Don Lowe First Selectman Column 8/26/24
The Town Tribune’s August 15 issue had a wonderful article about the generous donation by Sherman resident, Alan Braverman, towards a cardiopulmonary assisted system. This device, called a LUCAS, performs chest compression for patients in cardiac arrest and is another invaluable tool in the SVFD’s life-saving kit. Mr. Braverman donated $18,000 for the LUCAS and we acknowledge his generosity. Sherman is full of amazing people. Let me also mention the efforts of our Al Burgasser who, in his own quiet way, provides this town with many rich musical experiences. Al, with a little help from his friends, put together the spectacular Sherman Opry Show which raised money for the Sherman Playhouse. He often entertains our Seniors on a volunteer basis and anyone present at the Town Beach pavilion this Sunday had a wonderful time with the resurrection of Cripple Creek, one of Al’s musical groups.
The Sherman School got its year started this morning (I write this on Mondays) and we wish everyone at the school the very best. I’m grateful for the teachers and the administration for the fine education that they provide. It pleases me no end to see our middle schoolers leave Sherman and frequently become leaders both academically, athletically, and artistically in the high schools and colleges that they attend.
Some people have asked me why I have been such a strong supporter this year of the school repair/renovation project. That’s an easy one to answer. First off, I have ALWAYS been a supporter of fixing our school facility. However, I have always been concerned, too, for the taxpayers as this repair/renovation effort moved forward, and we want no stone left unturned, no questions unanswered, while we complete this project to the best advantage of Sherman taxpayers. Now the unanswered questions prior to last fall’s failed referendum are answered and it’s time to move forward.
What’s different now? 1. The question of whether we can simply repair-as-we-go for less cost was answered in this winter’s thorough examination of the Friar Report. And we found that we cannot go that route without exposing taxpayers to huge expense over a period of many years. 2. The inclusion of the Board of Selectmen, and even more importantly our treasurer, in the process helped immensely to firm up funding and planning. This is a solid plan from design to financials. 3. The good fortune of getting a higher State reimbursement rate coupled with a less expensive overall plan is certainly a home run. 4. The alternative is grim and expensive. If this plan, slated to be completed in two years, fails we are probably left with repairing what breaks as we go along – a lengthy and intrusive process with an unknown price tag that will linger for a decade.
What will this repair/renovation cost? Independent of any budget increases (taxes have actually decreased by 10% since 2018, but that’s not guaranteed in the future and we examine this project’s cost independent of future budget numbers) taxpayers are looking at a 2.3% increase solely from the project in the first year. For the next 5 years the increase is at or very close to 2%. Then it decreases to 1% for a year and then decreases incrementally from that point every year to the end of the 25-year bond. This means, in those early years, that taxpayers will pay from $35 to $39 dollars per every $100,000 of assessment. The numbers here can fluctuate, more towards the positive, but this scenario is the most conservative. It projects no growth in the Grand List (the Grand List has almost always increased – a good thing) and projects minimal use of general fund surplus ($500K over the course of 5 years). You can take the math from there and base it on your own property assessment.
The final determination, I think, aside from the money numbers is to how you personally feel about living in a Town whose school facility’s infrastructure is compromised. As I have written before, it’s always been “Sherman’s Way” to keep everything the Town owns in great shape. But really, it comes down to your personal feelings. Do you think a sub-par school facility affects, for example, your property values? The Town’s culture? What are your feelings about education in general? Is education important to you? Yes, there’s a lot to consider here besides finances. These are hard decisions. But we are a profoundly marvelous town! Sherman always has been. And we are ready for the challenge of this decision.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 08/19/24
Our region experienced extraordinary flash flooding on Sunday evening, and while Sherman was spared any significant damage, some of our neighboring towns suffered horrific property loss and road closures. More profoundly, two individuals lost their lives. In the midst of this tragedy our Sherman Volunteer Fire Department was called to service in Southbury and performed an amazing water rescue of more than 100 people stranded due to the fast rising waters. Their life-saving work was the product of the SVFD’s ongoing training, dedication, discipline, and modern equipment. All of Sherman is proud of how our emergency service volunteers serve this town. We are fortunate to have the SVFD!
