Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting February 10, 2025

Board of Selectmen Meeting February 10, 2025

The taxpayers can no longer support the continued escalation in spending for Special Education.

It is time to have a taxpayer’s revolution until there is an appropriate model developed that would address cost containment.

Special Education spending has exploded over the years with no stops in place for controlled spending.

The Model that is used for allocation of funds is archaic with no controls in spending.

The support services for Special Education have “gamed” the system with escalating costs for services.

The Model must be changed with the State developing a model for funding Special Education.

The Attorney General should immediately issue an injunction on all spending for Special Education.

The State under the direction of the Attorney General, should be charged with regulating all expenditures with a cap for Special Education services.

Fixed costs should be regulated by the State with all support groups applying for a permit to network into the system.

The ones accepted to supply services should report quarterly on their accomplishments and supply input to tweak the system to continue improving on the Model.

Those who do not meet the requirements will not receive permits and will not be allowed to supply services.

Hospitals should be expanded to increase services at a fixed cost.

All costs above the regulated expenditures should be absorbed by the parents on an income-based model.

Placing all services under the State, there would be shared services at reduced costs.

Satellite State departments throughout the State would allocate services to Special Education.

The State has the “power of the purse” and should use it to place fixed costs on all services for Special Education.

Purchasing a commercial building at 2 Farms Village Road that is overpriced to use as a school is costly.

There is no rush to purchase the building as it has been vacant for over 3 years.

Repurposing the building with classrooms, an elevator, security, furniture, heating, and lunchrooms are costly.

Tasking the owner of the property to absorb some of the tasks of painting the building and reconfiguring the offices into classrooms to reduce the costs will not “save to spend.”

The owners of the building will have to comply with our requirements for the purchase of building leading to unattainable tasks and unknown costs that will become a sale-breaker.

The presentation by the Board of Education and the Town for a project not to exceed $1.4 million is budgetary chicanery with fuzzy math with the end justifying the means.

Wrapping Special Education around the purchase of the building will not produce any different outcomes Special Education provides in the present configuration of services.

The costs will escalate until a different model is adopted to cap costs for services.

We cannot continue spending on a failed model for funding Special Education and expect a different outcome.

At the present time there is a deficit of $800,000 in the Grand List.

All spending should be reduced as our revenues are diminished.

There should be a moratorium on spending with no increases in the 2025 budget.

The present budget has a CNR appropriation of $30,000 for an equity audit that should be removed.

All DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) funding and practices in the schools and government should be eliminated as it is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The Federal government has mandated all businesses remove DEI from hiring practices and regulations.

Federal funds will be withheld if this practice continues.

DEI is dead as a mechanism for discriminatory practices and the Town should eliminate government sponsored groups associated with the DEI movement.

It appears that the Pickleball Courts in Tariffville Park have been delayed by FEMA to satisfy the requirements for building 6 courts, 2 are in the Floodplain and the other 4 are in the floodway.

However, in my conversation with a FEMA employee on February 7, 2025, I was told that 4 courts, cement with rebars could be built and ready for late Spring.

We discussed the alternatives and it was concluded that the cement courts were the appropriate use of the funds.

The 4 courts in a floodway requires less stringent approvals.

To get approval for construction, the Town must provide a “No Rise Analysis” for the construction of the Cement courts that will last for years.

The rush to construct asphalt courts that will heave in a year, is spending good money for a bad project.

The Town received $350,000 from ARPA funding to construct Pickleball courts with cement and rebars, not wasted on inferior asphalt courts that will not last.

The taxpayers of Simsbury should expect good judgement on the allocation of funds from our elected officials.