Anon. letter calls for scrutiny of senior center, library, & other services
- May 28
- 2 min read
There isn’t typically much intrigue at a Board of Finance (BOF) meeting, but on May 28, 2026 we got as close to cloak and dagger as municipal board meetings get. Not during the meeting; that was filled with the usual transfers and discussions of year-to-date budget expenditures. No red flags were raised, but after the meeting was over, BOF Chair Steve Geryk found a letter addressed to him tucked under his nameplate. After the obligatory jokes about mysterious white powdery substances, board member Tony Pellegrino read the anonymous letter aloud.
The letter called for Stafford to decide whether it should be a “direct service provider or a community connector.” What does that mean? Well, essentially the letter asked the BOF to consider making huge cuts to the budget by reconsidering providing such services as:
Family Services
The Community/Senior Center
Parks & Recreation
Stafford Library
The anonymous letter focused largely on Family Services, and claimed the writer had a hard time finding examples of towns that “subsidize” mental health services. It didn’t take this reporter long, however, to find that last year, Tolland had a Human Services budget. Windsor Locks, which is in Stafford’s District Reference Group (DRG) has a hefty Health and Welfare budget. Even tiny Brooklyn has Human Services in its budget. So, while there may not be a specific Family Services line item, as Stafford has, it seems unlikely that you would have to go far to find a town providing similar services.
For instance, Tolland has a Human Services Department and a Youth Services Department: “Our Youth Programs focus on positive youth development, education, and prevention. We also provide youth and family crisis intervention, assessment and referral services. Our goal is to assess community needs, develop plans to meet those needs, and support or implement programs directly or in cooperation with other organizations.”
The letter writer also called on the BOF to see if the library is being operated as "efficiently as possible” and questioned printing costs. They asked if Senior Center services and meals would be better provided by other community organizations or volunteers. The letter said that this was not an argument to get rid of the programs, just a call to re-evaluate them.
BOF member Dave Walsh said that scrutinizing these budgets is a valid idea, but also pointed out the obvious problem: How do you discuss these ideas with anonymous letter writers? Pellegrino noted that next year’s budget may need to be presented differently to more clearly show what is at stake if it doesn’t pass.