The Historical Society held a fun gathering honoring the Old Store and gave a photography show and talk on how that business – which sold “pert near everything” -- transitioned into the IGA that we know and enjoy today. Our IGA is certainly the centerpiece of our business community and wouldn’t be so without the able management of Mike Luzi its proprietor. Mike not only runs a business that is crucial for the well-being of our lifestyle, but he is a strong supporter of about “everything” here in Sherman big and small. His goodwill towards a variety of organizations in Town knows no bounds and the IGA serves as an example of how important our business community is to us. So be sure to support him by shopping there and don’t forget to shop at all of the Sherman businesses so we can keep them here! Of yes, the Old Store is still in business (check the hours) and still full of interesting goods.
I’m hearing a lot of positive comments from Sherman citizens about the Sherman School restoration/repair project that we will hold a referendum vote for on Oct. 5. (Absentee ballots will be available prior from September 24 to Oct. 4 and can be picked up in the Town Clerk’s office at Mallory Town Hall.) In general, whether people have children in the school or not, they don’t want to own a home or property in a Town with a broken down school facility. They’d prefer to see it fixed and they see the value in doing so. This is my feeling as well.
Different than the last vote, the building committee has done a full examination of any possibility of simply repairing what is wrong. I had hoped, actually, that we could possibly do it this way. We cannot. Or at least we cannot do it by any means that makes financial sense. It’s also six years of invasive building repairs that would be a hindrance to the educational process. So the plan we have, is really “the plan.” Another difference from the previous vote is that our financing plan is tighter and better planned making the tax impact less than the previous plan that was turned down in vote, And, of course, our dispensation for this project from the State is significantly higher this time around and that’s a real good thing for the tax impact.
The Sherman School is a vital part of Sherman’s culture and its value. When it’s broken, the Town is broken. Analogous would be, say, Candlewood Lake. If the lake became unusable for whatever reason, even the most landlocked Sherman resident would be profoundly affected. The lake, for example, represents over 30% of our gross local product and that includes property values. So, like we tend to our lake (and emergency services, and Seniors, and our Library, etc.) we need to tend to our school.
Speaking of the Lake, I had a wonderful meeting with the Candlewood Lake Authority heads including Sherman resident and Chairman, Martin O’Connor, and received an excellent report on the state of the lake. There are some wild rumors floating around about the water quality and weeds and other issues, but most are dripping with untruths. Please go on the CLA website and review the facts of what is happening on Candlewood Lake presently and the efforts to keep our lake in fine shape. Thank you Martin for stepping up, and thank you CLA for your good work!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 8/12/24
Sherman Summer Camp, over last week, was a great success this summer. The camp was well managed and full of fun activities and field trips for the young people who attended. Thank you, Park and Rec Commission. This year broke last year’s attendance record and last year was a record year. When I asked John Wrenn, Park and Recreations director, how many children attended he responded by informing me that the closing party took 840 slices of pizza to feed everyone! Maybe next year we will shoot for a 1000 slices.
I’d like to remind you that Farm Day will taking place this year up at our treasurable Happy Acres Farm on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 11 to 3pm. All are welcome to this free event. There will be tractor rides, pumpkin picking, farm tours, an arts show, business booths, food, live music, and more! It’s been so nice to see this become an important event and a gathering place for our community.
Our Special Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting last Tuesday to discuss and decide about a Sherman School project bonding plan was a success. We chose a strategy of two note issues with 25 year terms at a net borrowing amount of $31.9 million. All coordinating calculations such as Grand List growth were estimated at the most conservative (0%) projections. In actuality, we nearly always have Grand List growth and, when we do, that can be used to lower costs. But we decided not to anticipate that type of favorable outcome in our projections.
