Letter: There’s Three Questions On Seymour’s Ballot Nov. 5

Come November, outside of the usual municipal elections, there are going to be three questions on the ballot that have to do with Seymour bonding” – borrowing, essentially – money for various goals. 

With Seymour’s strong bond rating and low debt, this is an opportune time to borrow for the betterment of the town.

The three questions are in regards to separate projects: road repairs, upgrades to emergency services, and a new Community Center.

ROAD REPAIRS – The town will be requesting $5m for road repairs, based on a report by the Town Engineer (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for a copy of the report).

Every road in town is graded on a yearly basis based on overall condition – A is good, D is bad, etc. – and that metric, along with traffic and logistical analysis, informs this report.

There are three sections to the report:

1) Roads that are accounted for by a grant from the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP). This is all set to go and will be done regardless of vote. We don’t pay a dime.

2) Roads that have been deemed priorities, which would be fixed by the $5m grant (Note that the far-right column is cumulative funding, not the cost of one road; it accumulates)

3) Roads that we would be able to find the money to repair through the normal budgeting process should we have the $5m bond approved.

EMERGENCY SERVICES UPGRADES – The town is asking to borrow $1.4m to be able to upgrade communications equipment for emergency services, which include but are not limited to the Police Department, both firehouses, and VEMS. Generally speaking, these are upgrades to dispatching systems and other improvements on the back end to make the process of dispatching emergency services more efficient.

COMMUNITY CENTER – The town is requesting the ability to spend up to $15m to be able to build a new community center to replace the old, worn out and retrofitted building on Pine Street. Kurt Miller has been selling this project well, so he can answer any outstanding questions, but I am 100% on board with using our solid financial situation to our benefit to get a process started on a project that will likely not come close to that $15m number.

We get 550 words for these letters, and in talking up our referendums, I’ve almost run out of space to actually sell my campaign. In a sense, that’s what we’re about: young, hungry Democrats with a proven record of bipartisan success who are more interested in making Seymour better than we are in marketing. If you believe in that message, please, consider giving Row A your vote on Nov. 5.

The writer is running as a Democrat for the Seymour Board of Selectmen.

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