FARMINGTON — Sometime this fall, Farmington will ask residents to rate how high a priority it should be for the town "to increase tax dollars" across a list of 19 areas, from the schools and the roads to senior services and the historic buildings. The question is drafted. It is in the half of the survey that a town committee has not yet reviewed, and Wednesday's agenda calls for the committee to review that half.
It is a survey, not a vote. The answers are meant to guide two long-range plans, and nothing in the draft is final. When it goes out is not final either. In early September the committee planned to use Wednesday's meeting to confirm a launch date in early October. Wednesday's agenda no longer lists one, and according to the committee's minutes, staff said they would poll members for a fourth meeting. The minutes do not say whether the early October start has changed.
The draft was posted with that agenda. Here is what it asks, and where residents can still weigh in.
One survey, two plans
The Survey Oversight Committee, created for this survey and scheduled to meet only a handful of times, has five voting members, two from the Town Council, two from the Town Plan and Zoning Commission and one from the Board of Education, and a single charge from the council: review and finalize the questions.
The survey does double duty. The zoning commission is required by state law to adopt a new Plan of Conservation and Development, the ten-year land use plan that guides zoning and open space, for 2028 to 2038. The council wanted its own community-wide survey for its strategic plan; according to the committee's September 4 minutes, the town has not run one in about ten years. Town staff recommended merging the two. On July 28 the council approved Weston & Sampson, at $129,190, to update the land use plan and run the survey.
The consultants told the committee that about 400 responses would make the results statistically sound. The goal is more than 1,000. The minutes say the results will be made public, "including the underlying raw data," and that residents under 18 may take part.
The money questions
The second half of the draft, written for the council's strategic plan, is where the town asks about money, and it asks three ways.
The first is a grade:
"Overall, for the property taxes you pay, do you think the services you receive from the Town and Farmington Public Schools are excellent, good, fair, poor, don't know?"
The second is a ranking. Residents are asked to order a list of community priorities from 1 to 17, among them transportation, school facilities, open space and "more opportunities for regionalization." One entry reads "Maintain low taxes and do not expand service levels." A committee note on the draft suggests asking for a top four instead of a full ranking.
The third is the tax question. It lists 19 areas, among them maintaining the quality of the schools, maintaining roads, supporting social services for families and seniors, preserving farmland and preserving historic buildings, and asks residents to rate each as a very high, neutral or not very high priority "to increase tax dollars." One of the 19 areas is "Maintain low taxes and not expand service levels," which sits in a list of places to increase tax dollars.
What the draft does not ask for is a number. At the committee's September 21 meeting, resident Tim Kelly handed members questions he wanted added: how much debt Farmington should carry, with choices from $150 million to $300 million; how much the town should spend per pupil, with choices from $15,000 to $30,000 a year; and where the town and schools could operate more efficiently. None of the three is in the draft going to the committee Wednesday. The minutes record them as an attachment and show no action on them. In July, Kelly had asked the council to hold the survey until after the property revaluation reaches tax bills in July 2027, as the Mercury reported earlier this month.
Buildings, housing and the village centers
The same half asks residents to rate the condition of the town's public buildings, from the four elementary schools and the five fire stations to the highway garage and Town Hall, and of nine parks and facilities, from Tunxis Mead to the WestWoods splash pad. It asks for ideas on what to do with underused town buildings and names five: the Annex and the Youth Center in Unionville, the Old Fire House, the Stone House by WestWoods Golf Course and the Town Hall Annex.
The first half, the land use survey, got its review on September 21, and the committee changed it in ways residents will notice. A question on housing strategies offered options from improving affordability to preserving neighborhood character; after a member pointed out that none let a resident say they wanted less housing, the committee added "Restricting additional housing development." A question on housing types gained "entry level housing" alongside "affordable housing (income restricted)," after members said the word "affordable" means different things to different people. And a question on why people live in Farmington gained "Low taxes."
Residents will also rate Farmington Center and Unionville Center, including, in new wording, whether "traffic congestion is a problem" and whether "it is safe for pedestrians."
Paper, languages and the fine print
The online survey cannot be paused. The draft tells residents they "are not able to start and then stop and reopen" their responses and to set aside 15 to 20 minutes. Paper copies will be available at Town Hall, 20 Monteith Drive; the Community and Senior Center, 321 New Britain Avenue in Unionville; the Farmington Main Library, 6 Monteith Drive; and the Barney Library, 71 Main Street.
Staff have proposed paper translations in Mandarin, Spanish and Tamil, through the Town Manager's Office at 860-675-2350. That line was blank in the September 21 draft. The optional "about you" section asks age, years in town, whether you rent or own, household, education and income, and includes an option for people who do not live in Farmington; members said on September 21 they had business owners in mind.
The committee meets Wednesday, September 30, at 5 p.m. in the third-floor training room at Town Hall, and on Zoom, webinar ID 837 4800 6488. Public comment is the third item on the agenda. The tax question is the last.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. The town is about to ask what you would spend more on and what you would rather leave as it is. Farmington Storage has already answered the second half for you: whatever you are keeping, keep it well. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington's survey committee long enough to have read both drafts, the redlines and the attachment behind the attachment. He would like it noted that no one has yet asked him to rate the highway garage. Third coffee. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the town nobody else is covering: the committee that writes the questions before anyone answers them, the draft that goes out with the agenda, the line that was blank in one draft and reads Mandarin, Spanish and Tamil in the next. We publish slowly and without apology. Always last to breaking news, thorough about everything else. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. #WeAreFarmington 📰