Simsbury Board of Finance Meeting February 18, 2025 Public Audience

Board of Finance Public Hearing February 18, 2025

I am opposed to the purchase of 2 Farms Village Road for Special Education or any other purpose.

The purchase price of $625,000 for 2 Farms Village Road is not consistent with Market Values of Commercial Real Estate at the present time.

2 Farms Village Road has been vacant for 3 years, lowering the price of the building.

The lost revenue on the property tax on the building is $14,817.95 and the additional personal property taxes will be lost yearly.

The “spend to save’ theory is a myth.

What is being proposed is budget chicanery with cost-sharing and bartering for work related improvements to the building with the owners providing some of the improvements.

The costs for owner/town relationships have not been established, subject to owner approval.

These stipulations could be a deal-breaker for the purchase of the property.

Therefore, Phase 1 $1 million Phase 2 $400,0000 numbers are subject to change at unknown costs.

This is like putting Band-Aids on a deep wound that requires a tourniquet while the blood continues to gush out of the body and consider it containment.

The commercial building would have to be retrofitted to house students with special needs in a school setting.

This is costly.

Classrooms would have to be built, a kitchen with food services is absent, an elevator would have to be built for the 2-story building.

There is no money in this proposal for security, prepping and painting walls and adding fixtures, heating, landscaping, and furniture.

The Board of Finance cannot be myopic in their discussions but look to the cost analysis of present and future costs.

What is before you, are $1.4 million for the cost of the building to accommodate Special Education which is unrealistic.

Subjecting the taxpayers to a “Field of Dreams,” in several phases remains a cost to the taxpayer that has fuzzy math and budget chicanery.

The Board of Finance should be mindful that the Grand List has diminished by $800,000.

Any additional expenditures will increase taxes.

This proposal, if approved, will have a devastating effect on future spending as it will suck expenditures for much needed roof replacements, renovations to schools etc. that will eventually create unrepairable damage and safety issues, another burden on the taxpayer.

The present model for expenditures in Special Education will bankrupt the communities.

The Attorney General should place an injunction on spending for Special Education until a new model is developed that is fair and equitable for all.

The system is broken and the model for funding is archaic.

The Attorney General should be required to establish a State-wide model for Special Education with a cost-sharing plan statewide to reduce costs long-term and place an injunction on the present spending.

A formula with cost-containment on all services provided to Special Education students.

The containment of Special Education students should remain as they are until a complete plan is generated addressing long-term costs.

Now is not the time to place an added burden on the taxpayer with unknown legacy costs with an additional building and additional staff.

It appears that the purchase of 2 Farms Village Road is again a rush to judgement on the needs and costs of a failed proposal.

The Board of Finance should be the gatekeepers of expenditures and not “go along to get along”.

This has become a political football and the Board of Finance must vote NO on this proposal and protect the taxpayers from a runaway budget.

No deal is better than a bad deal.