I want a little more time to verify what the expected cost to taxpayers is before I report it in this column. I can tell you that we plan to use portions of our surplus in each years’ budgets to offset tax ramifications in the early years of this debt. We have seven well-managed and productive years of budgeting to thank for that surplus, along with unexpected Grand List growth during the covid years; now, we can leverage some of that surplus money to the tangible advantage of taxpayers. This is what “rainy day” funds (surplus) are designed for.
All of the numbers, including the dollar amount in surplus, use of surplus, and the dollar-effect for taxpayers, will be part of the presentations for the Sherman School project. I will also include that info in this column in the coming weeks and also on our Town website. On another note, I’m happy to report that our 2023/24 Town budget came “in the black” again. (Black is good; red is bad for budgets.)
The Sherman Opry is kicking up again after a few years of absence this Saturday night, August 17, at the Sherman Playhouse. Show starts at 8pm and features the most talented of local talent -- and there’s a lot of musical talent in this area. This is always an amazing event and the proceeds go towards the Sherman Playhouse. Don’t miss the fun!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 08/05/24
The Fireman’s Ball, despite some intermittent rain, was a huge success and another terrific community event. Thank you Sherman Volunteer Fire Department for providing the fun! I know that it’s a lot of work and hustle to put it all together, but you folks always come through! The roast beef, by the way, was better than ever.
Somehow it is already August, which is a transitional month for students and their families. It’s also a transitional month for fish as they seek cooler deeper water to laze around in and become more finicky to catch. But this isn’t supposed to be a fishing column so I’ll leave it at that.
By the time you read this paper, Sherman should have a financing plan for the proposed Sherman School repair/renovation. We should know, or have a close idea, of what this plan, if approved, will cost the taxpayers. This will be broken down in such a way so that you’ll know the increase per every $1000 of assessment.
Not to simplify too much, but when you vote on this in October, taxpayers have to decide if they are comfortable living in a Town with a school that has subpar infrastructure, or would they pay the extra tax dollars to live in a Town with a superbly functioning school facility. Sherman, in my nearly 25 years’ experience of living here, has always been a Town that keeps its working parts, its infrastructure, in good order. We fix what breaks in our buildings and vehicles. Our parks are well kept and neat. We stay vigilant, as much as financially possible, on road repairs. We protect our environment and maintain a Town often described by other towns’ residents as “beautiful”. There is recognizable pride in Sherman residents for how their Town is maintained and managed. It’s always been that way.
Sherman, on another front, has always been careful using taxpayers’ dollars. I’m proud of the way my Board of Selectmen has managed the Town’s finances; however, we are carrying on what other boards did before us. Being careful with taxpayers’ money is a Sherman tradition. So all of this that makes Sherman “beautiful” is managed on a very prudent budget.
And, now, over the next seven weeks, you are going to hear a plea to spend taxpayer money to right what is wrong with our school facility: To make a safe and well-functioning school for our young people, a school that we can once again be proud of. Yes, we can all go back and forth ad nausea over how we got in this shape in the first place, but the horse, I’m afraid, is out of the barn. We can only learn from that and never repeat it. The school presently has numerous severe infrastructure issues some of which won’t hold out much longer.
For me, I have decided that spending my taxpayer money to fix the Sherman School is worth it and I will be advocating for this plan. But each voting taxpayer will have to decide for themselves: live in a Town with a poorly functioning school or spend the extra dollars to make it right. For me, I don’t want to live in a Town with a broken school. I don’t have any kids attending there anymore, but it doesn’t matter. To me, Sherman is not the type of Town to suffer along with a broken down school.
Naturally, you’ll hear (if you choose to) in the upcoming Town forums and other informational venues detail after detail of the proposed plan. But the thesis of all of this, the crux of the matter, I think, is choosing what kind of Town you want to live in. I want to live in a Town with a good school.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 07/29/24
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) met last Thursday and discussed several agenda items but center stage was taken by the financing, long-term bonding, for the proposed Sherman School renovation/repair project. Barry Bernabe of Phoenix Advisors took us through several scenarios and clearly described the options and the process. The dollar amount that is proposed is about $29.5 million dollars and that debt will be for a term of 20 to 25 years. Borrowing money (bonding) is not an uncommon practice for municipalities and not foreign to Sherman either. All of the previous school renovations, the library, the firehouse, and other capital items/projects have been paid for through bonding in Sherman.
