FARMINGTON — Farmington's registrars of voters plan to hold the town's spring budget referendum at one polling place, Town Hall, instead of the four neighborhood polling places used this April, they told the Town Council on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The next budget vote is scheduled for Thursday, April 29, 2027.
The plan covers the spring budget vote. The Nov. 3 election uses the regular polling places, and early voting for it is under way at Town Hall.
The registrars, Beth Kintner and Ann Newbury, said the change does not need the council's approval and that they came to keep the council informed. The reason is turnout. Except for 2023, when a building question was also on the ballot, the spring vote has drawn 3.5% to 5.24% of voters, between 712 and 987 people. This April's drew 950 ballots.
The registrars said each polling place has been staffed with six or seven workers. Poll worker pay, including training, was $11,559 in 2025 and about $8,065 this year after staffing was trimmed. With one polling place, they expect about $2,950, a savings of more than 63%.
Voters will hear about it while they vote this fall: the registrars plan to hand out a postcard or half-page flyer as people leave the polls, then follow with the town's January and spring newsletters, the town website, social media and email.
Council member Keith Vibert said some residents have told him a one-day vote is hard, and asked whether a second polling place on the east side of town could stay open. The registrars said they wanted one central location that stays the same from year to year, and that running elections in schools while classes are in session is difficult, but that they would consider it. They said they would get Vibert the share of referendum voters who now use Irving A. Robbins Middle School. A council member also asked about rides to the polls for people who live far from Town Hall; the registrars said that had not been part of their planning.
The veterans' tax break passed
The council unanimously adopted the optional property tax exemption it first took up in September. It extends the full exemption on a home to veterans whose disability rating is below 100% but whom the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has found unable to work because of a service-connected disability, a finding known as individual unemployability, and to their surviving spouses.
Staff estimate four Farmington homeowners qualify. Their homes are assessed at $359,720 combined, about $9,900 a year in taxes at the current rate, and the state does not reimburse the town. Each now receives a $5,250 exemption from assessed value, which the new one replaces. No one spoke at the public hearing.
A $1.1 million surplus
The town finished the 2025-26 fiscal year $1,103,551 ahead: revenue came in $929,923 over budget and spending $173,627 under. That raises the town's unassigned fund balance, the reserve it can draw on, to $27,756,284, or 19.4% of this year's operating budget.
Property taxes brought in $994,482 more than budgeted, and investment income ran well ahead. The $800,000 the budget planned to draw from the reserve was not needed, which Town Manager Kathleen Blonski called good news heading into a revaluation year, when every property is reassessed. Building permit revenue has come in below estimates, she said, something the next budget will have to address. Snow and police overtime pushed spending up; unfilled jobs held it down. Director of Finance and Administration Joe Swetcky said he expects about 40 assessment appeals next year with the revaluation, about the average for a revaluation year.
School administrators: 3% a year
The council approved, 6-0, a three-year contract between the Farmington Board of Education and the Farmington Administrators' and Supervisors' Association, which represents 15 principals, assistant principals, directors and supervisors. One member left the room for the vote, saying his wife was involved in the contract.
The deal runs from 2027-28 through 2029-30, with a 3% raise each year. The district's annual contribution to each administrator's retirement annuity rises $500 the first year, to $5,525, and $250 in each of the next two, to $6,025. Health insurance terms stay the same, and administrators get a $25-a-month, non-taxable allowance for using their own phones for work. Raises under the current contract were 2.5%, 2.75% and 3%.
District officials said they set out to land somewhere fair to employees and responsible for the town, and that pay matters for keeping administrators and for hiring. The district hired a new high school principal this year and, on Oct. 19, named a new principal for East Farms Elementary School. They said the settlement keeps Farmington about where it stood against comparable districts.
Also on Oct. 13
- Tunxis Mead basketball court. A $295,875 contract to Hinding Tennis of Branford, the lowest of five bids, to replace the court. It is paid entirely by the town's $1 million state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant for Tunxis Mead Park and still needs two state approvals. Work could start this fall; if not, it would start in March, take about 90 days and be ready around May or June.
- Main Street sidewalk. A public hearing is set for Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7:05 p.m. on a sidewalk from Main Gate to the Birch Hill Apartments that the state will build at no cost to the town as part of its culvert replacement near Tunxis Street. A crosswalk will connect the apartments to the Highland Park Market plaza.
- Next meeting moves. The Tuesday, Oct. 27, meeting will start at 5 p.m. at the Westwoods Golf Course clubhouse instead of Town Hall, with a tour of the course, its recreation facilities and the Stone House, a building Blonski called underutilized.
- Route 4 bridge. The town was turned down for a federal grant to plan and design a new bridge at Monteith Drive and Route 4, its third unsuccessful federal application for the project. Blonski proposed regrouping with the Capitol Region Council of Governments and the town's state and federal legislators.
- Library roof. A council member who met with library staff, along with Council Chair Brian F.X. Connolly, said replacing the library's roof and heating and cooling system, about $1.2 million, will come up in the 2027 capital plan and is not eligible for state grant funding.
The council also filled nine seats on town boards and commissions, held back one Economic Development Commission appointment, and ended in a closed session on choosing a site to lease, buy or sell. No action was reported.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. One location, and no referendum required. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has reported on enough Farmington budget votes to know the turnout by heart, and it still fits on an index card. He is on his second coffee and has already memorized the new polling place, which for once makes him early. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the meetings most people miss: the council session with eight new-business votes and a golf-cart tour on the next agenda, the reserve fund nobody mentions until it reaches 19.4%, the police log somebody had to type up. We publish slowly and without apology. Our motto is "Always last to breaking news," and eleven days later, here we are. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. #WeAreFarmington 📰