The Long Lots Elementary School project took a major step forward last night. The Board of Finance voted unanimously to approve a $103 million request for the new building.
The final step comes tonight (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall auditorium). The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) has 2 agenda items: to approve the same appropriation request, and to approve the actual application by the town “to construct a new elementary school, parking lot, athletic fields, playgrounds, and associated site and utility work.”
Artist’s rendering of the new Long Lots Elementary School.
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There’s a lot of news today from the Westport Country Playhouse.
Bruce Miller — archivist for the 94-year-old theater — offers these details on Tony Awards won on Sunday by Playhouse “alumni”:
- Natalie Venetia Belcon won Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for “Buena Vista Club.” She appeared in the 2007 Playhouse production of “Being Alive!”
- Sam Pinkleton earned Best Direction of a Play for “Oh, Mary!” He was in the 2010 WCP production of “She Loves Me.”
- Francis Jue won Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for “Yellow Face.” He was seen in this year’s Script in Hand reading of “Back Talk.”
Other Playhouse alums who worked on “Buena Vista Social Club” were set designer Arnolfo Maldonado (who designed the WCP’s “4000 Miles,” and wig designer J.Jared Janus (who, among many other plays, recently did “Theatre People.” (Hat tip: Dave Matlow)
The Westport Country Playhouse stage is not too far — geographically or artistically — from Broadway.
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In addition, the Playhouse will participate in “Connecticut Open House Day” on Saturday (June 14, 1 to 5 p.m.).
The free event includes self-guided backstage tours, kids’ activities, music and food trucks.
At 1, artistic director Mark Shanahan unveils the 2025-26 productions. Anyone renewing or purchasing a subscription will be entered to win 2 tickets to an upcoming show.
For more information on the Open House, click here.
One of the coolest parts of a Playhouse tour: the hundreds of head shots lining the walls, near the dressing rooms and green room. (Photo/Dan Woog)
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Meanwhile, the Playhouse has just added a new solo play.
“The Goldsmith” (July 11, 8 p.m., Lucille Lortel White Barn) stems from Broadway actress Sharone Sayegh’s true family’s journey.
It’s “a treasury of stories woven through the golden jewelry passed down through her family across countries, borders, and generations. Each piece of jewelry takes us further along her family’s journey from Iraq to Israel, and then to America, where Sharone grapples for love as a first generation Iraqi, Israeli, American Jew.”
All tickets are $20. Click here to purchase, and for more information.
Sharone Sayegh
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More entertainment!
On Monday, Westport’s Sophie B. Hawkins brought her new musical “Birds Of New York” to the Westport Library, for a special script reading.
It was a powerful performance, with Broadway veterans taking on the characters and belting out 18 songs — some pop, some ballads — all written by Sophie.
The packed house gave Sophie and the actors a standing ovation.
Veteran TV journalist Anne Craig chatted with Sophie about the musical: why she wrote it, and how much of the material mirrors her own life experience.
Click here or below, for the interview.
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The scene before Tuesday night’s rain squall, on Saugatuck Shores, is today’s colorful “Westport … Naturally” image:
(Photo/Nikki Gorman)
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And finally … we cannot sum up the life of Brian Wilson better than the New York Times‘ Ben Sisario does:
Brian Wilson, who as the leader and chief songwriter of the Beach Boys became rock’s poet laureate of surf-and-sun innocence but also an embodiment of damaged genius through his struggles with mental illness and drugs, has died. He was 82.
Like many “06880” readers of a certain age, I saw them in concert several times. One time, in Miami, they were young and fresh — and the opening act was a pre-“Piano Man” Billy Joel.
Decades later, at a Levitt Pavilion fundraiser, the “Boys of Summer” had morphed into a listless version of the “Grandfathers of Summer.” Brian Wilson had stopped performing long before.
But today, let’s remember his genius — and the music that made us all feel young and immortal.
Click here for a full obituary. And if you’ve got a Beach Boys memory, click “Comments” below.
(From the Playhouse to the Beach Boys, “06880” is where Westport meets the world. We rely on reader contributions. If you enjoy our work, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Thanks for all the Beach Boys videos Dan👍🏼🇺🇸
If $ 103 million is approved, what happens if the price goes up to 115 million?
Maybe they’ll hold a bake sale?
A household with property appraised at $700,000 will see their property taxes increase by $400 annually.
