Voters pass $34.04M spending plan

PORTLAND — Residents approved the 2018-19 town budget Monday with fewer than 10 percent of those eligible voting.

The tally — 305-251 — is quite similar to last year’s outcome, according to Town Clerk Ryan J. Curley. Last year, the result was 339 yes to 249 no, he said.

The Board of Selectmen is scheduled to meet Wednesday night to set the tax rate needed to pay for the $34.04 million budget, which includes $20.68 million in spending for education and $9.96 million for general government, the non-education portion.

General government, which includes funding for police, fire and public safety, as well as the highway department and the various offices of town government, also includes debt service: money used to pay down the debt of previously approved bond issues.

While the margins of approval were similar, the total of those who voted was slightly higher than last year, Curley said. The 588 people who voted in 2017were 9.5 percent of those eligible to vote.

This year, the 556 voters equaled 9.05 percent of the 6,141 registered voters, he said.

In commenting on the results of the referendum, First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield touched upon Monday’s low turnout.

“I’m very pleased the budget passed. However, what I am always disappointed about is the number of people who vote. I’d like to see more people participate,” she said, adding the town made a concerted effort to make people aware of the referendum.

“There was a lot of publicity

both in the Rivereast and The Middletown Press, and there was a lot of discussion about the budget on Facebook,” she said. A lot of meetings were held by both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education in putting the budget together.

“I intend to continue to work to on getting more people to get out and vote,” she said, adding, “I’m open to suggestions. It’s important for people to participate.”

Bransfield thanked those who came to vote as well as town staff, superintendent of schools and Board of Education members for their help in crafting the budget.

Curley also expressed concern about the turnout. “I will be working with the registrars Pauline Neumann and Athena Neville on ways to increase voting awareness and get more residents to the polls for next year.”

He also offered thanks “to our poll workers, election moderators and the registrars of voters for running such a smooth operation. I would also like to thank (Superintendent of Schools) Philip O’Reilly for allowing us to use of the middle school as our polling location.

“We are fortunate to have a great team behind every successful election and this year was no different,” Curley said.

While turnout was much less than Bransfield and Curley would have preferred, it was significantly higher than the May 1 budget referendum in Cromwell. Just 286 people out of the more 10,000 eligible turned out to cast their votes at that time.