Transition Went Well; Budget Challenges Remain
I’m happy to report my first few weeks in office have gone very well. Anytime a transition from one administration to another occurs there can be things that fall through the cracks or get overlooked. Linda Hodge did her very best to make my entry into this job as smooth as it could possibly be and I’m very grateful to her for all the assistance she has given.
I’m also very appreciative of the staff in town who has worked very hard to get me up to speed on their current operations, issues, and challenges. As I continue to learn more and analyze town functions, I’m sure I’ll be proposing some changes in the future. For right now, I’m still continuing to gather information as I don’t want to make any recommendations before I have a full understanding of everything.
I can however share with you some overall observations I have made. The town offers many services to the public as we want to meet as many needs as possible. This of course is a good thing. However, it comes at a price. The desire to fund some of these programs and services has short-changed our ability to adequately maintain our infrastructure. Buildings, vehicles, and roads all need to be serviced on a regular basis and the less we are able to spend on maintaining these, the more we are going to have to spend in the long term. The bottom line is that as we look at next year’s budget, we as a town may have some tough decisions to make about the best place to spend our funds.
Budget Issues
One of the challenges that we have to face as a town is this year’s budget. Unfortunately, the state budget is currently in deficit and Gov. Rell has proposed a 3% cut in total municipal aid this fiscal year. At this point, it is not known what the exact impact to Colchester might be. However, we have to prepare for the worst and begin thinking about how to manage our way through this budget crisis.
Working with the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance, I hope to enact a strategy that will enable us to deal with any eventuality. The hard part is trying to make plans not knowing what the state is going to do. I’ll be sure to keep everyone informed as we learn more and what actions we decide to take.
Senior Center Study Group
Last week, we had our first meeting of the Senior Center Study Group. The current Senior Center is a good facility, but the needs of our community have outgrown the limitations of the existing space. The group is comprised of representatives from other boards, organizations, and interested citizens who have all generously volunteered their time to give a recommendation on how the town should move forward on a new center.
They have several options to review including a new stand alone Senior Center, a new joint Community Center, or leveraging existing space. Providing services to our seniors is something we must continue to do and I hope the recommendation made by this group will help enable the town to continue to address their growing needs.
- Gregg Schuster
First Selectman
Previous Selectman Notes can be viewed at
| 