TORRINGTON: Well done Torrington.
On Tuesday, citizens of this community passed a referendum, in overwhelming fashion mind you, which will allow us to build a once in multiple generation High School/Middle School on the grounds of the current high school.
It was something that had to happen and for the second time since November of 2020, it did.
An additional 20 million dollars was needed in order to construct a school that will serve this community for decades to come and will continue an upwards trend here in Torrington.
I felt like I was running for office last night as I awaited word on the results.
Now the work can get started in earnest.
No, construction doesn’t start next week but building co-chair Mario Longobucco was on the phones early this morning putting Plan A (the one we wanted) into motion.
Longobucco and fellow co-chair Ed Arum have and will continue to work tirelessly on this project with State Representative Michelle Cook coming up with the extra reimbursement percentage that allowed this to be a major win all around.
When the proposal first passed in November of 2020, our expected return from the state was 62.50 percent. Representative Cook was able to increase that amount to 85 percent in the summer of 2021.
So, even with the need for an extra 20 million, a 179 million dollar school will cost us less when completed than the amount 62 percent of voters approved in 2020.
In essence, we were playing with house money.
Now. I get it, no one is a fan of increases in an already high mill rate but for this venture, we used our collective heads and voted for what we felt was best for the future students in Torrington.
Congratulations to everyone who worked behind the scenes, talking to friends, family and neighbors about the facts behind this vote.
Turns out that most people, when delivered the information in a correct and honest manner, will do the right thing.
So, so proud of the effort.,
As I said at the top, well done Torrington.