Tag Archives: Board of Finance

Letter to the Editor: When Voting Nov. 4, Remember Old Lyme Board of Finance D’s, R’s Disagree Deeply on Town Surplus Fund’s Use

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To the Editor:

Old Lyme’s Board of Finance (BOF) performs a critical function in setting our level of taxation. One of the determining factors is how much to withdraw annually from the town’s Undesignated Fund Balance (the Surplus), basically our “savings account” not tied to particular expenditures but available for future needs. There has developed a serious disagreement on this issue between David Kelsey and the other Republicans on the BOF on the one hand, and Kim Thompson and the other Democrats on the other. Based on the BOF’s meeting minutes from last spring, it is clear that the position of Mr. Kelsey et al. was to maintain the maximum surplus in order to save for a rainy day. Mrs. Thompson and the other Democrats believed that, with the budget increase caused by the Region 18 bonds and the tax burden imposed on many residents by the revaluation, the rainy day was here and, therefore, the town should withdraw as much from the Surplus as was prudent in order to mitigate the burden on Old Lyme’s taxpayers.

According to the BOF minutes of March 25, an accountant from the town’s auditing firm advised the board that the Surplus as of June 30, 2024 was $14,402,328, representing 35.15% of expenditures. She also stated that “bond rating agencies like to see 15% to 25% and that she typically sees 12% to 15%.”

At the BOF meeting on April 8, 2025, after the Democrats argued for a substantial withdrawal from the Surplus, Mr. Kelsey made a motion to withdraw a mere $400,000. The three Republicans on the BOF voted in favor; the three Democrats against. Additional motions followed at this meeting and the following one on April 15, when Mr. Kelsey moved to withdraw $600,000. This was approved by the Republicans and rejected by the Democrats. Mr. Bernblum recommended a withdrawal of $1 million, which would leave the estimated 2025 Surplus at 29.2% of the proposed budget. Finally, confronted with a deadlock and an upcoming Town Meeting, the BOF approved a withdrawal of $800,000. 

Given this history, there can be no doubt where Mr. Kelsey and the other Republicans stand on the Surplus: keep it as high as possible. Conversely, Mrs. Thompson and the other Democrats would like to return as much to the taxpayers as is prudent without impairing the town’s bond rating or its ability to meet future financial obligations. 

Please decide which policy you prefer when voting on November 4.

Sincerely,

Joseph ‘Gil’ Soucie,
Old Lyme.

Old Lyme Town Meeting Postponed After ‘Larger than Expected’ Crowd Exceeds Capacity of Meeting Room, Delays Budget Vote

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OLD LYME–With the crowd spilling out of Memorial Town Hall onto Lyme Street Monday evening, the Annual Town Budget Meeting was postponed as town officials put out the call for a venue large enough to accommodate the response to a sharp budget increase amid rising property values. 

Fire Marshal Dave Roberge immediately put a halt to the 7:30 p.m. town meeting with his announcement that the capacity of 124 people had been reached in the Town Hall Meeting Room and its lobby. He said an additional 25 to 40 people were still waiting in line. 

Against the background of a blue screen with a presentation slide warning that the meeting would be rescheduled in the event of a “larger than expected turnout,” the three-member Board of Selectmen made its unanimous vote to find another date and time for the meeting. 

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker, a Democrat, was joined by Democratic Selectman Jim Lampos and Republican Selectwoman Jude Read.

Shoemaker said no budget vote in the past seven years had attracted more than 60 people. She called for postponement “so that everyone can hear what they wanted to hear, and vote on what they want to vote on.” 

The $45.39 million 2025-26 proposed budget – which is up $3.28 million, or 7.8%, over the current year – was on the agenda along with several proposed changes to the local law books. The proposals on the agenda for the evening ranged from an ordinance on golf cart usage in the Sound View and Hawk’s Nest Beach areas to a $1,000 increase in the tax abatement available to volunteer first responders. 

Outside the Town Hall as the crowd dispersed, beach area resident Laura Parent said her taxes are going up 100% due to the recent revaluation. 

