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Dear Sherman Taxpayer;
It is that time of year again in the state of Connecticut and the Town of Sherman when Real Estate, Personal Property and Motor Vehicle taxes are due. The tax bills will be sent out at the very end of June as is customary for the 2024-2025 fiscal year based on the October 1, 2023 Grand List. The taxes are payable July 1, 2024, with the last day to pay without penalties being August 1, 2024 this year.
Payments:
In-Person: Office hours are Tuesday – Friday 9a-12p and 1p-4p.
Mail: They may be mailed to this office on or before August 1, 2024 (last day to pay without penalties); USPS postmarks are honored, they must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2024. If you would like a stamped receipt, please send in the entire bill with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Online: You may make payments online at www.townofshermanct.org Sherman, CT (townofshermanct.org) by transferring funds or by credit/debit card starting July 1, 2024. There are fees associated with these forms of payment. You will be notified of them before you complete your payment. The fees are charged by the processing company, not the Town of Sherman. The individual taxpayer is responsible for the fee. This is the only legal form of online payment per state statute. Your personal online banking system is not covered by the state statutes. Please be aware that your payment from your personal bank account is sent to an automated clearing house and may take several days to be received. It is sent bulk mail and does not receive a USPS postmark. If received after August 1, 2024 it will be considered delinquent by law. Also, most banks service agreements forbid or warn against payment of taxes through their online bill pay.
By Phone: IVR has been set up for payment by phone. Please call 844-855-0070 to pay by phone, do not call the collector’s office directly. Motor vehicles cannot be paid through this option at this time. There is a $0.95 fee to pay by phone, and the same fees and advisory information applies as if paying online.
Tax bills are sent only once per year. Real Estate and Personal Property tax bills come with two coupons for payment: Coupon A is for July 1, 2024 and Coupon B is for January 1, 2025. The top portion is for your records. Motor Vehicle taxes are paid in one installment, as is any Real Estate or Personal Property tax bill under $100.
Motor Vehicle Supplemental tax bills are sent out at the end of December and are due/payable January 1, 2025, and delinquent after February 1, 2025. These are prorated tax bills for vehicles that were purchased, registered or leased after October 1, 2023 and before August 1, 2024.
Adjusted tax bills are sent throughout the tax year for properties that had improvements or corrections made. Please note that adjusted Real Estate tax bills are not sent to the bank/mortgage/escrow company. They are sent directly to the homeowner. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to contact their mortgage company so that timely payment can be made.
Pursuant to §12-130: Failure to send or receive a tax bill does not invalidate the tax. Taxes, interest and fees are the responsibility of the taxpayer.
Assessments, Adjustments, Changes of Address:
Are not made in the collector’s office. You will need to contact the assessor’s office if you have a question regarding an assessment, a vehicle you no longer own, or to change your mailing address on your real estate or personal property tax bills. Motor vehicles, you must change with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Note: This email is a courtesy provided by the Sherman Tax Collector and not a requirement pursuant to any state statute. It is the sole responsibility of the taxpayer to make sure that timely payments are made whether they receive this email or not.
I hope the above information was helpful and that you are having a wonderful start to your summer.
Best Regard,
Tabitha Fazzone
Featured
TAXES! TAXES! TAXES!
Tax Collector
The SVFD will be hosting a fundraising Boot Drive on June 9th, 2024, starting at 9:00 AM. The event will take place at the intersection of Route 37 and Route 39, in front of the Sherman School and the SVFD.
We will be collecting donations to support equipment upgrades for the ambulance, technical rescue equipment, and training for our members. We hope you will stop by on Sunday to support our efforts.
Please drive safely.
Featured
Sherman Volunteer Fire Department Boot Drive
Fire Department
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 05/28/24
Sherman was in all of its glory last weekend with the Memorial Pay Parade and ceremony along with the Barn Sale, the Book Sale, and the Art Sale, all of which put on abundant display the richness of our life here. Since moving to Sherman 24 years ago, I have always felt profoundly fortunate to have landed here and raised my children in such a bountiful and beautiful place as Sherman is. Adding to the weekend’s positivity was the good news that no one was injured crossing Route 37 on route to the Barn Sale!
Now it is back to business regarding the Town as we close out the fiscal year and get ready for the new one. As evidenced by last Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, we have several critical capital projects to push forward. I’m happy to announce that the new Pickle Ball courts to be constructed up at Volunteer Field cleared the Wetlands Commission and after some review by Planning and Zoning next week, we will be closer to a start date (Maybe this summer?) on building them.
Progress on the Sherman School renovation/repair is being made and there is hope for a new referendum on that in the first week of October. The proposed Sherman Senior Community Center is also making progress towards bringing that project to a referendum vote, probably in mid-spring of 2025. In addition, the new docks (and additional dock slips) is moving along too and we are almost ready to submit our necessary application to FERC (Federal Energy Regulation Commission) for that group controls these types of decisions regarding the lake. The outcome (yes/no) from FERC will determine our next and final steps on that project.
Park and Rec’s summer camp starts on June 24 and continues through to August 2. As promised, we now have online sign-up for that and other Park and Rec programs. Beach passes can be picked up every Saturday with director John Wrenn at the Sherman School cafeteria (playground side of the building) from 9am to 12pm.
