Ellington Residents Approve Budget

On Tuesday, Ellington residents came out to and approved the proposed budget by a vote of 523-290.

The voter turnout was nine percent.

The proposed overall budget was $48,133,654, which is a $1,587,570 – or 3.41 percent – increase over the current budget. The education portion of the budget is $33,133,990, which is a $1,451,394 – or 4.58 percent – increase over the 2011-12 budget.

After the referendum, the Board of Finance set the mil rate at 27.9 mils, an increase of .4 mils.

First Selectman Maurice Blanchette noted that the turnout was very low, but that there was not much controversy with this budget.

“But it’s still a bit scary with a count so low,” he said.

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Board of Finance Chairman Robert Clements noted another theory, saying that perhaps the townspeople are feeling comfortable enough with the way the town has been running the last several years.

“I think the townspeople in Ellington are very astute,” he said. “They really seem to know and understand what is going on. The state is in dire shape, they’re not giving us enough money, our increases in taxes have been minimal and we’ve tried to maintain enough money to carry on the services that the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Ed want to provide for the town.”

Clements gives the people who run the town a lot of credit for the successes that have been achieved.

“There isn’t another town around here that I would prefer live in, just because of the people involved in making it run,” he said. “We’re very fortunate. To have what we have in this town and still not have a tax rate that is out of sight is a credit to the people who are running the town.”

For specifics on the budget, check out the Ellington town Web site.