Town Council - Special Meeting

For the oath, please. Paul, can you guide us in the oath, sir?

I swear by faith... ...that to the Republic... ...a nation... ...a freedom... ...a moment of silence for men... ...veterans... ...veterans... Kate.

Can I have a candidacy for a moment?

I propose a candidacy.

Who's in favour?

I'm against. Thank you, Kate.

I would like to read the notice for the extraordinary citizen assembly. The voters of the city of New Milford and those who have the right to vote in the citizen assembly are here warned and informed that an extraordinary citizen assembly of people will be held in the hall at Paul Martin on the upper floor of the municipality on Monday, August 24, 2026 at 6 p.m. to examine and deliberate as appropriate on the following order of the day. The city will have to deposit 87 dollars. from the capital reserve fund as follows update of the parking and rec security cameras at the endemic park for 6,000 dollars new milford ambulance 18.25 dollars for the hvac controller of the ambulance deposit police department of new milford for a vehicle for 77 dollars New Milford, August 14th, 2026 And I would like to know if there is anyone from the audience who would like to speak to the city assembly.

Diana.

Oh, yes, there is. We have Cristin Wilson. Cristin, if I could get you close to the door. You have to give this name and your address, please. You have five minutes.

All right.

Good evening. Five minutes. It's three or five. We haven't done it in a long time, I thought it was three. What do you want? Three. Five. You're already there, Christine.

Good evening, Mayor Bassi, members of the Municipal Council. My name is Christine Wilkes. I live on 79 Darwin Hill Road. My husband Thomas Wilkes and I have been members of this city and owners of properties for 35 years. My husband is a Vietnam War veteran who served proudly in the United States Army in Vietnam for 16 months. New Milford has always been proud to support our veterans and I respectfully ask the mayor and the municipal council to consider the adoption of an additional municipal tax exemption for veterans with TDIU. For those of you who are not familiar with this assessment, TDIU stands for total inability for individual unemployment. My husband Tom is considered 100% invalid in the department for the business of veterans in a total and permanent way, since he is not eligible due to disabilities related to the service. All the benefits of a 100% evaluation at the VA are recognized. Currently, some municipalities, indeed all municipalities, must provide the basic exemptions provided by the State, but municipalities have the option of extending further tax exemptions to disabled veterans classified as 100% as total and permanent, including those with TDIO. Many of our cities have adopted this optional tax exemption and I hope that New Milford follows the example of our neighbors in honoring our disabled veterans and in alleviating their financial burdens. I brought a copy of the letter along with the support documentation that I sent via email a few weeks ago to be distributed to the Mayor and to each member of the Municipal Council. Thank you for your time and for taking into consideration my request.

For her it's fine. The meeting we're holding right now is a special meeting regarding the advance. But if it's fine, we'll take note of her comments. We'll take her... We'll put it in the verbal and in the verbal.

It was told by the assessor that this was at the order of the day tonight, which is... And it's... For the ordinary meeting.

Ah, okay.

And I was told to be here at 7. We'll make sure it's put in the verbal. Do I have to give you the information?

Yes, you can.

Please, thank him. Yes, sir.

It's an honor for me to be here tonight.

The address is 19 Hillcrest in Millford, Connecticut.

As a great contributor, I enthusiastically support this expense. Buying now or paying more later. And there are many safety items in this expense. It is prudent. it is very important to proceed with this tonight because sometimes it takes a long time to obtain the product given the current economy and send it back to the next balance it would only delay it another year it will end up costing you more for the same product So it makes a lot of sense, Mayor, that you have presented these elements that are really necessary for this community. Police, ambulances, our department of firemen, the department of public works, our marshal of firemen. So I support this with enthusiasm to bring it to an end. Thank you very much.

We have another one, a John Whitman.

I don't know where they are.

Good evening, mayor Bass, members of the council, members of the public staff. There are many components that make our city of the United States of the United States. And no less important than these components is the exceptional maintenance and care of our structures and our more than 200 miles of roads that are managed every single day and lovingly cared for by the team of workers who take care of it religiously every day. A positive vote for the expenses of the Department of Public Works and for those of the other department heads will certainly mean our support for the work of our city leadership and the management staff.

I would like to read a couple of verbal things. First of all, just for information, the financial council of New Milford held its special meeting on July 29, 2026, where they first examined the placement for the school council of their capital reserve, 1,964 billion dollars. 450.000$ for technology, 22.500$ for music and bands, 20.000$ for athletics, 46.000$ for facilities at the district level, a minibar of 26.000$. It was for the structures. This has been proposed by Mr. O'Connor and I believe that the motion is passed in agreement with Mr. Bayer, Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Gaffalo Contrari. The next point is the discussion of a possibility to deposit 66,760 dollars from the liquidation fund of the discharge for the entry signal of parks and recreational activities $12,020 for the services, $32,000 for the roof and the grottoes of the Balneare establishment, $5,200 for the base of the fountain and the water dispensers.

Mr. Conrad proposed to deposit $60,60.

The motion was supported by Mr. Bayer and passed unanimously.