I truly appreciated the help provided by the Sherman Scout packs at the Memorial Day Parade and ceremony. Every time some seemingly small (and it wasn’t) last minute item was forgotten, they filled in with ample help. Really appreciated it! I also loved the free hotdogs that the Scouts helped provide. Also thanks to Mike at the IGA for them! Additionally, those hotdogs were also directly provided by a wonderful couple in Sherman who I promised not to name. But they know who they are and I can’t express my appreciation enough for what they continually do for Sherman.
Yes, the weekend featured much of what makes Sherman amazing and I’m sure many of you attended barbeques and gatherings with friends. Drinks were had, food was eaten, and I’m sure you shared memories and laughter. Yet, there are those who gave their lives in military service in order that we may enjoy this wonderful country that we live in. Let us never forget them and let us always remember the families who have lost loved ones to war. That pain never goes away. If you know of such a family, reach out to them and let them know you are thinking of them. I wish everyone a safe and happy summer!
Featured
From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 05/20/24
This coming weekend is a big one in Sherman. The Historical Society’s famous barn sale takes place on Saturday, starting at 9am. Since people come from all over the region and many aren’t used to the busy-ness of Route 37, I’ll be your crossing guard in the morning hours to make sure that everyone gets across without injury or incident. I look forward to it and it gives me an opportunity to say “hi” and “hello” to people I don’t often see.
In addition to the Barn Sale, the Sherman Library is having its big Book Sale across the road at their lovely facility. Sometimes parking can be a challenge, especially in the early hours of both sales, so consider parking at the Sherman School – lots of room there – and walking over. Along with the two big sale events, the Old Store is also open for business and there are all kinds of cool things to buy in that place. Stopping in at the Old Store – located across from the Barn Sale -- is a must.
Of course, on Sunday, at 1pm, is our Memorial Day Parade. Please come out and catch a Norman Rockwell-ish moment of Americana. The parade culminates at Veterans Field where we hold a brief but complete ceremony honoring those who gave their lives in military service to our amazing country. I’m so pleased to announce Alvin Tuck, a man I admire, as our ceremony’s guest speaker.
Before all of the weekend fanfare, on Thursday night the Board of Selectmen will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting at 7pm in Mallory Town Hall. The meeting’s agenda is on the Town website. It features reports on some of the ongoing projects – pickle ball courts, proposed new Senior Center, Sherman School repair/renovation, and Town Beach docks – along with some administrative items such as setting the mill rate. The mill rate for the new fiscal (starting on July 1) will be 16.36. Last year’s mill rate was 17.82. It decreased this year because the revaluation of property increased. (I’ve explained that multiple times already; I’ll spare you this time.)
As I do from time-to-time, I like to remind people, if they haven’t yet done so, to sign up for NIXLE – a Town of Sherman text alert system. It’s so easy even I can do it: text our zip code (06784) to the number 888777. And you’re on! We often use NIXLE to announce upcoming meetings and events. We also use it during weather related events or to let people know about roadwork or repair.
Here’s wishing you a fabulous (and safe!) Memorial Day Weekend. I hope to see you around Town this week at the Barn and Book sales and/or the Memorial Day Parade. Please, also, find time to give yourself a moment of pause for those military personnel who lost their lives in service of the country that we have the privilege to enjoy. That’s why we call it Memorial Day.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 05/13/24
I want to remind folks that our Memorial Day Parade will be held on Sunday, May 26. The parade steps off at 1pm and travels south on Route 39 and turns to the right when it reaches Route 37 and then proceeds to Veterans Field where we hold the Memorial Day ceremony that lasts for about thirty minutes. At the ceremony we plan to have the airplane “fly-over” along with all of the usual ceremonial rituals including a guest speaker, singers, state politicians, and free hotdogs. I’m proud to announce that our parade Grand Marshal this year is Kathy Fazzone.
The parade, as parades are, will be a happy and jubilant affair, but that does not belie the day’s true importance: to commemorate those military personnel who died in service of our great country. There is no “rain-day” for the Sherman Memorial Parade and if the weather is too imposing we will call it off that morning probably using the Town NIXLE messaging system. Route 39 N will be closed at 12:30 from Spring Lake Road into Sherman. Route 37 will be closed at 1pm until the parade passes. We hope for a sunny day and we hope to see you there!
We’ve had some good news on the Sherman School renovation/repair front. The state General Assembly voted to reimburse Sherman above the normal reimbursement rate (24%) and legislated a 30% reimbursement rate for school construction. For a project as potentially large as the Sherman school project, this is quite a savings. The school building committee meets again at 7pm on Thursday of this week and we will be pressing forward to hopefully bring forth an acceptable plan and hold a referendum on the revised plan in October. Much thanks to our State Senator Harding and Representative Callahan for their good efforts on our behalf. A special thanks to Board of Education member Tim Laughlin who persistently and persuasively shepherded this legislation through. Also, our former Senator, Julie Kushner, (redistricting placed her elsewhere) lent her voice of support and helped us for which we are grateful.
Please visit our revised Town of Sherman website. This is a promise now fulfilled as we streamlined our info presentation and made items like Park and Rec registrations online and more user friendly. Also, it appears that the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department will be bringing back the Fireman’s Ball this year. The Ball will be held, like it always has been, on the first Saturday of August.
