Budget petition certified

Measure demands New London either cut government spending or put plan to a vote

New London — The City Clerk has certified a petition that demands the City Council either reduce the approved general government budget or send it to taxpayers for a citywide referendum vote.

The impact of the petition is likely to be unclear until the City Council takes it up next week.

Republican Karen Paul, a member of the petitioning committee, said the petition was as much about a proposed pay- as- youthrow trash removal program as it was the $49.86 million budget.

Trash bag issue

The trash issue has led to spirited debates over the past several weeks and is expected to continue into next month when the council votes on its implementation.

“A lot of this had to do with the yellow trash bag thing. Everybody looks at it as another tax,” Paul said. “Initially the concept for the yellow bags was to get the nonprofits to contribute. But there are other ways to do that. We’re just tired of the taxes going up and the services going down.”

As approved, the general government budget calls for a 3.16 percent increase over the current budget and contains several layoffs, including a bus driver at the senior center.

Signatures collected for a petition on the $43.13 million education budget were not submitted thanks to a deal struck between school board members and petitioners that led to financial documents being made public on the school district website.

The combined $ 92.99 million spending plan would raise the city’s mill rate by .6 mills. Both budgets passed with 4-3 votes by the City Council.

City Council President Anthony Nolan, chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, was not immediately available to comment Monday on how the council will approach the petition.

A successful petition on the current budget last year led to a repeal of the budget but not a referendum. The City Council instead, fac-

ing a 9 percent tax increase because of a severe drop in state aid, enacted a spending freeze and ultimately reduced both of its budgets while waiting for a state budget to be passed. The education side sustained the more severe hit.

This year’s petition was spearheaded jointly by the Neighborhood Alliance and the Republican Town Committee.

City Clerk Jonathan Ayala said he finished verifying enough names on the petition on Friday. About 400 were submitted and 311, or 10 percent of the number of people who voted in the last election, were needed to certify the petition. Ayala said he stopped at 320.

The City Council is slated to vote on the pay-as-you-throw trash program at its July 16 meeting. The move is aimed at increasing recycling rates and curb the rising costs of disposing of its trash. The program will require all trash be disposed of in special yellow bags – the largest of which costs $1.

The cost of leasing a fleet of five new Public Works trash collection vehicles, $250,000 in the first year, was included in the approved general government budget. Public Works Director Brian Sear said the new trucks were needed even if the city did not implement the new program. The city estimates it will save at least $600,000 a year by switching to the new program.

Some residents argue not only against paying for garbage bags but foresee a rise in garbage throughout the city if the bags left curbside are torn open by animals.