposed $39.7 million budget for the regional school district serving Lyme and Old Lyme. 

The District 18 Board of Education earlier this month voted unanimously to hold a District Budget Meeting this evening, Monday, May 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the Board of Education Conference Room at Center School. Members of the school board will adjourn to a referendum vote the next day.

A livestream of Monday evening”s meeting can be viewed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF2_W7yYtFwx067Ici9776Q/live

The agenda for the meeting is at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WB8EzTFs_0MSwy-MnBEaU67YXJNbRkvJ0Vwdw3qYFrk/edit?tab=t.0

The proposed budget represents an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.39%, over the current spending plan. Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser has said the bulk of the proposed budget increase is related to debt coming due on the extensive renovation project in four of the district’s five buildings. 

Of the proposed budget’s $2.7 million increase, $1.8 million is attributable to debt payments on the renovation project. 

Voters in late 2022 authorized spending up to $57.5 million on the project. During this budget season, Neviaser has emphasized the district will be spending about $17 million less than that due to grant funding and good interest rates.

The proposed budget includes an increase in special education spending of $726,721 over the current year.

Neviaser said the increase in special education costs is driven by more students, who need to be placed in programs outside the district to meet their needs. There are four students requiring outplacements in the coming year compared to one student when the current budget was approved. 

There are currently 180 kindergarten through grade 12 students with disabilities in the district compared to 162 in 2020-21, according to budget documents. 

Employee benefits are up $448,485, salaries for certified staff members are up $278,654 and transportation costs are up $164,234.

The proposed budget includes maintenance and improvements to district facilities totaling $359,200 for a sound system in the high school auditorium, lighting in the middle school auditorium, replacement of the preschool playground and paving of the sidewalk in front of the middle school. 

Reductions were achieved by turning the high school assistant principal position into a ten-month position rather than a full-year position and reducing middle school education staffing by one position. 

A music teacher cut in Neviaser’s initial recommendation is back in the proposed budget after the school board agreed the reduction would be detrimental to the music program. The district will find savings elsewhere in the proposed budget to cover the cost, Neviaser said. 

District budget documents show that Old Lyme would be responsible for $31.51 million of the budget, while Lyme would pay $6.96 million. Both towns are billed by the regional school district based on enrollment.

That’s a proposed increase in Old Lyme of $1.99 million, or 6.7%, and in Lyme of $299,504, or 4.5%.

Neviaser in a Tuesday email said the regional school board won’t use any of its $3.1 million undesignated fund balance – or Rainy Day Fund – to offset the spending increase despite calls to explore the option.

“The board has not chosen to make any changes to the current proposed budget and plans to go to referendum with what we believe is a fiscally responsible and reasonable request of a 2.69% increase in the operating budget coupled with a 4.7% increase in debt service, which is the main driver for the overall 7.39% increase,” he said. 

School board Chairman Jason Kemp, who said he was speaking for himself rather than the full board, wrote in an email Tuesday that the undesignated fund is generally used for projects that might be too large for an annual budget, but too small to go to referendum and bonding. 

“While nothing is planned at the moment, an example of such a project would be to replace the track which we are told can’t really be resurfaced again. It would be fiscally irresponsible to spend that down significantly to cover a year of debt service on the PK-8 school project,” he said. 

Residents voting through an absentee ballot must submit the 2025 application, which are available on the town’s websites and the Secretary of the State website. Only absentee ballot applications with the current year printed on them will be accepted. 

Absentee ballots must be received by the town clerk before the close of polls on the day of the referendum. 

The referendum is open to registered voters and non-resident property owners in each town.

The referendum will be held May 6 from noon to 8 p.m. The vote will take place in Old Lyme at the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Gym, 53 Lyme Street. Lyme residents will vote at the Lyme Town Hall, 480 Hamburg Road.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with details of the time and location of the Budget Meeting, and links to both the meeting agenda and the livestream of the meeting.

Septic Truck Catches Fire on Halls Rd. in Old Lyme

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Flames pour from a septic pumper truck parked in the Old Lyme Shopping Center Wednesday afternoon. Photo by K. Monson.

OLD LYME–The local fire marshal said a blaze that ignited in the engine compartment of a septic pumper truck was contained to the cab by firefighters in a Halls Road parking lot Wednesday afternoon. 

Old Lyme crews were called to the Old Lyme Shopping Center at 1:16 p.m., according to Old Lyme Fire Marshal David Roberge. Lyme and Old Saybrook fire departments also responded. 

Roberge said the driver of the Finkeldey Septic Service truck went in to get lunch at Papi’s Taqueria, then came out to find the truck on fire. 

No other property was damaged, the fire marshal said. 

Representatives of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and a private contractor were still at the scene as of 4:30 p.m. cleaning up oil and firefighting foam, according to Roberge.  

