Windsor: The West Hartford You Can Afford

West Hartford's a lovely town. I visit there often, and have friends who live there. It's home to some of my favorite places to shop. My friend Liz Dupont-Diehl sent me this interesting perspective last night: "I moved to Windsor close to 15 years ago after an exhaustive search of Hartford’s ring towns. We knew we wanted to be close to Hartford. We wanted a two-family and preferably a duplex. We wanted good schools, natural settings, a yard, a vibrant community, and diversity. It’s lucky we wound up in Windsor. We didn’t even look here at first, instead dragging our toddlers to look at home after home in West Hartford. The houses and lawns were tiny and all seemed to be on wide and busy roads. When we finally did look in Windsor we found lovely homes and a nice community. And, when putting the sale price and expenses into our spreadsheet, it made a lot of sense. I’ve appreciated the town more and more with time, as my kids have gone through Roger Wolcott, Oliver Ellsworth, Sage Park, an excellent Sheff Magnet, and Windsor High School. I love seeing the whole town at free events all summer on the town green. Ballet classes at LP Wilson, being minutes away from all the great activities and my job in Hartford, Northwest Park and cross-country skiing, corporate tax dollars helping keep my taxes low…the benefits were many. My kids got violin lessons at their school! And they have grown up in schools that reflect the world they’ll live in. The experiences my family has had here are priceless. I started joking to my friends the Windsor is “The West Hartford You Can Afford." Many would nod and smile: Yes! I looked it up recently and found West Hartford’s mill rate is 35.75 to Windsor’s 27.96 – that’s 27.9% higher than ours. My memory of those spreadsheets, calculating out monthly cost of living and having Windsor come out way ahead, was true. I’m writing about this now because, like many, I believe Windsor Works. We have sensible taxes and outstanding services and our town is a great place to live and raise a family. I understand that people are frustrated with many issues – but please realize that voting down another budget will cut us to the quick. Vote yes, stay involved, keep speaking out. But vote yes and keep talking about what’s important so we can move forward."