State “Debt Diet” Affects Town Projects

By Matt Riiska

All of us sometimes mull over if we should go on a diet, myself included. Numerous projects in town are being considered, but all are on hold until state funding is made available. The State of Connecticut is currently on a diet of its own, a “Debt Diet.” All funding is waiting for approval by the governor and the State Bond Commission. We could go into the economics of whether this is a good idea or a bad idea, but all I can say is that being fiscally responsible needs to be considered at all levels of government. This “Debt Diet” makes planning difficult, but we are not waiting for state funding to be released before we start on our planning and engineering work. Engineering funds that were included in this year’s budget have allowed us to get started, so funding applications can be submitted when the opportunity arrives.

We currently have engineering work in progress for the River Place and Mountain Road bridges. Working with the Department of Administrative Services and the Office of School Construction Grants & Review, we are collecting information for the replacement of an 8,000-gallon heating fuel tank, two furnaces and a portion of the roof at Botelle School. At the end of the last fiscal year we had plans developed for the replacement of the sidewalks on Station Place, John J. Curtiss Road and Greenwoods Road West (Route 44). All of these projects need to be done. We will continue to do what we can with the budgeted funds for roads and general maintenance and will continue to work on our plans for these much needed improvements.

Summer is over and other than a few rather warm days, and the occasional heavy shower, it was pretty good. Now on to fall. There are still a lot of activities: the Car Show on Sept. 14, the Curling Club “Sweep Into Fall Ball” on Sept. 14, the Land Trust Trail Race on Sept. 22, the Rails to Trails “Tour de Forest” on Oct. 12 and of course the farmers markets. So get out and enjoy one of these events and perhaps that diet might not be necessary.