Assessor Melinda Kronfeld last week said the average tax increase townwide, based on the proposed budget, comes in at 4.7%. She said 3,312 properties in town would see their tax bills go up more than that, while 2,331 properties would be looking at an increase less than 4.7%, or a tax decrease.

Parent was one of the residents with sticker shock when she saw how much her home had increased in value. 

“My taxes are going to increase at least $1,800,” she said. 

She said she was concerned with the size of the town’s $31.52 million share of the regional Lyme-Old Lyme school budget, which is up $1.99 million, or 6.72%, from Old Lyme’s current payment. The hike is driven by debt, which is just starting to come due, on a large-scale renovation project affecting four of the district’s five buildings. The expense includes heating and ventilation system work in the four schools, plus the addition of classrooms at Mile Creek School. The project was approved by voters in 2022. 

Parent said enrollment numbers have not kept pace with estimates publicized at the time of the vote, based on numbers from the New England School Development Council.

She said she felt the district justified the new classrooms by saying attendance was going to increase.

“It’s not,” she said. “But we’re paying.”

Parent acknowledged she did not vote at the referendum on the school district budget, which passed earlier this month by a vote of 457 to 297. But she will next time, she said. 

Parent’s friend Mariella Shea said the town should have “planned a little better” for a town meeting crowd attracted by votes on several ordinances as well as the budget. 

“It’s regrettable that it has to be rescheduled,” Shea said. “So many things were on the agenda that they should have known.” 

Resident Michael Hansen said rescheduling the meeting was the appropriate thing to do. 

“There was obviously a big showing. People wanted to participate in their local democracy, which anyone should applaud,” he said. 

But he described as “disingenuous” the arguments by those who are opposing the proposed budget this late in the process. 

“We agreed several years ago that we were going to update the schools,” he said. “It’s time to start paying that bill. It’s not really something up for debate. The town has the money. If people were actually upset about it, it could have been addressed at the Board of Finance.”

A public hearing last month on the proposed budget by the finance board lasted just over a half hour in front of roughly two dozen people in the Town Hall meeting room. There were only a few questions from the public. 

Also last month, the finance board agreed to use $800,000 from the town’s predicted $14.2 million ‘Rainy Day Fund’  to help mitigate the impact to taxpayers. The vote was a compromise between Republicans, who wanted to take out less from the Rainy Day Fund, and Democrats, who wanted to use more. 

Hansen was critical of those on the finance board who did not want to use more than $800,000 to lower the tax increase for property owners. 

“And then some of those members are now also being, again, disingenuous, claiming that it’s (Democratic First Selectwoman) Martha Shoemaker’s fault that the mill rate’s going up, and that’s really not the case,” he said. 

Shoemaker after the meeting said the Board of Selectmen put together a fair budget. She cited scant attendance at public meetings throughout the months-long budget planning process.

She also pointed to a request from the finance board in April for the selectwoman to work with department heads to further reduce the budget, which resulted in a cut of $171,350 to the proposed budget. 

“So we did the best we possibly could for the budget,” Shoemaker said. 

With the school district budget approved by voters, the town is obligated to pay its $31.52 million share. 

“So where do you start cutting?” she said. “Do we cut capital projects? Do we cut people? Do we cut hours? If you do those things, you’re going to cut services.” 

The Board of Finance was initially set to formalize the new tax rate immediately after the town meeting. Instead, finance board members agreed to convene again after a vote at the rescheduled town meeting. 

Shoemaker said she has reached out to Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser to see if he has a larger space in the schools available on May 28, 29 or 30. State law requires notice of the meeting to be published in a newspaper at least five days before the meeting. 

Asked what would happen if the budget doesn’t pass, Shoemaker said she didn’t know. 

“I will have to call up to the state to find out,” she said.

Republican Board of Finance member Andy Russell after the meeting said he can’t remember residents voting down a budget in his 32 years as a resident. 

