NUGGET #46
The Village District was a government district within the town, with its own budget. At the turn of the 20th Century, people in the center started getting services others didn’t have, such as sewers, street lights, and fire hydrants. The Borough of Ridgefield was established to oversee these extra services, including a night watchman. In 1921, the town voted to abolish the borough and its government, and replace it with the Village District, controlled like the rest of the town by the first selectman and the Board of Finance, which proposed an annual budget to cover village-only services. People who lived in the village voted at an annual meeting on their budget and to set a village tax rate, just as the people in the whole town voted on the town budget. The Village District boundaries were supposed to coincide with the sewer lines since operation of the sewer system was the most expensive service the village budget supported. After new sewer lines and new hydrants began being installed outside the village district, voters decided in July 1974 to abolish the Village District and to charge fees directly to sewer users.
From Jack Sander, Ridgefield Names.
