Griswold voters approved two measures aimed at revising the blight ordinance and giving town officials some breathing room in the town budget process.
Taxpayers at a March 26 town meeting voted 38-9 in favor of amendments to the town’s blight ordinance, which has been in place since 2010. Under the new amendments, Griswold property owners who are cited for blight now have recourse to a three-person board of appeals appointed by the selectmen.
The ordinance provides a 10-day window to file an appeal from the date of the citation. The fine for ignoring a blight citation after 30 days was also reduced from $100 to $50 per day.
Formerly, a property owner who disputed a blight citation had to do so through the court system, said First Selectman Todd Babbitt.
The ordinance committee worked over a number of months to revise the existing 2010 ordinance, making it more specific and giving it more teeth. The revisions include a detailed description of what constitutes blight, including broken windows, unrepaired fire or water damage, the existence of trash or multiple junk cars, grass or weeds more than a foot high, and tarps covering roofs for more than 180 days.
Buildings in disrepair due to age or neglect are also targeted as health or safety dangers to neighbors. Language in the amended ordinance says that blighted property in town “adversely affects the economic well-being of the Town of Griswold and the borough of Jewett City and is inimical to the health, safety, and general welfare of its citizens.”
Ordinance committee member Ed Burdick said that changes were made in committee after residents voiced concerns about including exterior mold as a condition of blight, and about the size of the daily fee for violations. The mold clause was struck from the document, and the daily fee was reduced to $50 as a result, he said.
The stronger ordinance would pay dividends in economic development, said Burdick.
“We have to up our game, in my opinion as a town resident, to attract new businesses and new entities to up our tax base,” he said.
Resident Judith Merrill agreed.
“I can’t think of any reason why people who live in a town wouldn’t want to have an ordinance [that creates] a town we’re proud to live in,” she said.
At the same meeting, townspeople voted 44-1 to move the last date for the town’s annual budget meeting from the third Monday of May to the second Monday in June. The change in this ordinance was designed to give town officials some breathing room, in light of last year’s eleventh-hour budget “holdbacks” in state revenue to the town.
“It’s a sign of the times,” said Board of Finance Chairman Scott Davis. “The second Monday in June is the latest we can schedule the meeting and still be in compliance with state statute.”
“This gives the Board of Finance more flexibility, and we need that flexibility,” said finance board member Steve Mikutel.
With 30 percent of the town’s revenue coming from the state, last-minute changes to the state budget will necessarily have an impact on how the town plans its spending, he said. By pushing the town meeting date back, “we’re going to have the most accurate figures possible so we can set the most accurate mill rate, not a mill rate that’s going to overtax people.”
The budget ordinance changes also cleaned up some language regarding allowable budget increases. The new language states that a given year’s budget increase can’t exceed increases in the grand list combined with the increase of federal and state funding over the previous year, along with additional mandated expenditures.