We will be holding a Special BOS Meeting on Tuesday evening August 6 at 7pm in Charter Hall. At that meeting we will be discussing and deciding on the terms of our bonding for the Sherman School project. After the completion of that, we will be able to put out to the public the bonding’s effect on an individual’s tax bill. All of this is in anticipation of an October 5 referendum. Leading up to that referendum will be Town forums and other instruments of communication to answer as many questions as possible about this renovation/repair of the Sherman School.
I enjoyed meeting with the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy (NCLC) leaders on Friday. This meeting was set up by Bill McCann of our Sherman Conservation Commission and I thank him for that and also thank him for how proactive his commission is under his leadership. The NCLC, as you may know, now manages our Naromi Land Trust and is Connecticut’s largest land trust, controlling more than 13,000 acres of open land. These lands, protected from development and mostly open to the public for passive enjoyment, are critical for natural habitat to thrive. Also, and this is a national issue, preserving land is essential for establishing and maintaining a clean freshwater supply – something we never want to take for granted.
On last report, there are still tickets available for the Fireman’s Ball which will be held on this Saturday, August 3. Doors open at 5. The Ball will be held on the Town property by the Town Green and features live music, dancing, an incredible roast beef dinner, door prizes, raffles, and just a nice old fashioned good time! All proceeds go towards our amazing Sherman Volunteer Fire Department who does so much for the Sherman community.
Construction on our new pickleball courts is slated to begin in mid-August. These courts are up at Volunteer Field and are the result of a STEAP Grant application ($240,000) that we successfully applied for from my office. Sherman doesn’t receive much in the way of financial help from the State, so this is a nice boost to our local capital efforts. I may have to start playing pickle ball!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 07/22/24
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on this Thursday, July 25 at 7pm in Mallory Town Hall. The agenda is posted on the Town website and will also be sent out via NIXLE. Please note that the BOS is now using the Zoom meeting function and this meeting, and subsequent others, will be broadcast and recorded via Zoom. A link is provided on the agenda. Please note that the Zoom option is view-only and not interactive. If you wish to comment at the meeting you'll need to be in attendance.
One of the main agenda items concerns the Sherman School renovation/repair and the financing of that project through bonding. It is hoped that the BOS will arrive at a choice between one of several bonding options and, from that point on, we can begin to inform the public of how much the school project will cost and how it will affect your tax bill. We will also be discussing updates on other Town capital projects including the new Town boat docks, the proposed new Sherman Senior/Community Center, and the pickle ball courts construction.
Thank you to those who offered opinions on the YOUR SPEED signs and I can report that, so far, 100% of them were for keeping the signs. The people I had contact with over this issue all agreed that they helped in mitigating speed through Sherman. It’s not perfect, it’ll never be perfect, but the signs, according to these folks, help a lot. I agree with that assessment myself as I have seen the effect of drivers slowing down when their speed is indicated to them. I wish the signs weren’t necessary, but they do help with the difficult situation of getting people to drive more slowly and carefully through Town.
Next week will be the last week of Sherman Summer Camp. And what a camp it’s been with more than 200 campers having signed up. Another record amount! The children have enjoyed the outdoor splendor of our parks, the lake, and went on cool field trips along with having fun with their friends and with the counselors. Bravo to the Parks and Recreation Commission for holding and organizing another successful camp.
