Budget Cuts Hit Windsor Locks

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — Windsor Locks voters will head back to the polls July 14 for a fourth budget referendum, and some town services are already warning residents about what the latest round of cuts could mean.

The new ballot asks voters to decide three questions: a $64,434,350 town operating budget, a $455,623 Tax Increment Financing District budget and a $102,522 capital budget.

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The vote comes after three failed budget referendums. The most recent vote, held June 30, failed on all three questions. Voters rejected the operating budget 788-318, the TIF budget 712-394 and the capital budget 678-425, according to results previously posted by First Selectman Jon Savino’s office.

After that vote, town officials met to make more cuts and send another budget back to voters.

Those reductions are now drawing concern from the Windsor Locks Public Library and Windsor Locks Park and Recreation.

In a notice titled “Save Your Library,” the library said the latest budget approved by the Board of Finance cuts the library budget in half, from $470,000 to $235,000.

The library said that amount would not cover basic expenses such as heat, water, lights and the database used to check out books. The library also said the cut would likely lead to staff layoffs, reduced hours, no new books, no storytimes, no book clubs, no new programs and limited access to public computers.

“At a $235,000 budget level, the Library cannot meet its payroll obligations,” the library wrote in the notice.

The library also said $235,000 is close to its 1992 budget level, when the library budget was $235,960.

Park and Recreation also warned families that the cuts could affect summer programs.

In a message to day camp and swim lesson families, Windsor Locks Park and Recreation said the department’s budget was cut by $100,000 after the third failed referendum. The department said that amounts to roughly one-third of its remaining operating budget, which had already been cut by $30,000 after the first referendum.

The department said day camp and swim lessons would run as scheduled through July 10, but it could not promise anything beyond that date.

Park and Recreation said the most likely outcome would be the town pool closing Friday, July 10, and the remaining five weeks of summer camp being modified into a half-day program or canceled completely.

The Park Commission is expected to meet Monday night to discuss what changes are needed.

The July 14 referendum will again ask voters to vote “Yes” or “No” on the town operating budget, TIF budget and capital budget. The library’s notice said a “No” vote on question one means a voter disagrees with the library budget reduction, while a “Yes” vote means a voter agrees with the reduction.

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