As CT towns plan their budgets, some anticipate huge tax increases. Here's why

Yahoo

08-04-2025

While most Connecticut communities are proposing relatively modest tax increases of 1 to 4% and a few plan no change at all, several are warning of heftier hikes and at least two are looking to cut jobs and reduce services.
Wallingford is by far the most extreme case so far, blaming revaluation and other factors for creating the possibility of a 19% tax increase.
Among the other communities proposing substantial — but far less severe increases — are West Hartford at 7.3%, Cheshire at 12.7%, Bristol at 5.3% and Middletown at just under 9%.
'We're seeing more of the 5.5%, 6, 7 or 8% (increase proposals) than we typically see. Places like New London and Norwich are saying they can't keep raising taxes, so they're looking at cuts,' said Joe Delong, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
Emphasizing that each community's financial situation is different, Delong still said a few factors are hurting nearly all cities and towns: soaring medical insurance premiums for employees, and state aid that never rose to cover the federal pandemic relief funding that's been going away.
'Health care costs are just killing everyone. And a unifying theme we've seen over the last several years is that with ARPA funding gone, the bottom is falling out,' Delong said.
If state Education Cost Sharing funding had kept pace with inflation since 2017, there would be more than $400 million available to towns and cities for their school budgets.
'There was a $407 million shift from the (state) income tax to the (local) property tax,' he said.
Budget proposals are preliminary so far, with some towns beginning to revise or adopt them this months and others going as late as June. So far, though, there have been signs that this could be a particularly difficult year for numerous communities.
Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim cited falling revenue from car taxes combined with soaring insurance premiums for the city's workforce as significant factors.
'The vast majority of the overall increase in the budget is due to fixed costs, including a roughly 16% increase in health insurance costs that is unprecedented in recent years where Middletown has enjoyed relatively low rate hikes from our insurance provider,' he wrote in a message accompanying the $240.2 million budget he proposed this week.
Paying for it would require a tax rate of 32.8 mills, up 2.7 mills from the current rate, he said. That would translate to an annual extra cost of $490 on a home assessed at $175,000, or roughly another $40 a month.
'I know, and the council knows, that another $40 per month from residents' pockets isn't trivial. Neither is the prospect, or the reality, of crumbling buildings, soaring utility and healthcare costs, and a mindset of reaction and retrenchment in Hartford and Washington,' wrote Florsheim.
In Wallingford, homeowners face the impact of a revaluation that's reflecting much higher home values as well as a shift in tax burden from commercial to residential owners.
'At the proposed mill rate of 24.84, the average residential property parcel, now assessed at $277,618, would generate $6,896 in taxes, an increase of 19.18% from the current tax bill of $5,786,' Mayor Vincent Cervoni wrote in his budget proposal this week.
In at least two Connecticut communities, the solution appears to be reducing the payroll.
'Norwich has said they're considering cutting 10% of their workforce. New London's mayor has said he just can't raise taxes any more; they cut the New London (Sailfest) festival that's been around for so many decades. But he told me he's trying to help children from low-income families on one end, so he can't tax their families out of their homes,' Delong said.
New London Mayor Michael Passero has pledged not to increase taxes, and has cautioned he might need to reduce as many as 15 municipal jobs to balance the municipal books next year.