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Showing posts from February, 2025

Town faces lawsuit after DPW worker killed in North Main Street crash

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  North Main Street at Enfield Town Hall As some people noticed, Enfield got behind in its mowing schedule, in part, because of town employee lawn maintenance training. This training follows a crash in Sept. 2025 between a town lawnmower and a car on North Main Street at the town hall. A Department of Public Works employee operating the mower was killed. The town is being sued by the estate of Jamie Nickerson, the town employee. The plaintiff is his wife, Amy Nickerson. The lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court, also names the vehicle driver, Alexander Torres. The lawsuit alleges the town was not following safety policies for regulating traffic around a worksite or meeting safety standards. It seeks unspecified monetary damages. Police have not released the accident report, citing an ongoing investigation. The lawsuit states the mower was being operated on the roadway during grass cutting and clean-up operations when the crash occurred. The lawsuit argues the town failed to fo...

Charter Commission proposes 7% budget cap, a fix that won't solve the problem (With correction)

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Charter Revision Commission meeting CORRECTION FROM ORIGINAL POST:  In my initial analysis, I incorrectly connected two distinct fiscal years when discussing budget increases and tax impacts. This fixes it. Here's what happened: The 4.5% tax increase in 2022 was based on the FY2023 budget ( July 2022 - June 2023 ). Town spending decreased by 1.19% in FY2023 , but taxes still went up because the 2021 revaluation shifted the tax burden to homeowners . When residents opened their tax bills in July 2022, they saw the 4.5% tax increase. Using a sample 1,200 SF single family house Southwood Acres, property taxes went from  $4,265 → $4,457 or a $192 increase. [For context, Social Security recipients received an 8.7% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for their 2023 benefits, reflecting the high inflation of 2022.] 📌 Cause: This tax hike was driven by the 2021 revaluation , which shifted more of the tax burden from commercial to residential properties, not by increased spending ....