Enfield raises taxes, but the bigger fight is just beginning

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  The budget fight Monday was sharply partisan and along familiar lines: cuts versus spending, and tax rates versus services. But the debate is also being shaped by forces that have little to do with party politics. The Enfield Town Council adopted a budget that set the mill rate at 33.11, a 1.61 mill increase, or about 5.1%, for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Republicans opposed it and lost every vote to amend the majority proposal. The final vote was 7-4. The approaches could not have been more different. Carol Hall, a Republican councilor and state representative, said Republicans were aiming for roughly a quarter-mill increase, which she said would add about $3.85 a month to the tax bill of a $300,000 home. The adopted budget adds about $338 annually — roughly $28 a month — to the tax bill of a $300,000 home assessed at 70%. The biggest point of contention was a Republican proposal to reduce the Board of Education increase by about $1.9 million and instead use school reserve...
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Enfield finally gets its own Central Park

 

Freshwater Pond Enfield CT

The improvements to Higgins Park, the area behind the town hall, are giving Enfield something it never really had: a central park. This park is large enough for community events and gets many of them.

The town is adding parking, exercise stations, and "potential additional walking trails, a sidewalk connecting the upper and lower parking lots, and a brick-paved courtyard that would be built behind Enfield Express," reported the Journal Inquirer on Aug 5th. The new bandstand also seems complete.

Enfield has a lot of open space and walking areas, especially around the Scantic River area, but it's never really had a park that the entire town could call its own. Brainerd Park, in the northern part of town, is more of an area for that neighborhood. It's never been a place for town-wide activities.

Enfield's central park (i.e. Higgins Park) is especially attractive because of its connection to the walking path across from the town hall along Freshwater Brook that leads to Freshwater Pond. The area is gorgeous this time of year.

Also, wouldn't it be wonderful if there was some way to extend the Freshwater Brook trail to the mall area? A place for walkers and bikers that also extends to the train station. I can't imagine that happening very easily, if at all, but it's the type of thing Enfield needs if it wants to become a walkable community.
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA

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