Referendum Voter Count Low, So Far

By 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, 760 people had already come to the Newtown Middle School to vote in the referendum.  LeReine Frampton, Democratic registrar,

While the turn-out may be low early in the day, those voters who did show up today had strong feelings about the budget.

Margaret Malone, 87, is so passionate about politics, her friends think she is running for mayor.  Sitting in the General Store with her friend Gloria Snyder, 82, Malone said, “We’re seniors.  We are going to vote against the budget.”

“What’s a million dollars to them,” Snyder asked. “We can’t live in our house without a budget, and I think when people get into politics, they lose perspective.  It’s not their money.”

Also sipping his coffee at the General store was Jim Psichopaidas, 55.  Psichopaidas has just put his house on the market.  “Everything has gotten too expensive in Connecticut.  The taxes are too high, and I don’t know what you get for it.”

With a gleam in his eye, Psichopaidas said, “We need a revolt.”

Outside of the middle school, mother Donna Raab said she thinks spending has gotten out of control.  “With 450 less children, I believe there are places to cut. They are talking about closing a school because there are 450 less kids, that should cut costs.  I think NHS has to get back to basics.”

Steven Alesivich, father of two young children, came out of the middle school and said he did vote for the budget.  “I would honestly like to see it pass,” he said, his two year old daughter quiet in his arms. “I have a 5 year old going to kindergarten next year, and in the grand scheme of things, I think Newtown’s real estate is positively effected by the quality of the school.”

Alsevich said he understood the difficulty of budgeting with a decrease in students.  “With fixed costs, it will take time, because those costs are there.  A lot of people want taxes to go down, but you can’t have it both ways.”