25 May—Thursday night’s hearing on the latest iteration of the Region 20 budget was diligently reported in Litchfield.bz (of course) but hasn’t even been mentioned in the Hearst Republican-American (of course). What administrators and board members tout as a bare-bones budget (of course) is not unlikely to go down in the referendum scheduled for 3 June.

The reconfigured RSD 20 budget is certainly a small step in the right direction, but by defeating the last budget by almost two to one in the 6 May referendum taxpayers in the region’s four towns showed in no uncertain terms that they want a giant step for fiscal responsibility. And a fiscally—and educationally—responsible RSD 20 budget is achievable. That’s why the RSD 20 board hired the new super.

On the subject of fiscal responsibility, Litchfield’s favorite property developer magnanimously offered at the hearing to bail Region 20 out of the deficit that’s haunted the new region since it appeared from nowhere. (The deficit, not the region.) Michael Peloquin, whose name and curriculum vitae will be familiar to regular readers of The Monitor, said that he’d pay off the budget’s $2.3 million shortfall—if Litchfield’s Planning and Zoning Commission amends the zoning map to allow him to execute his revised plan to screw the town in keeping with the ludicrous affordable-housing machinations of Connecticut’s irresponsible and irrepressible Democrat trifecta.

(Because Litchfield’s P&Z didn’t bend to Peloquin’s will last year, the relevant litigation—docket number HHD-CV24-6186420-S, Stuart Somers, LLC et al v. Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Litchfield—is currently crawling through the courts. Don’t ask about Stuart Somers, LLC. It gets complicated.)

Brother Peloquin made no promises, mind you. But neither did he make any threats, which is usual for him. He did say, however, that it was a one-time offer.

Not that Litchfield would even consider taking him up on his conditional offer, but given Dr. Judge Peloquin’s personal and corporate financial history, including but not limited to bankruptcies and foreclosures, you may wonder if he can actually come up with $2.3 million.

Well, don’t put it past the good doctor-judge. He’s a survivor, to say the least. For instance, judging by the latest lien, filed in March in Litchfield, he’s paid the IRS some $364 thousand and currently owes only $123 thousand. And even that or a lot of it may have been paid, although there are no IRS releases filed in Litchfield. Does the IRS file partial releases? Does anyone?

Anyway, here’s the current reduced and refiled federal tax lien: