Support of Tolland Budget

Residents of Tolland,

I am writing to support the 5-2 vote for the Tolland budget increase of 1.41 mills, or an overall 3.78% increase. These votes were from a diverse group of 2 Democrats, one unaffiliated, and 2 Republicans, reflecting the varied perspectives of our community. We discussed the final budget for over 6 hours and believe this is a sustainable budget for Tolland.

Tolland Town Council represents an entire community, including families, seniors, single families,low-income families, and businesses.

The Town Council is responsible for making financial decisions for the town government and the Board of Education, which includes the Department of Public Works and Parks, Community Services (Human Services, Recreation, Library,) Tolland Fire Department, and Law Enforcement.

While acknowledging that this budget is not perfect, it does offer a balanced approach to benefiting our community.

Our budget has undergone significant financial changes, all of which have been made with the best interests of our community in mind. One such change is the reallocation of $650,000 from the BoE operating budget for the ESCO utility payment to the town's debt side. Additionally, the Town Council has provided:

• A 3.91% increase to the BoE.
• This is the highest increase for a Town Council.
• Demonstrating our commitment to education in Tolland.

Our first-year capital plan helps improve the town and the Board of Education's upgrades and long-term investments. The plan also includes a project for an ADA sidewalk on Tolland Green and improvements in the Veterans Area.

As part of the Town Council vote, the Town Council included a $2,500 increase to the professional services line in the ambulance budget. The increase is intended to attract more EMTs to volunteer in our community, as there are significant shortages of EMTs. We also increased the $500.00 for Senior Programming, as the senior center is becoming popular for all our seniors and the growing senior population.

On the Town side, the only increase is due to increased everyday costs. No new staff were hired, and the Town Council knows there were requests from some department heads seen in the proposed budget. Reviewing the budget will show that some departments, such as Law Enforcement and Public Safety, went into negative budgeting.

Again, although not perfect, it was a 5-2 vote from democrats, unaffiliated, and republicans working together until 1:00 AM for a budget for Tolland. This was bipartisan support.

Please join me in voting on May 7th in the Library Program room. Polls open at 6 AM and close at 8 PM. If the budget does not pass, further reductions and staff reductions are at risk.

Colleen Yudichak
Town Councilor -Seat 1