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10/12/2022 08:00 AMA portion of the state’s surplus is relieving taxpayers from Connecticut taxes on gas, from June to December of fiscal 2022 lessening residents’ financial burdens. Currently, taxpayers are experiencing unprecedented inflation — at least a 20 percent increase in health insurance premiums and spiraling heating and utilities expenses — and need financial relief. At the pharmacy a man ahead of me needed a medication that was $1,600 and the insurance carrier wasn’t going to pay.
What a contrast from the town of Old Saybrook with a budget surplus of over a $1 million. The Board of Finance and the Board of Selectman members held a special town meeting on Sept. 28, at 6 p.m., in an overcrowded room and taxpayers in the hallway. Approximately 70 taxpayers decided how the surplus was disbursed. This Special Town Meeting appeared to be a meeting of special interests, leading to the following questions for candidates:
Should million-dollar surpluses be refunded to the taxpayers?
Are government grants worth the administrative costs?
Why are special town meetings scheduled between 3 and 6 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Would use of public-school auditoriums for special town meetings be feasible?
Should special town meetings to spend surplus monies be adjourned to a town referendum?
Should surpluses be spent for the common good and provide relief to taxpayers instead of special projects?
Eleanor Susan LaPlace
Old Saybrook