Letter: Republicans for Tolland Town Council

To The editor: 

Almost two years ago the citizens of Tolland elected a Republican majority to the Town Council. Immediately after being sworn in we were confronted with daunting challenges. The first of which was how to handle the aftermath of Winter Storm Alfred which left much of Tolland without power for over a week.  While other towns spent millions to clean up the storm damage, the Republican led Town Council established the “Tolland Neighbor Helping Neighbor Day” to help our citizens clean their own properties.  This initiative saved millions while creating a unique community wide event that brought over 100 volunteers out to help others recover from this natural disaster.

The next challenge was gaining an understanding about the Tolland budget and trying to find ways to deal with and balance our budget in the face of flat Grand List growth.   Through the creation of a new health insurance collaborative with other similar towns, Tolland was able to save over $2,000,000 in the past 2 years by becoming self-funded for health insurance and by increasing the number of employees on the Health Savings Account plans. These savings along with others lead to two budgets being passed on the first referendum vote that meet the needs of the Town and limited the property tax increase to less than 1% each year. 

During our first year’s budget a major issue was made of pay to play fees. To help alleviate this burden on parents of Tolland athletes the Town Council and Board of Education worked to secure state grant funding for an all-weather field with lights. The field with lights will allow more parents and people to attend their athlete’s games. The field will also be rented to non-School sports teams to generate revenue to cover the cost of field maintenance as well as funds to support town recreation and school sports. 

Last June, the Town of Tolland began a year plus long process to investigate the potential of facility upgrades being paid for with energy savings with Honeywell. This has resulted in 10.0+ million in town wide building upgrades that will be fully paid for (guaranteed) with saving from improving the efficiency of and reducing the energy costs associated with operating and using our schools, fire houses and other buildings.   

It has been an honor and privilege to serve and represent you. If re-elected to another majority on the Town Council we will maintain and build on our record of fiscal responsibility and transparent budgeting. We are committed to finding additional ways to save money and make Tolland’s municipal government more efficient and effective; increasing the value Tolland citizens get for their tax dollars.

This year we ask the citizens and voters of Tolland to support us and reelect a Republican majority to the Town Council. Vote for the Tolland Republican Town Council Slate of Jack Scavone, Benjamin Stanford, Georg Baker and Bill Eccles. Jack Scavone (Incumbent Chair), Benjamin Stanford (Incumbent), George Baker (Incumbent) and Bill Eccles (PZC).

- Tolland Republicans