For all practical purposes, summer seems to be here. The withered bracken from dell to knoll once again have miraculously turned green making spring vanish into the sunny summer days that turn us young again. At least it’s nice to think so!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Information on Public Works chip sealing work scheduled for the week of May 13, 2024.
Sherman Department of Public Works would like to inform the public that chip sealing will begin the week of 5/13 on the following roads (weather dependent). We kindly ask that you drive extra-carefully during and after the work.
Hubbel Mountain
Fox Run
Partridge Trail
Brimsmade
Jericho South
Thank you!
Featured
Information on Public Works chip sealing work scheduled for the week of May 13, 2024.
Public Works
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 05/06/24
Both the Town and the Sherman School budgets passed easily on last Saturday. The final count was Town Budget: 413 YES, 91 NO. School Budget: 343 YES, 159 NO. Thank you to the 500-plus citizens who voted. That looks like a small portion of our possible voters (around 20 %) – and it is -- but it’s actually almost double what we have been having in the past few years. I think holding the Town Organizations Expo in the Green that day helped matters as far as vote count. Big thanks to our registrars and our poll workers for another seamless referendum. They make it look easy and it’s not.
Speaking of Saturday’s Town Expo, what a terrific success that was! Big thank-you to the Conservation Commission and the Commission for the Arts for hosting and organizing the whole event. Thank you Linda Hubbard, Lauren Weber, Denise Schlesinger, and Bill McCann for your leadership here. I’m sure I have left out many others who deserve thanks; but suffice to say, it was a wonderful Sherman event. We even had music! I hope we do this event every year.
We will hold a Town Meeting this Saturday, May 11 at 10am in Mallory Town Hall. The two main items are a capital request of $17,000 for HVAC and AC repair in the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department’s ESF Building. The other is a $135,000 capital request for roof repair at the Sherman School. Two other items are also on the agenda, both standard expenses that we approve every year for Happy Acres Farm. They are a $20,000 dispensation from cell tower revenue for farm related maintenance expenses and repairs for the new fiscal year, and $35,000 from the Happy Acres Restricted Fund to pay for the coming fiscal year of contracted services that maintain the farm.
You may have noticed that we now have YOUR SPEED signs on Route 37 as drivers enter Sherman from either direction on that State highway. I was able to secure a permit from the State DOT that allows us to place these machines, which indicate a driver’s speed. We are hopeful that they will slow drivers down as they pass through the center of Sherman. They are computerized so we are able to quite easily gather statistics about average speeds and the amount of vehicles. Thanks to Selectman Joel Bruzinski and our Treasurer Andrea Maloney for identifying a program through UCONN and the DOT wherein we obtained these machines on loan at no cost. This means we get to use them for two months free and if people can’t stand them, then we won’t purchase them ourselves. However, if they seem to be helping and complaints are minimal, then we will expend the nearly $10,000 for the two units after our loaner period ends.
Now that the budget is passed I just want to say how grateful I am to all entities that helped shaped the budget. Thank you Board of Education for your good work. Thank you to each organization for your thoughtful budgeting as we considered your requests. Thank you to our treasurer Andrea Maloney who did a splendid job of managing the budget process in conjunction with a property assessment revaluation. Huge thanks to my associate, Liz LaVia, who is our Town business manager extraordinaire. Liz is an absolute pleasure to work with and I can’t say enough about the how well she serves this town. Finally, I must say I am the luckiest First Selectman ever to have the two board members that I sit with – fellow Selectmen Bob Ostrosky and Joel Bruzinski. Both serve Sherman at a profoundly high level and I am most fortunate to be on the Board of Selectmen with them. They make this work easier and more enjoyable.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 04/29/2024
Our budget referendum on the Town and the Board of Education budgets will be held this Saturday, May 4 from 8am to 8pm in Charter Hall. Both budgets have increases of 3.7%, however, an increase in grand list revenue will keep the increases down to a 2% increase. Our Board of Selectmen along with the Board of Education worked diligently to hold the line on the budgets as inflation, the general costs of services, rising utility costs, collective bargaining, and insurances – all built-in expenses – presented challenges.
I urge you to vote YES on these budgets so that we can move smoothly into the new fiscal year that begins on July 1. Absentee ballots are available and have been available in the Town Clerk’s office in Mallory Town Hall.
When you come to vote on Saturday you’ll notice a lot of activity on the Town Green from the hours of 11am to 3pm: The Conservation Commission in conjunction with the Commission for the Arts is holding a community expo. There will be many tables of community groups gathered around the Green and it’s an opportunity to learn more of what is happening in Sherman and at the same time meet your neighbors. Music and other reverie is also planned.
I’d like to thank Ruth Byrnes for organizing another successful Town Roadside Clean-up Day. Ruth, who is our Town office administrator, puts in many hours of preparation for this day. Thank you, Ruth! Our roadsides are all the better and prettier for it, and we all appreciate you citizens who spent hours picking up litter along our state and local roads. Thanks to all of you! I would also like to thank Constable Ray Anderson for his efforts towards helping the day go smoothly. Good stuff, Ray!