Tickets are going fast for The Fireman’s Ball to be held on Saturday, August 3. Starting at 5pm on the Town Green. Live music, great food, raffles, door prizes, and community communing with friends and neighbors! Get your tickets online at ShermanVFD.org! (“Community communing”…? I’m going to stick with it…)
In the coming two months Sherman taxpayers will be offered a ton of information about the Sherman School repair/renovation project. It’s the main topic in Town. If all goes as planned, we will vote on this on October 5 in a Town referendum. Sometimes, in some towns, these school facility decisions get dubbed as “people with children in the school” vs. “people without children in the school.” I think that is an incorrect way of looking at it. In future columns I will be writing about this and illustrating that ALL taxpayers benefit when they live in a Town with a well-functioning school facility. However, I’ve run out of writing room for now. Keep enjoying this beautiful summer and appreciate every moment with your loved ones!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 7/15/24
Last week’s P&Z meeting, as billed, was a marathon, but a successful one. The Catholic Church’s site and building plan for a new chapel was approved. The Holy Trinity Church is such an important part of our Sherman life and it’s a relief that it will continue. The chapel itself is quant and tasteful, and will be a nice addition to Sherman’s infrastructure. Also approved were the new pickleball courts to be built up at Volunteer Field. Construction will start as soon as possible, probably in mid to late August.
Just so you know, the YOUR SPEED signs that have enveloped the Route 37 entrances into Sherman were borrowed at no cost from the State so that we could try them out before purchasing them ourselves. The State DOT is collecting them this week so you won’t see these any more. However, at the July 25 Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting, we will decide if we want to purchase our own YOUR SPEED signs. We hope to receive some feedback on the signs that we had borrowed before we decide to buy our own. Personally, I am torn: I think they have helped reduce speed so I am inclined to buy our own. But I also feel that they are an eyesore and I wish they weren’t necessary. What do you think?
We held a more than satisfactory School Building Committee Meeting last week and I am confident that Sherman is on the right track towards restoring our school facility. I could devote this whole column to what was presented, but instead I will direct you to both the Sherman School and the Town websites for specific info. Meanwhile I’ll try to encapsulate the high points in this column.
Basically, this entire process has been a comprehensive vetting of options and ideas to where we are faced with two options. And soon, we will narrow that to one option. Those two options are 1. Repair the school over a period of time and 2. Renovate and repair the current building. In a nutshell, to fix over time – and that period is 6 years – it will cost about $38.6 million (if we keep the K-wing), with a state reimbursement of, at its best scenario, of about 12.5%. Overall Town cost is at $33.7 million. Option # 2, to renovate as new, comes in at $42 million but has a State reimbursement of at least 30% bringing the Town’s cost to $29.5 million. This plan is complete in two years. The Board of Ed will be choosing between these two plans on July 23 and the BOS will ratify the BOE’s choice at its July 25 meeting.
Also examined and presented were “build-new” costs. To build a new school on the present site is estimated to be nearly $48 million and to build new on a different site would cost more than $60 million. In addition, last month the BOE presented its findings with regard to changing Sherman School to a K thru 5th grade model. Financially, there is no advantage, and since there are many other drawbacks, that option will no longer be considered. We will remain, as I had hoped, a K thru 8 district. Much more will be presented on this subject, but this gets the ball rolling as we move forward. In the week following the July 25 BOS meeting, we will be offering concrete numbers as to what this project means to your tax bill.
On July 27 from 7 to 9pm at the Sherman Church, a Christian rock group called The Blameless Project will perform its brand of unique music and spread its good message. This should be a fun evening of music with a spiritual aspect. More details can be found on the church’s website: www.shermanchurch.org. Admission is free for this wonderful community event.
Don’t forget to get your tickets for the Fireman’s Ball to be held on Saturday, Aug 3 starting at 5pm!
Lastly, let me mention the weekend’s assassination attempt of our former president. To have the nation’s political process, people freely attending to listen to a candidate express him or herself, interrupted by violence is sad and disturbing. Gun violence is all too frequent in our great nation and to see it played out so vividly is a reminder of how much work we have in front of us to stop gun violence. We also need to soften our political rhetoric and learn to solve problems together. I’m relieved Mr. Trump survived and is ok, and my heart goes out to the family of the man who was killed and to the others who were injured by this senseless act.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column July 8, 2024
Sherman is moving into the new fiscal year and with that brings property taxes. As a reminder, Sherman Town Hall is open from 9am to 12pm and 1 to 4pm on Tuesday through Friday if you prefer to pay them in-person at the Tax Collector’s office.
