Polling Places For Tuesday's New London Referendum

A Tuesday vote will determine whether to retain the New London municipal and school budgets as well as the tax rate for the 2014 fiscal year or reject the appropriations and have the City Council take up the issue anew.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. District One voters will cast their ballots at the New London High School and District Two voters will do so at the Harbor School. District Three, which usually votes at the Nathan Hale School, will vote at Ocean Beach Park due to ongoing work at the school.

The poll questions ask if the $41,565,314 budget for general government, $40,414,666 budget for New London Public Schools, and mill rate - or tax per $1,000 of assessed value - of 27.5 should be approved. Voters will decide on each measure individually.

The school budget is a 1.5 percent increase over the 2013 fiscal year and represents the first increase in municipal funding to the district after five consecutive years of level funding. The Board of Education has said the increase will cover contractual salary increases as well as increased energy and transportation costs.

The municipal budget is a 0.78 percent increase over the 2013 fiscal year budget. One of the biggest changes in the budget is an approximately $900,000 cut to the New London Police Department. Police Chief Margaret Ackley has said the cut would necessitate 15 layoffs, or removing five officers per shift. Mayor Daryl Finizio said no layoffs would take place before the second quarter of the fiscal year to look for additional savings within the budget.

The tax rate is a 3.38 percent increase over the 2013 fiscal year.

The City Council voted 4-3 to approve the budget appropriations on May 21 and unanimously to approve the tax rate. Councilors opposed to the budgets supported alternate proposals put forth by Councilor Adam Sprecace; other councilors said they could not support Sprecace's recommendations due to significant differences between his projections and those of Finance Director Jeff Smith on areas such as savings in employee insurance and costs.

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