Stonington selectmen approve $412,562 appropriation to refund expired CIP authorizations

The Stonington Board of Selectmen voted May 27 to approve an additional appropriation of $412,562 from the general fund to refund expiring capital improvement project (CIP) authorizations and to fund other CIP requests that were not funded during the 2026–27 budget deliberations.

Jim Sullivan, the town’s director of finance, explained the request. “This was actually a request from the chairman of the board of finance,” Sullivan said, adding that review of old SIP budgets identified about $334,000 worth of projects that had timed out — meaning appropriations that had not been expended within three years reverted to the general fund. Sullivan told the board he was asking that those funds be returned to the CIP as part of a re-appropriation package and that roughly $96,000 intended for open space would be funded by proceeds from a recent tax sale.

A Selectman moved to approve the appropriation of $412,562 from the general fund balance to refund expiring CIP authorizations and to fund other CIP requests; another member seconded the motion and the board approved it on a voice vote.

The board did not provide a roll-call tally in the transcript; the motion passed after the verbal confirmation of those present. The appropriation reallocates available general-fund resources back into the CIP to restore previously authorized projects and to fund selected new requests carried over from the budget process.

Next steps: the appropriation takes effect as approved by the board; the transcript does not specify departmental implementation timelines or which specific CIP projects will receive the restored funding beyond a general reference to open-space funding.