By Ruth Melville

At their April 2 meeting, the Board of Selectmen discussed a range of topics, including vehicle assessments, municipal solid waste disposal, road projects and the proposed FY 2024/25 town budget.

The Old Newgate Coon Club has expressed an interest in purchasing 31.5 acres of land next to the Transfer Station. That parcel of land is in Colebrook, but it is owned by Norfolk, and Norfolk is paying taxes on it. First Selectman Matt Riiska said he would ask the club how much they were willing to pay. Any sale would need to be voted on at a town meeting.

The State of Connecticut has changed the way towns are to assess motor vehicles, offering several options. The Town of Norfolk chose the 90 percent assessment, using the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price), as of Oct. 1, 2024. The state Office of Policy and Management also offered billing options, and selectmen voted unanimously to accept the town tax collector’s recommendation of twice a year (July and January).

Norfolk, and other towns in the area, is going to have to decide how to dispose of municipal solid waste after MIRA closes its plant in Hartford. Two possible solutions being considered are (1) the Northwest Hills Council of Governments could purchase the MIRA plant in Torrington, or (2) Norfolk could pay USA Hauling (which does not accept recyclables) to take its solid waste to Winsted to be then hauled to Pennsylvania.

Riiska expressed some annoyance at the situation, saying that “the state has grossly fallen down with this, in failing to come up with facilities in Connecticut.” He added that he hoped to have more information at the next selectmen’s meeting, including the estimated costs of running the Torrington plant and of dealing with any environmental issues that might arise.

Riiska also reported on the status of the bridge and road repair projects in town.

He is still working with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to get a temporary bridge at Smith Road.

The River Place bridge is still on track to be completed by April 30. Clean-up will continue awhile longer. A piece of town-owned property nearby will be made into a small parking lot to keep cars from parking on Blackberry Street.  

On the Route 44 wall project, drivers have complained about the deteriorating condition of the one lane passing the construction site—or, as Selectman Sandy Evans called it, “the chute.” Riiska said he would bring this up at his next scheduled meeting with the project manager.

When Aquarion repaired a waterline along Mountain Road three years ago, they damaged a culvert pipe, which at the time they repaired by placing an insert in the pipe. The DEEP has now informed the town that this insert is in violation of regulations, and it will begin charging Norfolk a penalty until it is fixed. Riiska said that he will get back to them with a plan for fixing the pipe.

In other business, the selectmen approved the appointments of Bart Wenrich as an alternate to the Planning & Zoning Commission, Theodore Otto as an alternate to the Inland Wetlands Agency, and Cheryl Heller and Jennifer Almquist to the Economic Development Commission.

The First Selectman passed around copies of the preliminary budget for FY 2025/26 for the selectmen to review. Remarking that the budget had been a difficult one to work on, in part because 2025 was a revaluation year, he pointed out some of the highlights of the proposed budget.

The total budget is $8,427,157. The education budget is $4,467,294, which is down $103,883 for Botelle School and $179,052 for Regional 7. The figure for town government is $3,595,863, and all town employees will receive a 2.5 percent raise. There is $75,000 for the new firehouse in the budget that will go toward interest payments on any loans the town has to take out.

House prices have gone up, and the grand list, at $366,458,625, is up $84,205,327, or 28.83 percent, over the 2024/25 fiscal year. The mill rate is 22.61, down from this year’s 28.40. 

Riiska reminded the selectmen that numbers being presented at their meeting were preliminary, and the budget would be presented to the Board of Finance on April 8 (see separate article on that meeting). It will go before a town meeting for a vote in May.