Old Lyme Town Budget Hearing Uncontentious Despite Proposed 7.8% Increase Over Current Spending

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OLD LYME – Board of Finance Chairman Bennett J. Bernblum on Monday presented the proposed $45.39 million budget along with its potential implications on taxes in this and coming years. 

The proposed $45.39 million 2025-26 budget – which includes town operations and capital expenses as well as the town’s share of the regional Lyme-Old Lyme school district – represents an increase of $3.28 million, or 7.8%, over current spending. It is heavily influenced by large-scale renovation projects affecting the schools and the Lymes’ Senior Center. 

The public hearing on the budget lasted just over a half hour in front of roughly two dozen people in the Town Hall meeting room. Bernblum opened with the acknowledgement that it was not the kind of “sell out crowd” that drew more than 550 people to the Lyme-Old Lyme High School earlier this month to discuss for more than three hours a controversial proposal to allow apartments on the commercial strip of Halls Road. 

Amid the apparent lack of controversy Monday night, Bernblum laid out the budget proposal he said would likely raise tax bills for the average property owner by around 4.7% based on the recent townwide property revaluation. But residents whose home values increased more than the average will see a heftier hike in their tax bills. 

He said the projected tax rate, which won’t be set until immediately after the proposed budget is approved by voters, will be 16.2 mills.

A mill represents $1 in tax per $1,000 of assessed property value.  

Bernblum has said the tax rate would be going up 6.8% if the finance board didn’t offset the increase by taking $800,000 out of the undesignated fund balance, or Rainy Day Fund.

The current tax rate is 24.4 mills. After taking the revaluation into account – and if spending did not change at all in the coming year – the tax rate would be 15.5 mills. 

The town’s grand list of taxable property grew by 57.4% as a result of the revaluation, according to final assessor’s data that takes into account adjustments by the Board of Assessment Appeals. The board finished its final hearings earlier this month. 

That means a house appraised at $400,000 with a valuation mirroring the average 57.4% increase to the grand list is now worth $629,600, according to Bernblum’s presentation. The tax bill for that homeowner based on the proposed budget would be $7,153 – an increase of $321, or 4.7%, over the current tax bill. 

Illustrating the complexity of a revaluation year, Bernblum said a house valued at $600,000 that went up 65% in value due to the revaluation is now worth $990,000. The owner of such a home can expect a $11,247 tax bill if the proposed budget goes through. That’s an increase of $999, or 9.8%, over the current tax bill. 

Old Lyme’s government operations expenses come in at $11.39 million, an increase of $835,260 million, or 7.9%, over the current budget. That includes debt service amounting to $702,350, which is up $271,168, or 62.9%, over current payments. The increase is driven largely by debt payments on the Lymes’ Senior Center renovation project.

The proposal includes an additional $107,000 increase in health insurance expenses over the current year.

The budget proposal, along with new language related to several town ordinances, will go to voters at a town meeting on May 19. 

The Impact of Education

The proposed budget in Old Lyme includes education costs of $31.52 million, which is up $1.99 million, or 6.72%, from the town’s current share of the regional school district budget. The increase is driven by debt payments on a multi-building renovation project approved by voters at a cost of $57.5 million. 

A referendum on the $39.7 million Region 18 budget proposal – which represents an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.39%, over the current spending plan for the district – is scheduled for May 6 in Lyme and Old Lyme.

The Region 18 Board of Education earlier this month voted unanimously to send the budget proposal to referendum.

Earlier objections to a decision to cut an elementary music teacher from the proposed budget were muted after the school board agreed to put the position back into the spending plan. The district will find savings elsewhere in the proposed budget to cover the cost, according to Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser. 

Neviaser in a Tuesday email said the regional school board has opted not to use any of its $3.1 million undesignated fund balance 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. 

He noted the proposed budget is less than the projected 10% increase for the coming year that had been presented to the towns prior to the referendum vote on that project. He cited lower than expected interest rates and grant funding that helped defray costs.

Rainy Days in Old Lyme 

On the town side, the finance board on April 15 voted to use $800,000 from its own undesignated fund balance to soften the impact of the proposed budget increase on taxpayers. 

