Woodbridge First Selectman Prioritizes Taxes, Schools, Business, and Country Club in Streamlined Monthly Message

In New England, we benefit from a long tradition of providing community members with the opportunity to engage directly in local governance. As your First Selectman, I strongly support and encourage this practice. 

I also understand that you are busy with families, work and other commitments. To ensure that you have the latest information on critical priorities we’re addressing, while respecting the limited time you may have available to focus on local issues, I plan to deliver my monthly message to you in a streamlined format I’m piloting this month.

My monthly reports will feature a review of actions and advances we are making in addressing four of the top priorities I emphasized during my campaign: controlling property taxes; supporting the continued excellence of our schools; making Woodbridge a more desirable destination for businesses; and developing a resolution for the county club property. I will also feature other key action items to ensure that everyone in Town is well informed.

‍Priorities

‍Our Taxes. We all have household budgets and know what it means to live within our means. The majority of our budget is fixed costs, salary and benefits. As we develop the next Town budget, we wrestle with how to address the required increases, maintain our infrastructure and make needed, incremental improvements, while limiting the burden on our taxpayers. Both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance are currently reviewing the budgets submitted by Town departments to identify which costs are essential to ensure that we are being prudent with your tax dollars. Next month I will have much more details on this important topic. You will, as always, have an opportunity to ask questions and weigh in at our preliminary Town budget meeting in April. 

‍Our Schools. Beecher Road School and Amity High are top-notch school systems that continue to attract families to our community. While it is the interaction between teachers and students that drives this success, our building infrastructure needs regular maintenance and—in the case of Beecher—major rethinking. Since the start of the new year, we have taken steps to replace a significant portion of the Beecher roof and make grounds improvements this summer that will address the impact of our increasingly volatile weather. The Beecher administration has secured State grant funds that will cover almost one-third the cost of the roof. In addition, the Board of Selectmen is working with Beecher administration to start an assessment process to understand how the physical structure of the school will need to evolve to meet the needs of a growing population of young learners.  We will continue to provide information and updates as we move forward on this.

Our Business Development. We have not fully capitalized on our potential for increasing commercial growth and activity as a source of revenue for our Town. The 2030 Committee, established by Beth Heller, developed a plan to change this in the Business District. By leveraging placemaking strategies to improve the vibrancy of the area and creating new pedestrian and automobile-friendly traffic flows, our business district will be better connected and more attractive to businesses and shoppers. To make this happen, we have applied for an $11 million state grant and we will be working closely with our Town Plan & Zoning commission on additional options and possibilities.

‍Our Country Club Property. I know from speaking with many of you during our campaign and at the polls, that many of you are counting on this administration to address the 155-acre Country Club of Woodbridge situation head-on. We are already reviewing land-use consulting proposals and hope to have a consultant in place in the spring to help us develop and present complete Woodbridge-specific options based on Town input and need. Once we have these recommendations, we will craft a plan that benefits our community without burdening our taxpayers. I will have much more to share with you about this in coming months.

‍Other Priorities. Earth Day is still a couple of months away, but we are already working on options to increase our Town’s sustainability. These include evaluating opportunities for community-wide composting which would help reduce our waste costs and engaging an expert in energy optimization for recommendations to reduce our energy use and cost. We are also working with solar specialists to evaluate a town-wide solar strategy. Sustainability is a personal passion of mine, and these efforts will support our goal of a healthy and sustainable environment in Woodbridge. 

I look forward to providing additional information and details next month. Be assured, we are working hard to move Woodbridge forward.  Thank you for your attention and for your trust.

I encourage you to subscribe to the Town of Woodbridge Digital Newsletter to receive regular updates and information from my office, and from Town Hall.

‍Key Upcoming Dates

• March 7, 6:00 Board of Finance Special Meeting – Budget
• March 13, 5:00 PM – Monthly Board of Selectman Meeting, Town Hall
• April 25, 7:30 PM – Preliminary Budget Meeting, Center Building Gymnasium
• April 27 – Earth Day – Town Wide Event