By Sarah Opdahl

On Friday, September 18, New Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen (BOS) held a special meeting to discuss and vote to set a public hearing/Town Meeting on a petition that was completed to create a new tax district in Town. The area seeking to create a new tax district called Ball Pond West includes: Clement Road, Pickett Road, Purdum Road, Ore Hill Road, and also includes property known as 1 Carleon Road and 3 Kingston Road in the Town of New Fairfield.

 A Public Meeting will be held on Monday, October 5, 2026 at 7:30 P.M. at the Senior Center Community Room at 33 Route 37, New Fairfield, CT for the following purpose:

To consider and act upon the establishment of an independent municipal district, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes §7-324, et. seq., consisting of the property described above, to construct and maintain roads, sidewalks, crosswalks, drains and sewers, to appoint and employ watchmen or police officers, and all other lawful purposes of districts stated in Section 7-324 of the Connecticut General Statutes and any other general or special act, as amended, as the district shall decide to undertake.

First Selectman Ms. Pat Del Monaco shared, “This is an area in the Ball Pond district that has historically had issues plowing snow and maintaining roads, and a group of residents have petitioned for a tax district, hoping that that will provide the support for them to do those types of things.” Following the delivery of a completed petition of this sort, the Town is bound by specific state statute requiring that they hold a Town Meeting within 30 days of receiving the petition.

Del Monaco explained that a tax district “means any fire district, sewer district, fire and sewer district, lighting district, village, beach, or improvement association, and any other district or association except a school district wholly within a town and having the power to make appropriations or to levy taxes, so that’s the the main purpose of a tax district. They have to be organized under statute.” She went on, “they have to name themselves and then elect officers, and then they proceed as a subdivision of the municipality, so they would have to follow all the same rules in terms of calling meetings, for example, as the town does, and then they are required to have at least an annual town meeting.”

Selectman Ms. Khris Hall shared her experience living on a private road, “which means that our road does not get paved, repaired, plowed, or maintained through Town efforts, everything we do on the road is done by the people who live on the road.” She’s not alone, in all, 50% of the roads in New Fairfield are private. And, without a tax district, “It’s very difficult to come to an agreement on paving the road, plowing the road, and the roads fall into disrepair. And it’s not only an inconvenience for residents; it’s also a public safety issue, as ambulances, fire trucks, etc. have trouble getting to the residents…there’s very little the Town can do in terms of helping them with repairs.”

Having heard from residents in this area before, BOS members were all pleased to see the petition come through, and Hall said, “I view this as a very good step forward by local residents to try to address some of the problems that they face in their everyday life where they live.”