Jan. 31 -- Ridgefielders tonight overwhelmingly approved the purchase of 44 acres of Ridgebury farmland, to be preserved as open space. First Selectman Rudy Marconi (photo, above, left) had made preservation of the beautiful property, part of the historic McKeon farm, a top priority. An overflow crowd of more than 100 Ridgefielders jammed into Town Hall to give their unanimous approval to the purchase (photo, right).
Marconi's approach to finance the purchase, developed in collaboration with open space advocates, involved minimizing the cost to taxpayers. To amass the $3.6 million needed (graphic, right), the First Selectman assembled $2.5 million from private donors. He also insured that $820,000 in fines levied against the town's water company was transfered to the town for the purchase of open space. $200,000 will come from the Conservation Commission's open space fund. The actual current cost to taxpayers is thereby limited to less than $100,000 from the general fund - less than 3% of the total purchase price.
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