Letter to the Editor: Petition Sends Killingworth Budget to Referendum

The following letter to the editor was submitted to The Haddams-Killingworth Patch:

Four concerned Killingworth resident-taxpayers have turned in, to the Town Clerk, sufficient signatures to require the Annual Town Meeting May 20 be adjourned to a full day referendum vote on a day to be decided by the Board of Finance.

The four principal petitioners who gathered most of the required signatures were:  George Hedrick of Sugar Hill Road, Richard Ross of Madison Hollow, John Samperi of Schnoor Road and David Miller of N. Tower Hill Road.

In a joint statement, these four stated:

“As we did successfully last year, voting by referendum proved popular with seniors who did not have to come out in the evening and wait to vote but were able to do so anytime from 6 am to 8 pm. It also provides a ‘private vote’ rather than putting one’s hand up for a yea or nay vote while opposing sides sneer and jeer their vote.”

“The expected cry of cost of a referenda expected by the First Selectman and the Registrars must fall on deaf ears as they are the ones who insisted on an all day referendum for their favorite expensive project, the multi million dollar Town Hall addition.”

“While we are not totally satisfied with the budget and many un-satisfactory explanations by the Finance Board, we believe the taxpayers should be   able to vote at their leisure, and now they will have that opportunity, the statement concluded.”