I’m receiving a lot of interest and anticipation on when our new pickleball courts will be built. I can’t, at this point, offer a firm timeline but I will say that we are making some important steps forward. Just to clear up any confusion on location, they will be placed up at Volunteer Field in the area just south of the parking lot. There’s plenty of isolation there and also good flat ground for construction.
We are also putting together the Memorial Day Parade which will be held at 1pm on Sunday, May 26. Reach out to me if you’d like to be in the parade. We are always looking for new ideas.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
WARNIING
ADJOURNED TOWN MEETING
REFERENDUM
MAY 4, 2024
The electors and taxpayers of the Town of Sherman are hereby warned and notified to meet in the
Sherman Emergency Services Facility on Saturday, May 4, 2024 from 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. of said day
to decide by voting machine the following questions:
QUESTION 1:
"SHALL THE TOWN OF SHERMAN BUDGET OF $5,581,761 AS PROPOSED BY THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, ACTING AS THE BOARD OF FINANCE, FOR THE YEAR 7/1/2024 THROUGH 6/30/2025 BE APPROVED?”
YES NO
QUESTION 2:
"SHALL THE BOARD OF EDUCATION BUDGET OF $9,869,360 AS PROPOSED BY THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, ACTING AS THE BOARD OF FINANCE, FOR THE YEAR 7/1/2024 THROUGH 6/30/2025 BE APPROVED?”
YES NO
There will be no voter registration after May 3, 2024. Dated at Sherman, Connecticut, this 11th day
of April, 2024.
Carol L. Havens
Town Clerk of Sherman CT
* * * IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING THE TOWN OF SHERMAN * * *
REFERENDUM TO BE HELD ON SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2024
THIS REFERENDUM WILL BE HELD IN THE SHERMAN EMERGENCY SERVICES FACILITY.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE IN THE REFERENDUM?
1. Registered voters of the Town of Sherman. (There will be no voter registration after May 3, 2024.)
2. Property owners who are U.S. citizens, 18 years of age or older and who have property assessed at $1,000 or more on the last-completed Grand List of the Town of Sherman. (The last-completed Grand List of the Town of Sherman is
October 1, 2023.)
ABSENTEE VOTING IN THE REFERENDUM.
1. Absentee ballots will be available beginning Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
2. Absentee ballots must be picked up at the Town Clerk’s Office during regular office hours. They cannot be mailed out by the Town Clerk. You may designate certain people to pick up a ballot for you if you cannot do so yourself. Contact the Town Clerk’s Office for details.
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Budget Referendum
Mallory Town Hall
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 04/22/2024
This Thursday, April 25 at 7 pm in Mallory Town Hall the Board of Selectmen (BOS) will hold its monthly regularly scheduled meeting. The agenda is posted on the newly designed website. Some of the items we will cover (though not limited to these items) are further discussions on the new pickleball courts and the Town Beach dock expansion project. We are also going to take on our storage space shortage here at Town Hall and possibly construct a storage shed on the Town Hall campus. We will be moving two capital projects to Town Meeting, one for the SVFD and the other for the Sherman School -- the latter being part of the roof recovery project (fixing the leaky roof) at the school.
We held two Town Meetings last Saturday. The first was the Annual Town Budget meeting, a precursor to the May 4th referendum at Charter Hall from 8am to 8pm. Absentee ballots are available from the Town clerk’s office for that referendum in which voters will vote YES or NO on the Town Budget and on the Board of Education budget. Both budgets have a 3.8% increase; however, we experienced extra grand list revenue some of which is used to offset the budget increases. The total increase is 2%.
As was explained at the budget meeting, while your taxes will increase 2%, there will be, for a few homeowners, some variation depending on the results of their property assessment reevaluation. As mandated by the State, we do a “reval” every 5 years. Although the reval shows an increase (it generally does due to inflation), that in-and-of itself does not create a tax increase. The mill rate is adjusted downward to compensate for the increase in property values; hence, generally, a reval is a tax neutral situation. However, if a homeowner improved his or her property over the last 5 years and the revaluation was above the baseline reval, then a homeowner might experience an increase in taxes beyond the 2% that the budget brings. The mill rate for last year’s 2023/24 budget was 17.82. For the coming fiscal year, 2024/25, the mill rate decreases to 16.36.
In the second Town Meeting we approved all three items. The most provocative item (though it passed with only 3 NO votes out 30 people present) was the two YOUR SPEED indicators that we will be placing on Route 37 as one enters Sherman from either direction on Route 37. This is an effort, among others that we employ, to curtail speeding on our roads and to keep Sherman as safe as possible.
In last week’s column, I wrote a paragraph about short-term rentals (Airbnb; VRBO, etc.) and I plan to continue that topic in future columns. In that column, when I referenced ways in which people can contribute to the community, I listed a few key volunteer roles and also mentioned having children in our school. One reader somehow interpreted my list as exclusive and that I was saying those were the ONLY ways to contribute to Sherman. This individual was highly offended. Of course, I was simply illustrating a few ways in which people might contribute to their community.
