Groton Town Council Cuts Money For Road Paving

The Groton Town Council voted to cut money for road paving in the City of Groton and in Groton Long Point after a sometimes tense discussion Monday night.

On Saturday, the council also voted to eliminate the road paving budget for the town, cutting the total from $125,000 to zero.

“We just can’t afford to do it this year,” Councilor Deborah Monteiro said of paving in Groton Long Point. “I know that’s terrible,” she added, but said the council would revisit the issue when the economy improves.

Groton Long Point wanted $110,000 to repave Ridge Road, a street with poor drainage, that sends water into yards and sometimes homes. Councilors Paulann Sheets and Catherine Kolnaski opposed the cut.

The City of Groton asked for $420,000 to repave Groton Estates; that spending was also eliminated. The cut passed 7-2, with Councilors Kolnaski and Bill Johnson against.

In addition, councilors voted to cut about $89,700 from the city's police department, money Monteiro said she believed could be saved by having fewer dispatchers. Again, the vote was 7-2, with councilors Frank O’Beirne and Kolnaski against.

Groton has three police departments - one in the city, one in the town and one in Groton Long Point. The three chiefs had agreed last year to meet, then draft a request to have an independent contractor evaluate where they could be made more efficient.

The meetings started, but the study never occurred.

“What happened to the study? What happened to it?” said Councilor Harry Watson. “We dropped the ball on it.”

The council approved spending $208,000 for Groton Long Point’s police department, but the vote may not endure. Last year, Representative Town Meeting cut the subdivision’s police budget to zero.

At one point, Monday’s discussion turned tense, when councilors began questioning why city departments were asking for additional money when they had spent less in previous years.

Councilor Deborah Peruzzotti said she wanted to know why public works needed more money for office supplies, insurance, vehicle operations and professional development.

“Under professional development, you ended the year spending less than $600, and in two years, you have gone up to $11,000,” she said.

City Mayor Dennis Popp said the increase was due to storm water testing. He said testing must be sent out to laboratories, which is expensive, so the city was trying to avoid the expense by training its own engineers.

But Peruzzoti said she saw increases where no rationale was explained and she'd asked the same questions the previous year. She suggested cutting the highway department another $100,000.

 “So you’re punishing the city of Groton with $165,000, because you did not get the questions answered the way you wanted?” Popp asked.

“I didn’t get the questions answered, period,” she replied.

The council also removed some items from the operating budget and placed them in the capital improvement program.

Moving projects in this way is significant because capital projects are voted on separately by Representative Town Meeting, and so may be less readily approved.

The projects placed in the capital plan include $148,000 for the bridge on Beach Road; $45,000 for barriers in Groton Long Point; and $241,540 for the city’s matching share of a $1.2 million project to rebuild retaining walls near Electric Boat and Paul’s Pasta.

That retaining wall project, the bulk of which would be paid for with federal money, is scheduled to start in July.