Budget figures from Finance Director Anita Mancini show the allocation will bring the predicted $14.2 million Rainy Day Fund from 35.15% of the total operating budget at the end of this budget year to an estimated 29.6% in the coming budget year.

Bernblum said maintaining a healthy undesignated fund balance will help the town mitigate the effect of increasing budgets on taxpayers going forward. 

“And that will still leave (a) surplus of a significant amount to hedge against future needs,” he said. 

He emphasized that debt payments from the schools’ renovation project will continue to increase through the 2028-29 budget year. 

“So debt service for Region 18 is going to continue to go up significantly, but not astronomically, over the next several years, and then finally it will begin to come down,” he said. 

A philosophical schism between the two major parties on the finance board has pitted Democrats against Republicans. The decision to dip into the Rainy Day Fund for $800,000 represented a compromise among the three Democrats, who wanted to use more of the surplus to mitigate tax increases, and the three Republicans, who would have preferred to use less in order to save for the future. 

Some finance board members at the time said the town could be facing costs in coming years related to a years-long effort to bring sewers to several beach communities under pressure from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 

While town officials have long said the expense would be covered by property owners in the affected beach areas, Bernblum on Monday acknowledged there could be costs to residents at large. 

State law specifies towns cannot assess property owners for any amount higher than the percent increase in the property value attributed to the sewers.

“It is possible that something could go wrong in the formula and that…the (Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority) won’t be able to bill the homeowners all of the costs necessary to recover 100%, in which case then the town could have some liability,” he said. 

Shoemaker said costs related to connecting town-owned properties to the sewer system, including the Old Lyme Police Department on Shore Road and a planned bathroom facility at Sound View Beach, would also be covered by the town. 

She said the town’s proposed capital plan includes $20,000 for initial engineering designs related to the Sound View bathrooms and contemplates spending an additional $20,000 on designs the following year. 

Uncertain Expenses

Proposed capital costs come in at $2.49 million in the proposed budget. That’s up $456,792, or 22.5%, from the current budget.

The capital spending plan includes $443,500 to save for the purchase of three fire department apparatuses over the next several years. Also included in the budget is an additional $200,000 for road-paving projects, bringing the total line item to $1 million.

The plan earmarks $70,200 toward architectural designs sought by the Halls Road Improvements Committee (HRIC) for a plan to add a pedestrian bridge, sidewalks and other amenities, according to Bernblum. 

But the Board of Selectmen last week agreed to put the work of the HRIC on hold in the wake of a groundswell of opposition to a separate proposal to amend the town’s zoning regulations and the subsequent resignation of HRIC Chairwoman Edie Twining. 

“What is going to happen with Halls Road is in the hands of the Board of Selectmen primarily at this point,” Bernblum said. “So what they decide to do, or we decide to do, with respect to Halls Road at the moment has not been decided.” 

Proposed capital expenses also include $80,000 to supplement $95,000 approved last year at a town meeting for the design and construction of a replacement gazebo at White Sands Beach. 

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said the town engineer’s original estimates were upended when it was discovered the town would have to follow state and federal flood zone requirements in updating the structure. 

Subsequent estimates came in at $173,000 for the project, according to Feb. 24 Board of Selectmen meeting minutes. 

Shoemaker attributed the steep increase to more stringent guidelines for installing the footings and holding the gazebo in place. 

Shoemaker said the plan is to complete the engineering designs using last year’s allocation so the project can go out to bid. 

Bernblum put it this way: “We’ll go out to bid when the designs are completed and cross our fingers that there’s enough money. And if not, we’re going to have to come back to you guys and beg for more.” 

Bernblum said the finance board remains open to public feedback on the proposed budget through the May 19 town meeting. 

“Historically, we haven’t gotten negative feedback in regards to it, but we certainly invite that,” he said.

Editor’s Notes: i) Bennett Bernblum is a financial supporter of LymeLine.com, but has no input to the editorial process, which remains completely independent.
ii) A reminder of Our Policy on Comments.