Forthrightly, all taxpayers contribute to the communities in which they live. Paying taxes, in itself, shows care for one’s community. I wasn’t trying to single out that anyone was any better than anyone else, and this person’s take on what I wrote astounded me. However, if one person misinterpreted my writing, then chances are someone else did too. So. For the record. Whether a taxpaying citizen is up to his or her elbows in Town activities or whether the person is a taxpaying recluse, they ALL contribute to the well-being of Sherman in their own ways.
By the way, the Sherman Commission for the Arts is still looking for a meeting clerk – the person who keeps the minutes. It’s a paid position and a great way to get acquainted with Town government.
A quote from Robert Frost: “In three words I can sum up all that I have learned in life: It goes on.”
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
This Saturday, April 20, we will hold our Annual Budget meeting at 10am in Charter Hall. At this meeting both the Town and Board of Education’s (BOE) budgets will be presented and it is an opportunity to ask questions or weigh in on what concerns you. Directly following the adjournment of that meeting, we will hold another Town Meeting and ask voters to vote on three proposed expenditures: 1. $260,000 towards a new ambulance; 2. $10,000 for YOUR SPEED signs on Route 37; 3. Not-to-exceed $20,000 for 11 automated external defibrillators (AEDS).
The Sherman School Building Committee met last week and made progress on forming a capital improvements plan that, at the right time, can go before the voters. We will be pursuing a two-pronged approach where one approach utilizes a 2018 architectural study, the Friar Report, which outlined a series of necessary infrastructure repairs. This falls more closely in line with what many people have questioned: “Why can’t we simply repair the school?” The work utilizing the Friar Report is designed to provide an answer to that question and show what that would look like. The second approach will be the development of a repair/renovate plan using a reduced building footprint. In consideration here is the State reimbursement which is in play for both types of approaches but is different for each one. More to come on this, but I just want people to know that good work is going forward and we will, eventually, arrive at a plan to make The Sherman School facility a properly functional building with respect to its infrastructure issues.
Eventually the BOE will make a final determination about whether Sherman School trims down to a K to 5 school. I’m confident the board will decide that that is not an option anymore. I certainly will support the decision to stay K thru 8. Not only is there no financial advantage to busing our grades 6 thru 8 to another school, but it would be a radical cultural change that I think is a bad move for Sherman’s character. I think of the marvelous play the middle school just performed last weekend, or our middle school sports, music, and outside activities. I would not like to lose any of that. Additionally, if we indeed want to attract young families to Sherman, bussing their middle school children is not very attractive.
Regarding the concept of a good school attracting young families, I’m not certain, in an area with such parity in educational choices (most area schools, like ours, are quite good) that a good school necessarily “attracts” families. There are many reasons why a family would choose to move to Sherman. However, and more importantly, a poorly functional school will certainly repel families who are considering Sherman. And that we must avoid. So, along with the juxtaposition of good school and property values, all of this makes our mission profoundly important to complete the necessary capital improvements to our Sherman School building. And we will.
Thanks to those who have volunteered to serve on the newly formed ad hoc short-term rental ordinance committee. Our first meeting was enlightening and successful. I’ll report more on this as time goes by. Mainly we concluded that, yes, the twenty or so short-term rentals (Airbnb; VRBO, etc.) that are carrying on now are in some cases causing nuisance disruptions and we ne need to address that. But in a larger picture, we also need to protect Sherman from becoming a town over-run by short-term rentals, a town where too many homes are used only for this purpose. The owners of these types of rentals are absent business people and the people living in their homes are day-by-day residents. These types of people don’t contribute to a community, they don’t volunteer, they don’t have children in our schools, aren’t members of our fire department, nor do they populate our necessary Town boards. Could this happen? Well, a successful local relator told me last week that nearly every call she receives these days asks if the listing can be used as a short-term rental. When I look at how fast our Town changed because of covid, I don’t think it is too far-fetched to think that Sherman could quickly change-over to a town of short-term renters – as has happened elsewhere to the detriment of the communities. This is an important town culture issue.
The Sherman School Building Committee met last week and made progress on forming a capital improvements plan that, at the right time, can go before the voters. We will be pursuing a two-pronged approach where one approach utilizes a 2018 architectural study, the Friar Report, which outlined a series of necessary infrastructure repairs. This falls more closely in line with what many people have questioned: “Why can’t we simply repair the school?” The work utilizing the Friar Report is designed to provide an answer to that question and show what that would look like. The second approach will be the development of a repair/renovate plan using a reduced building footprint. In consideration here is the State reimbursement which is in play for both types of approaches but is different for each one. More to come on this, but I just want people to know that good work is going forward and we will, eventually, arrive at a plan to make The Sherman School facility a properly functional building with respect to its infrastructure issues.
Eventually the BOE will make a final determination about whether Sherman School trims down to a K to 5 school. I’m confident the board will decide that that is not an option anymore. I certainly will support the decision to stay K thru 8. Not only is there no financial advantage to busing our grades 6 thru 8 to another school, but it would be a radical cultural change that I think is a bad move for Sherman’s character. I think of the marvelous play the middle school just performed last weekend, or our middle school sports, music, and outside activities. I would not like to lose any of that. Additionally, if we indeed want to attract young families to Sherman, bussing their middle school children is not very attractive.
