Rowayton’s official name is the Sixth Taxing District of the City of Norwalk (6TD) and I am one of the three Commissioners that are elected to run the 6TD. While the winter season is typically a quiet one for Rowayton, your Commissioners have been hard at work – wrapping up projects that had been underway for some time as well as planning for the future.

• The biggest news is that, after a drawn-out process, we have officially sold the Gershom Raymond II house, located at 8 Wilson Avenue and the cash is in the bank. The sale closed on February 19th and the District ended up netting $551,000 from the sale of the property. We are reducing our debt outstanding by $200,000 (or almost 30%), funding a major set of projects at Pinkney Park and making a $125,000 contribution to the Campaign for Farm Creek.
  
  
• The 6TD’s fiscal year starts on July 1 and, following our town-wide vote in March, we approved a budget for the coming fiscal year. The Rowayton share of your taxes (about 5% of your total property tax bill) will increase slightly this year due to increases in the cost of electricity, oil, insurance and garbage disposal. We have cut our capital programs to the bone in order to minimize the tax increase. The electors approved a second $125,000 contribution to Farm Creek.
  
  
• Our biggest projects ahead are at Pinkney Park and include the much needed replacement of the 400 foot long seawall, interior renovation of the Seeley-Dibble-Pinkney house and exterior work on the barn and the Marine building. We will also continue to work on improving our drainage problem at the Little League field, and have a number of smaller projects taking place at the Community Center. A number of residents have approached the 6TD about developing a comprehensive plan for the Center and we hope to have some discussions on this in the near future.
  
  
• I am happy to report that the bathrooms planned for our Little League and tennis players are finally ready. This joint effort by the 6TD, the Tennis  Association and Little League used local workers, many of whom worked at either cost or at below market rates.

The 6TD’s Commissioners have a public monthly meeting on the second Wednesday of every month at 8 PM at the Community Center – all residents are encouraged to come, participate and see your local government in action. The agenda for each upcoming meeting is posted at this page on the RCA's website.

We welcome Tammy Langalis, who was elected in November, as our newest 6TD Commissioner. Tammy replaces John Aldrich and joins Ed Kweskin and myself in the running of our village. As a long time Rowayton resident, a former RCA board member, a Rowayton Gardener, amongst other attributes, Tammy brings a lot to the table.

In addition, the 6TD had to say goodbye to Barbara Dutton following her retirement as District Clerk after seven years of service. She did yeoman’s work and her dedication, organization and enthusiasm will be missed. We are pleased to welcome Andrea Woodworth as our new District Clerk. Please feel free to contact her at 854-5066 to schedule use of District facilities, get on the agenda for our monthly meetings or ask any District related questions.

With longer days, warmer temperatures and the arrival of May, it will not be long before we all start to see more of each other around town. I look forward to seeing all of you.

Thank you.   


Mike Barbis
Commissioner, Sixth Taxing District