Ledyard to Vote on Town Budget, Police Station

Ledyard residents are on the brink of deciding on the Town’s next spending plan and whether or not to build a new police station. The Town's budget raised few eyebrows and resulted even less discussion; all departments were asked to write a lean budget and a majority of the increases allowed were contractual.  

The ballot will ask residents to approve of a $50,136,531 budget, which is comprised of a general government budget of $20,442,567 and a Board of Education budget of $29,693,964. The $50.1 million budget will increase the tax rate by a little less than three-tenths of a mill to 28.22.

The police station is another issue. The Town’s 20+ police force has been stationed in a converted barn since 1995 and they’re saying the building’s time is up. In an open house early this month Ledyard Police Lt. Michael Finkelstein said the building is now having significant failures in the heating and cooling system, the building has been flooded with rain water and sewage back up and now has mold issues. Aside from all that, there it’s pretty cramped, said Finkelstein.   Mayor John Rodolico and the building committee have proposed a building that residents will approve or not today. The proposed building will be located next to Town Hall and will require some land acquisition from Holdrige Enterprises. The ballot asks residents to authorize the town to go to bond for $6,750,000 although the building may not cost that much.  

The proposed building includes sally ports and jail cells and sets up the department nicely if they decide to become an independent police force. 

Comments in related articles have spanned the spectrum from support to lack of. People say it costs too much or that they don’t like the location. Most of those in favor say it’s long overdue.

According to reports in NorwichBulletin.com, "The 12,354-square-foot station would add $479,937 per year to the town’s debt load between fiscal year 2016 and fiscal 2025 and boost the tax rate by as much as 0.405 mills per year during that span, according to projections made by Finance Director Marcia Hancock." 

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. There are three polling places in town:

• District 1 voters cast ballots at Ledyard Center School, 470 Colonel Ledyard Hwy.
  
• District 2 and 3 voters cast ballots at the Juliet W. Long School at 1854 Route 12, Gales Ferry.