Regarding the concept of a good school attracting young families, I’m not certain, in an area with such parity in educational choices (most area schools, like ours, are quite good) that a good school necessarily “attracts” families. There are many reasons why a family would choose to move to Sherman. However, and more importantly, a poorly functional school will certainly repel families who are considering Sherman. And that we must avoid. So, along with the juxtaposition of good school and property values, all of this makes our mission profoundly important to complete the necessary capital improvements to our Sherman School building. And we will.
Thanks to those who have volunteered to serve on the newly formed ad hoc short-term rental ordinance committee. Our first meeting was enlightening and successful. I’ll report more on this as time goes by. Mainly we concluded that, yes, the twenty or so short-term rentals (Airbnb; VRBO, etc.) that are carrying on now are in some cases causing nuisance disruptions and we ne need to address that. But in a larger picture, we also need to protect Sherman from becoming a town over-run by short-term rentals, a town where too many homes are used only for this purpose. The owners of these types of rentals are absent business people and the people living in their homes are day-by-day residents. These types of people don’t contribute to a community, they don’t volunteer, they don’t have children in our schools, aren’t members of our fire department, nor do they populate our necessary Town boards. Could this happen? Well, a successful local relator told me last week that nearly every call she receives these days asks if the listing can be used as a short-term rental. When I look at how fast our Town changed because of covid, I don’t think it is too far-fetched to think that Sherman could quickly change-over to a town of short-term renters – as has happened elsewhere to the detriment of the communities. This is an important town culture issue.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Walter B. Wriston 2024 Merit Scholarship for Sherman High School Students and Military Veterans and Personnel
The Sherman Veterans Association is pleased to announce the availability of the Walter B. Wriston Scholarship. Two $1000 awards are available, one to a Graduating High School Senior and one to a Veteran/Military Member continuing their education. Students eligible to apply for the $1000 award are full-time Sherman residents graduating from any high school this June planning to enroll at a 4-year, 2-year or Community College, Vocational / Training Institution or planning to Enlist in the Armed Forces.
The Wriston Scholarship is merit based with an emphasis on academic achievement, leadership and school and community involvement.
A second award will be available to full-time Sherman residents seeking to continue their education who are enrolled, or applying to enroll, in an accredited institution. Such residents must have previously served in the Armed Forces and claim veteran status according to Title 38 of Code of Federal Regulations or be currently serving in the Active, Reserve or National Guard component of the Armed Forces.
The Walter B. Wriston Scholarship was established by Kathy Wriston in memory of her husband, Walter B. Wriston, a resident of Sherman, CT for over 50 years. Mr. Wriston was a world-renowned banker, international financier, economic policy maker as well as a scholar, writer, philanthropist, conservationist and tree farmer.
The scholarship is made possible by a generous bequest of the Wriston family to the Sherman Veterans Association. Scholarship applications are available: - online at https://form.jotform.com/240885452519161 Completed applications can be submitted on-line, must be signed and received by May 10, 2024.
The Sherman Veterans Association is pleased to announce the availability of the Walter B. Wriston Scholarship. Two $1000 awards are available, one to a Graduating High School Senior and one to a Veteran/Military Member continuing their education. Students eligible to apply for the $1000 award are full-time Sherman residents graduating from any high school this June planning to enroll at a 4-year, 2-year or Community College, Vocational / Training Institution or planning to Enlist in the Armed Forces.
The Wriston Scholarship is merit based with an emphasis on academic achievement, leadership and school and community involvement.
A second award will be available to full-time Sherman residents seeking to continue their education who are enrolled, or applying to enroll, in an accredited institution. Such residents must have previously served in the Armed Forces and claim veteran status according to Title 38 of Code of Federal Regulations or be currently serving in the Active, Reserve or National Guard component of the Armed Forces.
The Walter B. Wriston Scholarship was established by Kathy Wriston in memory of her husband, Walter B. Wriston, a resident of Sherman, CT for over 50 years. Mr. Wriston was a world-renowned banker, international financier, economic policy maker as well as a scholar, writer, philanthropist, conservationist and tree farmer.
The scholarship is made possible by a generous bequest of the Wriston family to the Sherman Veterans Association. Scholarship applications are available: - online at https://form.jotform.com/240885452519161 Completed applications can be submitted on-line, must be signed and received by May 10, 2024.
