New Canaan Council reviews $19 million capital budget request
Town Council · Meeting of February 2, 2026
New Canaan council reviews a $19 million public works capital budget, up $5 million from last year. Director of Public Works Tiger walked the Town Council through the request, which includes $3.5 million for pavement management, $4 million for HVAC and AC replacement at Waveny House, and $875,000 toward the Powerhouse reconstruction led by the Town Players of New Canaan. The department's operating budget would rise just 1.02 percent, though the combined total including capital jumps 17.5 percent.
Tiger reported the town's road salt supply is critically low, with just 1,800 tons on hand against a 3,000-ton annual need, and warned "there's no material to be had" statewide. A $92,000 salary reduction at the transfer station follows the retirement of 40-year superintendent Don Smith. No formal votes were taken.
In the full story:
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Source: the Town Council meeting of February 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
The Full Article
NEW CANAAN — February 2, 2026 — The New Canaan Town Council reviewed a $19 million capital budget request from the Department of Public Works Monday, up $5 million from last year's $14 million, along with a departmental operating budget that would rise 1.02 percent, or about $120,000, year over year.
The capital request, presented by Director of Public Works Tiger, excludes police department spending to avoid distorting the total. It includes $3.5 million for the town's annual pavement management program, $4 million to replace heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at Waveny House, and $875,000 as the town's contribution toward reconstruction of the Powerhouse at Waveny, a project led by the Town Players of New Canaan.
Overall, factoring in the capital increase, the public works department's combined budget would rise 17.5 percent, a jump Tiger attributed almost entirely to the capital side and said he expects to come down during Board of Finance deliberations.
The Full Story
Much of the two-hour session covered the mechanics of how bid savings and contingency funds are tracked. Tiger told the council that calendar year 2024 capital projects came in $319,000 under their combined bid amounts, with $9.3 million bid against $10.1 million in approved project totals including contingency. Calendar year 2025 projects, several of which remain active, including Pine Street, the western municipal parking lot, the Waveny playhouse ramp, and Irwin House abatement and demolition, are on pace for a $1.6 million difference between bid amounts and final costs, he said. Unused contingency funds do not roll forward for the department to keep, Tiger said; they return either to the town's general fund or to reduce future bonding needs.
The sidewalk program carries a $4 million backlog of existing sidewalks needing repair, with $750,000 requested for the coming year targeting areas near the YMCA, Danvers, Whipplewood, Butler and Southwood Drive. Tiger said no new sidewalk construction is funded anywhere in the budget, with the sole exception of a Lake View Avenue project funded entirely by a state grant that predates the town's moratorium on new sidewalk installation. Design work on the Elm Street corridor and on Route 106 improvements remains on hold.
At the transfer station, a $92,000 salary-line reduction reflects the retirement of longtime superintendent Don Smith after more than 40 years with the town; oversight of the three-person transfer station crew has been folded into the highway superintendent's role. Tiger also reported the town's salt storage supply is stretched thin: the facility holds 1,800 tons against an annual order of 3,000 tons, and crews picked up the last 225 tons available at the Gateway Terminal in New Haven last Friday, with no additional salt available anywhere in the state.
The wastewater treatment plant capital request totals $1.2 million, including $100,000 for sewer relining and continued funding for a chemical treatment program that Tiger said has allowed the town to avoid a previously anticipated $9 million to $13 million plant expansion to remove zinc and phosphorus. The town also received a $1.092 million federal grant toward a $4 million to $5 million ultraviolet disinfection system replacement at the plant.
Council members pressed for detail on several line items. One member, Chad, asked how paving and sidewalk accounts are tracked when contractors are grouped together on the same project. Another member, Penny, asked whether the town still faces pressure to remove phosphorus from wastewater discharge; Tiger said the town has been able to meet its discharge permit through chemical treatment and has removed the issue from its five-year capital plan. A third member, Steve, asked whether recent storms and cold weather had been factored into the operating budget; Tiger said the department does not budget for storms in advance and instead requests supplemental funds as needed, estimating it will need roughly $75,000 to carry the highway division through June.
"Right when the condition index drops below an 80 is when the phone rings instantaneous." — Director of Public Works Tiger
"There's no material to be had. There's municipalities up and down the state waiting for material." — Director of Public Works Tiger, on the statewide road salt shortage
"The material cost has nearly doubled. It's not labor. It's all material cost." — Director of Public Works Tiger, on rising exterior door replacement costs at Waveny House
Why It Matters
The budget season figures set the starting point for negotiations that will play out over the coming months at the Board of Finance and, ultimately, at the council itself. The $19 million capital request, if approved as presented, would fund major work at Waveny House, continued pavement and sidewalk repairs, and initial engineering for eventual demolition of the aging animal control building and former incinerator building at the transfer station site, work Tiger estimated could cost several million dollars but would recover roughly an acre of usable town land.
Residents should also watch the salt supply situation and the highway division's overtime shortfall heading into the remainder of the winter, since both could require supplemental appropriations before the fiscal year closes June 30.
Key Motions & Votes
No formal votes taken at this meeting.
Source
Town Of New Canaan: Town Council meeting, February 2, 2026