Ledyard Town Meeting Tonight On 2012-13 Budget

A Town Meeting on the $49.16 million municipal budget for 2012-13 will be held at 7:00 p.m. tonight in the auditorium. This will be the last public meeting on the spending plan before a referendum vote on Tuesday.

The budget in question will likely result in a zero increase tax rate and residents won’t have to wait long to find out. at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.

As the budget was worked out, the town faced a $407,248 shortfall in its general fund. The balance was found, in part, by making . Also, the school district for use in the 2012-13 budget.

, which is a small decrease from this year’s school budget and a remarkable accomplishment given the Town Council’s request for a zero increase plan.

in order to deliver a zero increase budget. The number reflects the loss of a one-time grant and

The school board was able to make some reductions in areas not related to personnel accounts but a lion’s share of the .

Or rather,

Jerry Lentz, a part-time biology teacher; Patricia Rimmele, a part-time family and consumer science teacher and Trisha Roberge, a full-time special education teacher, were all described as “excellent teachers” by Graner, who said their positions had been eliminated in the 2012-13 budget.

“I don’t want anybody sitting in this room, or sitting at home or at any of these tables to think ‘why are we giving $200,000 to the town when we have terminated some contracts,'” said the board’s finance chair Michelle Hinton, at a school board meeting. “Two different accounts – that is not something we could have done.”

Referendum Question

On Tuesday, voters will be asked, "shall the Town of Ledyard adopt a Fiscal Year 2012/2013 Budget as proposed by the Town Council in the amount of $49,169,552?"

Voters may vote for or against the budget Tuesday, May 22, from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the following locations:

District One: Ledyard Center School
District Two: Juliet W. Long School
District Three: Juliet W. Long School