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Walter B. Wriston 2024 Merit Scholarship for Sherman High School Students and Military Veterans and Personnel
Community Events
LEGAL NOTICE A certified list of party-endorsed candidates for the Democratic Party in the Town of Sherman for participation as DELEGATES to the conventions of said Party specified below is on file in my office at Mallory Town Hall, 9 Route 39 North, Sherman, CT and copies are available for public distribution. CONVENTIONS Democratic State Convention CT 5th Congressional Convention 108th Assembly Convention 30th Senate Convention Dated at Sherman, Connecticut this 4th day of April, 2024. Carol L. Havens Sherman Town Clerk
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CONVENTIONS Democratic State Convention CT 5th Congressional Convention 108th Assembly Convention 30th Senate Convention
Town Clerk
LEGAL NOTICE
A certified list of party-endorsed candidates for the Republican Party in the Town of Sherman for participation as DELEGATES to the conventions of said Party specified below is on file in my office at Mallory Town Hall, 9 Route 39 North, Sherman, CT and copies are available for public distribution. CONVENTIONS Republican State Convention CT 5th Congressional Convention 108th House Convention 30th Senate Convention Dated at Sherman, Connecticut this 4th day of April, 2024. Carol L. Havens Sherman Town Clerk
A certified list of party-endorsed candidates for the Republican Party in the Town of Sherman for participation as DELEGATES to the conventions of said Party specified below is on file in my office at Mallory Town Hall, 9 Route 39 North, Sherman, CT and copies are available for public distribution. CONVENTIONS Republican State Convention CT 5th Congressional Convention 108th House Convention 30th Senate Convention Dated at Sherman, Connecticut this 4th day of April, 2024. Carol L. Havens Sherman Town Clerk
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Republican State Convention CT 5th Congressional Convention 108th House Convention 30th Senate Convention
Town Clerk
LEGAL NOTICE TOWN OF SHERMAN
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
Mallory Town Hall, 9 Route 39 North, Sherman, CT 06784
The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Sherman CT made the following decision at a Public Hearing held on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at Mallory Town Hall for Case:
DENIED: ZBA CASE # 760- 176 ROUTE 37 South- (Map-45, Lot-6) Aldo Pascarella- POST FACTO- Requesting Variance of Zoning Regulations, Section 331.5 Minimum Setback Requirements, Front Yard Setback, from 50’ (feet) to 37.7' reference to Zoning Regulations, Section 322.3 Porches, and Section 322.2 Terraces to allow construction of a 10' x 15.6' deck and stairs as shown in the footprint location on submitted A-2 survey entitled "Proposed Zoning Location Survey, Prepared for Aldo Pascarella 176 Route 37 Sherman Connecticut". Prepared by: Riordan Land Surveying. Dated: February 7, 2024. Zone A.
Dated at Sherman, Connecticut this 3rd day of April, 2024 Kenric Gubner, Chairman
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ZBA Legal Decision of April 2 2024
Zoning Board of Appeals
At Charter Hall in the Emergency Services Facility
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Annual Budget Meeting April 20, 2024 at 10:00am
Mallory Town Hall
Our budget letter will be going out to taxpayers at the end of this week. In the letter we will outline in specifics details about both the Town budget and the Board of Education (BOE) budget. In a general explanation, the two budgets together will end up being slightly more than a 2% tax increase (2.2%). Both the Town and the BOE expense budgets increased by about 3.7%; however, we experienced additional revenue that offset some of the budget increase. Our budget letter, along with next week’s column from me, will outline more specifically the reasons for the increase.
Given what other towns in our area are experiencing in terms of escalations to their budgets, we are pleased to offer such a moderate increase. For six years previous to this we have kept the budget flat one year (2018/19) and decreased it in the five subsequent years (2019 thru 2023). The Annual Budget Town Meeting will be held at Charter Hall on Saturday, April 20 at 10am and the budget referendum will be held from 8am to 8pm on Saturday, May 4 in Charter Hall.
Our resident trooper, Officer Wayne Tate, is having “Drug Take Back” day at his office (in the firehouse) on Saturday, April 27 from 9am to 1pm. This is an opportunity to safely discard of the prescription medicines that went unused in households. After the drugs/medicines are collected, the state police will safely discard of them in an environmentally friendly way. This effort also keeps unused drugs out the wrong hands.
The Sherman Old Store, across from the Historical Society, opened last weekend and will remain open from noon to 4pm on Thursdays through Sundays into the fall. If you’ve never shopped in this classic place of commerce, do yourself a favor and stop by. The range and assortment of clothing, cooking stuff, glassware, yummy candy, literature, and whole lot of other goodies is truly amazing.
Sherman Roadside and Community Clean-Up Day will be held on Saturday, April 20 from 9am to 1pm. On this day, the community walks the roadways and picks up the winter’s garbage and discards the bags full of trash in a dumpster in the lower Mallory Town Hall parking lot. The day also provides an opportunity to drop off your hard-to-get-rid-of household garbage, but truly, this is a day for the community to walk along the roads and clean up our beautiful Town. There are fliers explaining how everything works available in Mallory Town Hall. Safety vests, trash bags, and disposable gloves to be utilized that day are also free and available in Mallory Town Hall.