Do you have a source for this projection?
Town finance director. He put out a set of numbers yesterday, then lowered them after some protestations from an RTM member. Get both sets here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/tonisimonetti/p/the-taxman-cometh?r=1dhpe&utm_medium=ios
Toni,
I think you are mixing up the market value and the assessment. The original tax increases that you are reporting are incorrectly applied to the market value instead of the assessment which is 70% of market value. You reported that for a $700K market value, the tax increase is $400/year, and now it has changed to $280/year. If you multiply $400 * 70%, you get $280. So clearly, this is a confusion in terms of market value versus assessment value. The $400/year tax increase is actually for a $1M market value, or $700K assessment value.
Moreover, Gary’s tax increase estimates are very conservative.
For example, he used the lower end of the state reimbursement rate of 13%.
He did not include other reimbursements such as geothermal.
He also did not include the net effect on our taxes due to debt retirement. There will be $88M debt that goes away in the next 10 years, and most importantly, our financing cost will drop by $3.2M/year starting next fiscal year.
He also didn’t account for any real growth in the grand list.
The tax increase that Gary shared, if everything else stays the same, will not be what we will actually pay because of all these points I mentioned above. For example, if one had an existing loan that has one year to go for $1000/year, and then gets another loan for $2000/year, the net cash flow increase will only be $1000/year after the first loan is paid off.
Joe wants Westport taxpayers to pay, what, at least $400 each so that he has yet another soccer field. What a selfish disgrace.
it’s for a new much needed school
Joe;
I think I know the difference between assessed value and market value. You, however, are no math wiz, sir.
I took the numbers directly off the town’s spreadsheet. There is a column “assessed value” and a column “market value.” I did not do the calculations, but in hindsight I should have checked the math.
Tax is calculated using the assessed value x mill rate. For example: 500K assessed value x .1886 mill rate = $9,430. The new tax for said home would be $9,710, an increase of $280.
That’s how you do the math.
The town’s error in the initial calculation was they used last year’s mill rate of 18.62 instead of the new rate of 18.86. Therefore the increase appeared greater using the lower mill rate.
And regarding all of your numbers spin about what’s in and what’s out, he also did NOT include the rising costs of health care and wage inflation for employees, rising cost of energy, rising costs of everything. He did not include new capital expenditures for a new middle school, police and fire station, and Long Shore improvements.
All other things being equal, the average tax increase will be $840/year, an increase of 3% using the town’s lower numbers from this one single project.
And finally, if compared to last year’s tax rate, the increase due to the school appropriation is indeed 4%.
According to BOF Chairman Lee Caney, the mill rate was raised by the Board of Finance this year, in anticipation of this whopping expenditure. He said at the BOF meeting this week that the 2025-26 mill rate was padded beyond what was actually needed “to ease into” the Long Lots tax hike.
So who is playing with the numbers?
Toni,
Before you jump to wrong conclusions, you should realize that the school project gross tax increase is an addition of $0.56 to the mill rate. That is regardless of what the mill rate is. The gross tax increase will still be 3% increase with last year’s mill rate of 18.62.
And that’s gross tax increase. When you factor in future debt retirement, real growth in grand list, savings in Long Lots operating high costs, additional reimbursement, the net tax increase will be even lower.
And now that you have publicly called to petition a referendum, you should also let the voters know that this referendum will add $1M to the cost, and risk of state reimbursement program changes next year. You are objecting to something that the majority of the town know is needed, and understand that is beneficial to the town. Westport is a fiscally prudent town. This does not mean we don’t spend any money, especially on this that matters.
Thank you for providing the source. This is a critical investment for the town, one that I believe we should all support. I also believe the costs and tax implications should be communicated with transparency.
I also apreciate the efforts by both you and Joe to break down and explain the analysis.
About 20 or so years ago, about a mile or so up from our beach in Florida, the Beach Boys were playing volleyball on the Lake Worth beach.
❤️❤️❤️ Brian and all the Beach Boys. I’m still really sad about this loss. Thanks for all the videos. More good things leaving us.
I’m grateful that we can check 06880 for the latest hip celebrity news. Whatever happened to Yoko Ono? Is the rumor true that she’s the brains behind “THE Hamlet”? We need an update. I know she destroyed the Beatles singlehandedly but we weren’t able to process multi-cultural couples back then. We’re Westport!!! We deserve to know.