This Thursday night, July 11 at 7pm, is one of the busiest Planning and Zoning Commission agendas in years. Right now this meeting will be held as it usually is in Mallory Town Hall; however, if we decide to move it to Charter Hall for more elbow room, we will announce it via NIXLE. (If you haven’t yet signed up for NIXLE you can do so by texting our zip code 06782 to the number 888777. It’ll sign you up.) No decision has been made yet on the meeting’s location as I write this column on Monday.
The agenda items at this meeting include a critical decision for our night-time Italian eatery in Sherman, which I hope goes well as our business community, small but mighty, is extremely important to our lifestyle here. Another agenda item is the pickleball courts and we hope for an approval so that we can get started with construction.
Also on the agenda is a special permit concerning the new proposed boat docks in the Town Beach Park. The P&Z decision is just the beginning to this approval project as we also need approval from First Light and, ultimately, from FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) who controls Candlewood Lake decisions such as this. A special permit application and change for the new Holy Trinity church is also on the agenda. Many citizens have expressed interest in attending this meeting for that item. Lastly, there is a new application for a septic connection to an accessory building and an application for a special permit for the Sherman veteran’s memorial tree. So pack a snack. This might take a while.
This would be a good time to offer my thanks to those who serve on the Planning and Zoning Commission for their dedication and commitment to Sherman. These individuals donate many volunteer hours on behalf of Sherman and serve our town expertly. When you look around and happen to notice what a beautiful and organized Town we live in, you can thank planning and zoning commissions through the ages for their fine work. I can’t think of a more diligent commission than the commission we have right now. Thanks, folks!
A Sherman School Building Committee meeting this week – old news by the time you read this – will have been held on Wednesday July 10. This is a comprehensive committee meeting and I will offer a report on that in my next column. What I can tell you right now is that this project is full-speed-ahead and, right now, all plans are for holding a referendum on the first Saturday in October. There is much to do to get ready for that but I’m confident with all stakeholders working together, we can do it.
Be sure to buy your tickets to the Fireman’s Ball to be held on Saturday, Aug 3. Doors open at 5pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance on the SVFD website: Sherman VFD.org. There will be live music, dancing, door prizes, raffles, and plenty of good fun with friends and neighbors. Oh yes, and the SVFD’s incomparable roast beef! Don’t miss this fun event!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Please be patient while we update our on-line Field Card services to provide you with continuous, up to date data from the Assessor's Office.
If you require a field card in the meanwhile, please email assessor@townofshermanct.org your request.
Thank you
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Assessor's Field Cards
Assessor
Don Lowe First Selectman Column July 1, 2024
I wish you all a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend as we celebrate another birthday of our great nation. Please be safe out there on the roadways and the water.
I’m in the midst of returning back to Sherman from my upper midwest journey to Minnesota and North Dakota. I will be back in Sherman on July 3. I enjoyed an incredible Town reunion in my hometown of McHenry ND and saw old friends and classmates that I hadn’t seen, in some cases, for fifty years. I also caught up with my amazing siblings and other relatives. Speaking of catching up, I caught a ton of fish, too!
Some big meetings are on the horizon after the Fourth. On Wednesday, July 10 the school building committee, the Board of Ed, and the Board of Selectmen (all of whom are on the building committee), will meet at 7pm in the school library for a comprehensive meeting on the school renovation/repair project. On July 11, in Mallory Town Hall the planning and zoning commission will hold public hearings on the new pickleball courts and also on the new docks project at the Town beach park. That meeting also starts at 7pm.
Today marks the beginning of the new fiscal year and we will start with a new budget, the budget you citizens approved at the referendum in May. In one of the next columns, I will offer a look at how we managed last fiscal year’s budget. There won’t be any surprises as everything looks good.
Summer Camp is in full swing and it’s going great. I look forward to getting down there and watching the fun, games, and hustle/bustle of the kids enjoying our terrific lake and surroundings. Kudos to the Park and Recreation Commission for keeping things organized.