He said the tank of the septic truck, which was empty, did not catch fire. 

“No poop was lost,” he said. 

Also Wednesday afternoon, fire departments from Old Lyme and Lyme were fighting a 100 ft. by 200 ft. brush fire on Burr Road in Old Lyme resulting from a lawnmower that caught fire. 

The call came in at 3:31 p.m., Roberge said. 

Hurtle’s ‘Lyme Home Watch’ Earns Accreditation From National Organization for Third Year

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Bill Hurtle and his wife, Jennifer.

LYME, CT — Lyme Home Watch has earned accreditation from the National Home Watch Association (NWHA) for the third year.

Home Watch uses visual inspections to check for obvious issues at vacation or primary homes while the owners are away, according to a press release from the association. NWHA has been around since 2009, ensuring that all principals of NHWA-accredited member companies are background checked, insured and bonded.

Owner Bill Hurtle said the need for his services became evident as he saw friends and family head south for the winter, leaving their home unoccupied or having a non-professional “home watcher” monitor their property.

Hurtle is a resident of Lyme since 2013. For about two decades, he worked as a microbiologist for the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to that, he was employed by the Department of the Army and at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, Maryland.

Lyme Home Watch’s primary mission is to provide house checks for the exterior and interior of a home. They also provide pre- and post-storm checks, facilitate contractor and vendor meetings, and offer keyholder services to their clients.

Hurtle is a graduate of the NHWA’s Home Watch Boot Camp and has earned the designation of Certified Home Watch Professional, which places him among the élite Home Watch providers in the industry.  

Lyme Home Watch serves Lyme, Old Lyme, Niantic, Old Saybrook, Essex, and Westbrook.

Lyme Board of Finance Proposes $11.37 Million Budget With No Tax Increase

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Despite Increase in D18 Spending, Budget Down Over $1M Primarily due to Reduction in Capital Costs

LYME – The Board of Finance is predicting a flat tax rate after they unanimously approved a proposed $11.37 million 2025-26 spending plan that will go to a public hearing next month. 

The budget proposal is down $1.02 million, or 8.2%, from the current budget. 

The Board of Finance on Tuesday voted to send the proposed budget to a public hearing on May 8. The finance board will then take a vote on sending the spending plan to a Town Meeting preliminarily set for May 22.

If the proposed budget is approved by voters, the finance board said it will set the tax rate at the current 14.5 mills immediately following the town meeting. 

The budget proposal includes town operating and capital expenses, as well as Lyme’s share of the Region 18 education budget. 

Education costs in Lyme’s proposed budget come out to $6.96 million for the town’s estimated 231 students. That’s up $299,504, or 4.5%, from the town’s current share. The increase is driven by debt payments on a multi-building renovation project approved by voters at a cost of $57.5 million. 

The Region 18 budget, which totals $39.7 million for the district covering Lyme and Old Lyme, is set to go to a referendum vote in both towns on May 6.

Lyme’s $10.84 million town operations budget proposal is up $513,372, or 5.0%, over the current budget. Proposed capital spending comes in at $530,400, a decrease of $1.53 million, or 74.3%, from the current budget. 

First Selectman David Lahm in a Tuesday interview at the Town Hall attributed the decrease in capital spending to the completion of bridge projects on Birch Mill Road and Macintosh Road that had driven up the budget in previous years. 

He said the town is looking at a flat tax rate because officials are not extravagant in their budget planning. 

“We take care of what needs to be taken care of, but we understand the difference between ‘I want’ and ‘I need,’” he said. 

Planning for Tomorrow’s Needs Today

The town’s projected general fund balance – referred to informally as a Rainy Day Fund – amounts to $4.14 million in the proposed budget. The figure represents about 33% of total anticipated revenues, which is one of the figures credit agencies look at to gauge a town’s financial health. 

Finance board Chairman Alan Sheiness at this week’s meeting said the bond agent for the school district told him S&P Global Ratings likes to see reserves in the area of at least 19% to secure a AA or AAA credit rating. 

Finance board policy dictates that the town maintain a “target” fund balance equivalent to two months of operating expenses, but Sheiness in a Friday phone interview said two months’ savings is more of a minimum than a target. 

Nearby towns like Old Lyme have debated how much money to keep in the Rainy Day Fund in order to save for emergencies while not overtaxing residents. 

In a phone interview Friday, Sheiness acknowledged the fund balance in Lyme has historically exceeded the two months’ target. But he said the number fluctuates based on big-ticket capital expenses that may be needed in any given year. 

Sheiness said the finance board looks several years ahead when determining how much money should remain in the town’s reserves. 

“I do understand the number is high today for today’s needs, but it’s not too high today for the next few years’ needs,” he said.