BEACON FALLS — The Board of Selectmen set a special town meeting for Sept. 22 to discuss a $10 million bond package to repair a number of the town’s crumbling roads over the next 10 years.
Officials hope to hold a referendum on the matter Sept. 29.
Voters previously rejected a $5.1 million bond package for road repairs in March, but officials blamed the narrow loss on controversial repaving equipment included in the package.
This second bond package will not include the Benedetti pavement recycling equipment, but the Council of Governments was expected to meet in Beacon Falls Wednesday morning to learn more about the equipment and look into purchasing it as a regional effort.
The new bond package covers more roads and is a longer-range plan than the first package, which only covered immediate costs.
Selectman Michael Krenesky expressed concern that as costs rise over the years, the town won’t be able to finish all the roads on the current list.
“I think costs are going to change dramatically over the 10 years,” Krenesky said at a Board of Selectman meeting Monday.
First Selectman Susan Cable said not all the roads on the list were guaranteed to be repaired, but the town would work on as many as it could before running out of money.
She said Beacon Falls will continue to look for grant money for roads, even if the bond package passes.
The following roads are tentatively schedule for repairs under the new bond package:
Starting this year
Blackberry Hill Road
Dolly Drive
Highland Avenue
Maple Street
Patricia Terrace
Wolfe Avenue
In the next five years
Avenue B
Avenue C
Avenue D
Avenue E
Beacon Valley Road (partial)
Burton Road (partial)
West Road (partial)
Noe Place
North Circle
South Circle
In the next 10 years
Buckingham Drive
Fairfield Place
Feldspar Avenue
Edwards Lance
Molleur View Drive
Old Sawmill Drive
Starwood Lane
First Selectman Susan Cable said not all the roads on the list were guaranteed to be repaired, but the town would work on as many as it could before running out of money.
REALLY ?!?!?
REALLY ?!?!?
Isn’t this EXACTLY why we need to dig up a road (and drains) that we paid to have done two years ago ? Does anyone have the cost breakdown for the construction company to dig up the work (including drains) that was done on Blackberry Hill Road 2 years ago ? Does anyone have the cost breakdown for the actual work that was done 2 years ago ?
Clearly, we shouldn’t START a project that we’re not confident we have the funds to FINISH. (Think of the money pit we own on Wolfe Avenue.) It may be what happens in politics, but that’s not enough to make it right.
Does anyone else see that this philosophy of spending any money you have access to (regardless of whether you can complete the task) only puts us further in the hole ? Don’t lose site of the fact that most of us pay taxes not only to the Town of Beacon Falls, but also to the State of Connecticut and the Untied States of America. Reducing the “town’s” responsibility because we got state or federal dollars doesn’t reduce the responsibility of taxpayers. It doesn’t mean any of us are paying any less for a project – sometimes even a project we’ve already paid for in the past few years.