The financial council also took charge of the deposit we are talking about tonight, $87,

From the city capital reserve, we have talked about this. Still, but for the motion. Updates on park safety cameras and recreational activities at the Endeming Park for 6,000 dollars. New Milford Ambulance Reset, 18,125 for the control and the HVAC of the Reset. Milford Police Department vehicle for 7,000 dollars. Public works, 300,000 for the Spazzaneve and Sentry Brass, 143,000 for environmental compliance according to federal and state directives for the Sentry Brass, 120,000 dollars for the undersea washing system for the current plant, 50,000 dollars for the pick-ups, 50,000 dollars for the service vehicle, up to 42,000 dollars for the fire engine. This motion was presented to Mr. O'Connor, supported by Mr. Bayer and approved unanimously. It was also passed to the Municipal Council, which presented its own motions. Let me get that one too. The first one was on Monday... Sorry guys, hang on a second. It was on July 27th. This is the one in which the agreement for the discharge of 66,000 was approved, supported by Mr. Esposito, and the motion is passed. The ambulance. Then the discussion on the 7, the 7,6, the 7,6, the 7,6, the 7,6, the 7,6, the 7,6, the 7,6. Those concerned parks and recreation, the ambulance, the police department, the police stations, the snowplows. 50,000 for the pick-ups, 120,000 for the undercarriage that we talked about, 42,000 for the fire department's vehicle, 50,000 for the service vehicle. This motion has been made. Let's see. I believe the gentleman is speaking. As you can see, both the city and the financial committee have approved these expenses as they are. Furthermore, during the meeting of the Municipal Council previous to the 27th, the Council approved the request of the Instruction Council to use funds in surplus for the necessary work. I repeat, I think it is something that the city has been doing since 2017.

It is a correct use of funds.

As we all remember, I know that Diana, you were also in the financial committee, you have members of the financial committee. It is money that the city obtains from unexpected income, in addition to possible expenses not completely sustained during those years, and this is quickly linked to other components of the surplus. Now, the surplus we are voting for today is not the one from last year. This surplus must be ratified and the reviewers must agree.

This comes from previous years.

So it was already there and this is an excellent use of money. So let's take the snowbreaker, 300,000 dollars. If you wait another six months, it could become 340,000 dollars. And we also need the snowplow, because as it was said here during our meeting of the Municipal Council, I'm just using this as an example, we had our Department of Public Works, who came to talk about the needs and the snowplow. Mr. Healy was present to discuss the purchase of a new snowplow. He explained that Public Works would like to replace a truck a year to keep it in order.

And again, these vehicles are used 12 months a year.

We have to keep them in a cycle to ensure that they are used correctly. It is the most efficient way to use funds. So, having said that, would anyone else like to speak during public participation?

Yes, I just want to offer a different perspective. I think that, like the cities of New Milford, we are wrong in the way we manage taxes. Frankly, I think that we are taxing too many people and it can be argued that there is an advantage in having a surplus so that we can use it to buy things later. And that's how we get our credit rating A.I.A.A. But there are many cities with a rating of A and their surplus is not as big as ours. Ours is typically between 15 and 20%, which is so much in very difficult times in which people are struggling with the increase of property taxes, the cost of food, and they don't know how to pay the health expenses and... And I don't think we have to stay so high. Ridgefield, Fairfield, Grinchfield at 12%, Fairfield at 11%, Greenwich at 8%. They are doing it in a more intelligent way than us. I think we are taxing too many people and I would like to see some money put aside in order to be able to use it to lower the tax liability the next time we define taxes. So, it's a great premise, the one for which, in our next meeting of the Municipal Council, we will talk about this and the use of the surplus that actually reduces the tax burden for the contributor, because the funds you are talking about are unforeseen income accounts. So, if you don't reach the income goal, will you end up having to return to the contributor again? For me, the basic math says that if you buy a vehicle at a certain price with inflationary pressures between 8 and 12 and 15, it will cost more than this request of 800,000 dollars that is approaching a million next year, 900,000 dollars that the contributor should spend. It is not about taxing the taxpayer again, it is about using funds from various sources of income, keeping an eye on the expenses and comparing our tax revenue with that of other cities. It's a great conversation to face, focused on providing the most advantageous and economical way to serve our residents and our entrepreneurial community. And I can't wait. Any other questions or comments?

I just want to say that 70% of our classes go to schools, which means that if you pay 10,000 dollars now, 7,000 of these go to the failing public school system. So, do you want to cut this?

Anyway, to make it short, we can't cut it. We have to pay it by law, as you know. Anyway, to make it short, 30% for the benefit of our students, 30% for the functioning of our city. I fully support this thing. Is it necessary to adjust it? Only 30%. 70% goes to the failing school system. That's where the taxes go. It is not a failing school system. It is a school system in trouble because it is underfunded. With insufficient votes in mathematics and English. Every school system is in trouble.

Who is in favor?

Mi dispiace, non lo sento. Chi è a favore di questo?

Grazie. Contrari? Astenuti? Quindi grazie a tutti. Apprezzo molto la vostra presenza stasera e non vedo l'ora di partecipare alla nostra prossima riunione regolare del Consiglio Comunale alle 19. Grazie a tutti.