Although my first extended time away from Sherman was super enjoyable, I can’t wait to be back in Sherman to enjoy all that our amazing town has to offer in the summer. Of course, the Fireman’s Ball is back, and we all look forward to attending that on Aug 3. Make sure you buy your tickets in advance! I’ll see ya around Town!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9a205d37d79e279198627/667ec6f57f129299b2ff5641_taxes.jpeg)
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
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TAXES! TAXES! TAXES!
Tax Collector
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 06/17/24
Last Friday, in front of a wonderful turnout in Charter Hall, we held a ceremony for Carol Havens, our Town Clerk, for whom we recognized for her 49 years of service to Sherman. When her term is up next fall it will be 50 years as our Town Clerk! (This, by the way, was not a retirement party as some thought it was.) We named the road in front of Mallory Town Hall for Carol and when you drive up you’ll see a sign identifying it as “Carol Havens Way”.
One more significant aspect to this road dedication: part of the perfect synergy of naming the road for Carol is that her husband, Addison Havens, a fine carpenter and now deceased for six years, built that splendid cupola on the Sherman Playhouse. So now Addison’s exceptional craftsmanship forever looks out across Carol’s roadway.
We are entering our first summer heatwave, and summer isn’t even officially here until Friday. We will open a cooling station at the Senior Center for anyone who needs cooling relief. If you or someone you know is suffering from the heat, please contact either my office or Sherman social services and let them know. We will help.
The Park and Recreation’s Summer Camp opens up on Monday, June 24 and lasts for the next six weeks. Participation in that camp has been burgeoning over the last few years and this year looks like no exception. Along with the lakeside day-to-day camp activities, there are also special day trips to fun places.
Our regularly scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting will be held this Thursday, June 20 at 7pm in Mallory Town Hall. We have now purchased all of the machinery we need to broadcast these meetings via ZOOM; however, I don’t think we will quite ready to do that until July’s monthly meeting. Our ZOOM meetings, when we get everything lined up, will, at least initially, not be interactive for the public. They will simply be broadcasted on ZOOM wherein you can watch them from whatever location you are in. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better.
Last week I helped the Sherman Higher Education Fund (SHEF) Board of which I’m a board member, give out the awards that our organization sponsors. One of those is the Rose Bouton Award which is given to one sixth grader, one seventh grader, and two eighth graders in honor of Rose who was a longstanding member of SHEF. The award recipient exemplifies Rose’s lovely qualities of being kind, caring, and helpful. I felt bad because one of the recipients, sixth-grader Sophie Garcia, was not notified that she was, indeed, a recipient of the Rose Bouton Award. It wasn’t anyone’s fault that she wasn’t notified, just an honest mistake. But in light of her not getting to walk up the podium to receive her award, I will mention it here: HUGE CONGRATS Sophie Garcia for winning the Rose Bouton Award! SHEF is very proud of you!
As I noted in a previous column, I will be out-of-town to my home state of North Dakota from June 21 until July 2. Naturally, I will be checking – in between the fish I’m catching – texts and emails. I will return the messages as fast as I can. If I am unable to reel in your concerns, I’ll know who can. And, of course, if your concerns can wait a few days, well, there’s nothing wrong with that either.
With the summer solstice upon us, we move into the “long days” of summer. Please be safe in your activities and take some time to appreciate your loved ones, your friends, and the many blessings around us. As the prolific writer Henry James once said, “Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me, those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 06/10/24
I look forward to attending the Sherman School graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 12 at 6pm. This is always an uplifting evening as our Sherman young people officially advance into the next phase of their education. So much is debated with regard to the expense of education both from a municipal budget viewpoint and also from a personal perspective as students to look to advance in college and trade schools. But I’ve always enjoyed the following saying by Benjamin Franklin: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
We are holding a Town Meeting on Thursday, June 13 at 6:30 in Mallory Town Hall to approve two expenditures. One is to authorize a request not-to-exceed $50,000 from the capital non-recurring fund to finance a list of summer repairs for the Sherman School facility. The other is a not-to-exceed expense of $10,000 from the capital non-recurring fund for a storage shed.
