|
|
Republican councilor Frank Szeps, who is minority leader, proposed reductions to the budget that included $90,000 from the highway budget, $450,000 from the library, $113,850 from economic development and $200,000 from the Parks and Recreation Department. He also proposed cuts in the Police Department and cutting $300,000 from the Board of Education budget and putting that amount into the capital budget for schools.
The proposed changes were defeated 6 to 3 along party lines in a "revisit" council budget workshop, the last before next Monday's budget adoption meeting.
Szeps said with the current economic challenges the idea was to provide some tax relief while maintaining some level of service.
He also said the town needs to prepare for next year, a potentially worse economy and the state's projected shortfall of $8 million. That could lead to less state revenues for towns, he said.
"I think this year could have been a good time to prepare for that," he said.
Mayor Anthony LaRosa said he did not agree with the cuts because they would have resulted in layoffs, severely impacted services and only lowered the tax rate by 2/10ths to 3/10th of a mill.
In all the council made very few changes to the budget. One was the addition of $5,000 to offset new radio equipment for the Volunteer Ambulance Association. The association needs to separate from the police system due to the high volume of call - some 7,700 every year, Gilbert said.
Other minor adjustments were made but the final spending package was not available at press time.
The budget the council is expected to adopt next Monday will be very close to Town Manager Barbara Gilbert proposed $58,392,907, a $492,011 or 0.8 percent increase from the 2008-2009 adopted budget of $57,900,396.
Board of Education spending was at $28,241,391, a $1,049,164 or 3.9 percent increase.
General Government funding as proposed from Town Manager Barbara Gilbert was $27,359,432, a 1.7 percent decrease over the $27,841,172
2008-09 adopted budget.
Capital outlays were proposed at $1,266,321, 14.8 percent more than the $1,103,243 allotted this budget year.
Debt retirement was slated at $1,985,000 for principal and $806,584 interest.
Szeps said he will not vote in favor of the budget if it remains as expected.
Also on Monday, the council is expected to adopt a mill rate of 22.9.
The 2008-2009 mill rate was 29.2. The reason for the decrease in the rate is revaluation, which results in a growth of the grand list and a lower mill rate.
The mill rate had been expected to be set at 22.8 but the board of assessment appeals process resulted in roughly $11 million decrease to the grand list and about $1 million less in projected revenues from taxes.
The tax impact will not be uniform due to the variances in assessments.
The state's Office of Policy and Management Web site states that a mill is equal to $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessment. To calculate the property tax, multiply the assessment of the property by the mill rate and divide by 1,000. So a home in Rocky Hill now assessed at $185,000 would have a tax bill of $4,236.50 In general homes with a 30 percent increase in assessment will remain tax neutral; those with an increase of less will see a tax decrease and those with a greater increase will also see their taxes go up, Gilbert said in her budget presentation earlier in the year.
The council is expected to set its budget at 7 p.m. Monday, May 18. The town charter states the council must set the budget that night.
