By: Maria & Bob Moore

Tomorrow evening’s Annual Budget Meeting is still on track to take place at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 26. However, if you do decide to go to that meeting, don’t be surprised if the proceedings don’t reflect the published Notice.

According to the published Notice of the Annual Budget Meeting, a copy of which was emailed by the First Selectman’s Office this afternoon (see copy below), the Notice includes the same two items that were approved by the Selectmen at their April 18 Special Board of Selectmen Meeting, even though at that same Special BOS Meeting, they immediately removed Item # 1 from the agenda of the Annual Budget Meeting. Since no other agenda or Notice for this meeting has been publicized, the only way you would know that the agenda had been changed is by reading NewHartfordPlus or by going to the Town Clerk’s Office and asking specifically about the agenda for tomorrow’s Annual Budget Meeting.

Tomorrow’s meeting will not include Item # 1, the consideration of the town budget as proposed by the Board of Finance, and Item # 2 moves that proposed budget, not the budget acted upon by the voters, directly to referendum. We have been questioning the legality of moving the BOF’s proposed budget directly to referendum without it having been considered at the Annual Budget Meeting before being moved to a vote, as required by State Statute 7-344. This same question was asked 20 years ago by then-First Selectman Reggie Smith Jr. to the then-town attorney, Jack Pickard who had put together the town ordinance which allows this to happen. Attorney Pickard was of the opinion that the ordinance is not valid and that if challenged in court it would be held to be invalid. In his opinion letter dated July 24, 1990, he said:

“In my opinion, the ordinance is not valid. I do not believe the town meeting had the authority to enact an ordinance which conflicts with the statutory procedures for bringing matters to referendum…. In my opinion, the ordinance is in conflict with State Statute…”

This is what the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance base the current procedure of passing a budget in our town on, a procedure which is not reflected in the published Notice of the Annual Budget Meeting. We are continuing to challenge the validity of the ordinance and the departure by the Board of Selectmen from the process for passing a budget that is clearly outlined by State Statute. We will update this item as events develop.

Notice of Annual Budget Meeting mailed on April 25, 2011 by First Selectman's Office.

Note: We did not continue with a petition to present at the Annual Budget Meeting to follow the procedure as set out in the published Notice of Annual Budget Meeting because we were informed by the Town Clerk that she did not believe that State Statutes allow such a petition.