The storage shed is a reaction to a recent inspection from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) in which the Town was cited for a smattering of minor violations. The violations have almost all been abated but we are in need of a place to store certain industrial type items up here in Mallory Town Hall. The storage of them was part of the violation list. The inspection was our 7-to-10 year inspection and OSHA came simply because Sherman’s number came up. OSHA was created in 1970 by the Nixon administration for those who might be interested in such facts.
The Board of Selectmen’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting was moved up a week and will be held on Thursday, June 20 at 7pm in Mallory Town Hall. Also, our dedication and renaming of the roadway in front of Mallory Town Hall to “Carol Havens Way” celebration is this Friday, June 14 at 2pm. All are welcome!
The pickle ball courts were advanced last week by Planning and Zoning to a public hearing which will be held on Thursday, July 11 at 7pm at Mallory Town Hall. I am hopeful that a decision can be made that evening and that we will be cleared to begin constructing them.
A big thanks to our Public Works crew for how beautiful Sherman looks. We truly live in a splendid Town!
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
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.
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Sherman Volunteer Fire Department Boot Drive
Fire Department
Don Lowe First Selectman Column 06/03/24
I am pleased to announce a special Sherman event to put on your calendar: On Friday, June 14 at 2pm in front of Mallory Town Hall we will name the roadway in front of the building “Carol Havens Way”. We will have a ceremony (at 2pm) outside near the Sherman Playhouse and the public is invited to attend. Carol has been our steadfast Town Clerk for 49 years and this roadway naming will commemorate her amazing dedication to Sherman.
After the ceremony, refreshments will be served inside Mallory Town Hall. I have been fortunate to have worked with Carol and she is the consummate professional. She is not only profoundly helpful to mine and everyone’s work, but she is also good-natured about it all. This is a fitting tribute to a great person!
Summer, though not technically here, is indeed here. I can tell because the usual “summer problems” have arrived too. First, we are having problems once again with people not picking up after their dogs. This simply galls me. It’s lazy and it’s arrogant to think that someone else will pick up the filth that your pet leaves behind. Most of the time it’s a crew person from Public Works that has to do this. And it’s not their job; it’s the job of the pet’s owner. Period. Our Public Works guys, who work hard to keep Sherman beautiful, sometimes get splattered with dog doo-doo when their weed whacker hits a pile of it. Yuck.
Dogs are not allowed at the beach and at the beach park already. Do not bring them there. In the coming days we will make decisions on whether to ban dogs from the other parks. There are thousands of acres of open space in this Town to walk your dog on instead of the Town parks. There are also dog owners’ own yards and property. So maybe dogs just don’t belong in our parks where people have to step around (or in) the filthy dog doo-doo left behind. I love dogs (and miss ours dearly) and I love to see them around Town, but for goodness sakes, clean up after them.
Also, I fielded several complaints about garbage at the beach over the weekend. Our Public Works crew did a great job of cleaning that all up and on Monday morning the beach area was pristine. The gate guards begin on this weekend and they will be only admitting those who have beach passes (residents). Usually littering lessens significantly when it’s only Sherman residents at the beach. Littering is also an inexplicably arrogant and careless act. I have no patience for it.
The Sherman School 8th grade graduation ceremony is at 6pm on Wednesday, June 12. That date also marks the last day of school there and we wish all of the students a fun and safe summer vacation. Here in Town Hall we are proud of each and every one of our students and wish this year’s 8th grade class success as they make the big move into high school.
I also want to put it out there that I’ll be gone from Sherman from June 24 till July 3. I’m in my seventh year as First Selectman and I have never actually taken any significant time off save for a couple of weekends and a day here and a day there. I’ll be attending an “all-class” reunion in my hometown of McHenry, North Dakota (pop. 64) and also sneaking in about five days of world class fishing. Try to behave yourselves when I’m gone.
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From the Desk of the First Selectman
Board Of Selectmen
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!
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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!
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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