I’m happy to report that our Sherman School Building Committee is starting to make progress towards developing a plan to eventually present to voters that will repair much needed infrastructure issues and possibly renovate sections of the school. It’s encouraging to see the teamwork developing and I know that we will get something suitable done. It’s also encouraging to see the public’s interest at the various meetings. Keep coming!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting this Thursday, March 28 at 7pm in Mallory Town Hall. Among the agenda items is a capital request from the SVFD for eleven automated external defibrillators (AEDS). I am so grateful for all that the SVFD does in its concern for the safety and well-being of our Sherman citizens. These devices, along with the present stock of AEDS, will increase the chance that one is available should someone have some variety of heart attack. We will be discussing the Fourth of July fireworks show that the Park and Recreation Commission has been good enough to put together. Much thanks to them! This isn’t a sure thing yet as there is some permitting required from the State Fire Marshal’s office. Also, the availability of the fireworks display company has not been made formal yet. But if we can square these two issues up, Sherman is going to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with a spectacular fireworks show up at Volunteer Park. Our Sherman Senior Center building committee met last week with our chosen architect, Maura Newell, of 72 Architects firm out of Danbury. She went over the committee’s program (wish list) for the building with us and she also met, the next day, with Suzette Berger (Senior Center director) and Lynn Gomez (Social Services director) at our present Senior Center. All of this is an effort to bring to the Town a set of design plans that we can use for presentations in preparation for a future referendum. It’s premature to talk firmly about a timeline for this project, but if I had to take an educated guess I would say that we are looking at a referendum in about a year from now, the spring of 2025. Naturally, the referendum results will determine if we go further with this project. Meanwhile, tonight we are holding another joint meeting between the BOS, the Board of Education (BOE) and the Sherman School building committee. In my opinion, there has been a lot of encouraging progress being made and I think we will begin to see some of that in subsequent meetings. One of the encouraging signs is a strong willingness by all parties to work together and get something done, something that is acceptable to Sherman voters so that we can provide a school building with a properly working infrastructure to better serve our students. By the way, I was honored to be able to read books to the Sherman students in grades pre-K thru 5 last week. I was so impressed with the comments and observations that came from students in each of these grade levels. I should have written them all down. One, however, profoundly sticks in my mind. I read a book titled, Last Stop on Market Street, in which the theme is basically about learning to appreciate what you have. Many key observations were made by these fourth graders about this book, nearly everyone recognizing the sad truth that the main character, a young boy, was envious of the other children whom he felt had “had it better.” And then one of the students towards the end of our discussion raised a hand and said, “Well, Mr. Lowe, the book is really about perspective.” Indeed it is! And so much of life is about perspective. To quote Webster’s: “…our attitude toward something or our way of regarding something; our point-of-view.” This is what that glass half-full or half-empty stuff is all about. In any case, that’s a terrific group of students at the Sherman School and kudos to the wonderful teachers who guide them.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
The Tax Collector’s Office for the Town of Sherman announces that the last day to make payment of your town taxes before a lien is placed against your property is March 31, 2024. The last day to pay in-person is Thursday, March 28, 2024. USPS postmarks are accepted. All delinquent taxes must be paid-in-full. Real Estate tax liens will be filed in the land records in the Town Clerk’s Office at Mallory Town Hall, 9 Rt. 39 North, Sherman, Connecticut the first week of April. Failure to pay will result in an additional $24.00 lien fee, plus interest at a rate of 1.5% per month from the original due dates, in accordance with CGS #12-171 & #12-182. Visit the town’s website at www.townofshermanct.org to pay your taxes on-line by transferring funds directly from your bank account, or by credit card, fees apply. Payments can also be mailed to the Tax Collector’s Office, P.O. Box 39, Sherman, CT 06784. Office hours are Tues. thru Fri. 9-12 & 1-4.
Tabitha Fazzone, CCMC
Tax Collector, Town of Sherman
Tax Collector, Town of Sherman
Town Tribune Issue:
March 7, 2024
March 7, 2024
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NOTICE OF INTENT TO LIEN
Tax Collector
Notice is hereby given to the taxpayers of the Town of Sherman, CT that the second installment of Real Estate and Personal Property; as well as Supplemental Motor Vehicle taxes on the Grand List of October 1, 2022 becomes due January 1, 2024. If payment is not made on or before February 1, 2024 interest will be charged at a rate of 1.5% per month from the original due date, with a minimum interest charge of $2.00.
Payments must be postmarked by the United States Postal Service on or before February 1, 2024 to be considered timely. Any payment received after February 1, 2024 lacking a postmark, or having a postmark after February 1, 2024 will be considered delinquent.
Municipal taxes are the responsibility of the taxpayer. §12-130 - Failure to send or receive a tax bill does not relieve the taxpayer from his/her liability for the payment of taxes or delinquent charges.
Office Hours: Hours are Tuesday thru Friday 9a-12p & 1p-4p.
Ways to Pay:
Mail: Tax Collector’s Office, P.O. Box 39, Sherman, CT 06784. If a receipt is needed, mail in your entire bill to be receipted with your payment along with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Again, payment must be postmarked on or before February 1, 2023 to be considered timely.
Online: Payments may be made with a credit/debit card or by transferring funds online at the Town’s website www.townofshermanct.org. Fees apply. Credit/Debit cards are not accepted in the office or over the office phone. This is the only legal form of online payment per state statute. Your personal online banking system is not covered by the state statutes. Please be aware that your payment from your personal bank account is sent to an automated clearing house and may take several days to be received. It is sent bulk mail and does not receive a USPS postmark. If received after February 1, 2024 it will be considered delinquent. Also, most banks service agreements forbid payment of taxes through their online bill pay.
Phone: IVR has been set up for those that would like to pay by phone. Fees apply. Please call 844-855-0070 to pay by phone. *Motor vehicles cannot be paid by phone.
Tabitha Fazzone, CCMC
Sherman Tax Collector
Sherman Tax Collector
Condensed Legal Notice will run in the Town Tribune on:
12/21/23
01/04/24
01/25/24
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LEGAL NOTICE TO SHERMAN TAXPAYERS - TAXES! TAXES! TAXES!
Tax Collector