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Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As CT towns plan their budgets, some anticipate huge tax increases. Here's why
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.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Modified New London school budget with $6.5M hike goes to vote
New London — The Board of Education on Monday is scheduled to discuss and possibly approve a 2025-26 $54.7 million school budget that, even with more than a half-million dollars in recent reductions, still calls for a $6.5 million, or 13.7%, increase from the current spending plan. The latest proposal, which Mayor Michael Passero has vowed to cut so there is no increase, is the result of a series of reductions this month that eliminates an administrator — no final decision has been made on which position will be cut — two teachers and an attendance motivator job. The board also approved trimming home tutoring, substitute custodial work and after-school programming for a total reduction of $548,162. The cuts were made to Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie's initial 'same services' budget that included the costs for all current staffing and programs based on contractual increases and inflation and carried a $7.8 million increase. Ritchie's total proposed budget comes to $87.1 million after $32.3 million in various state and federal grants are included. The $54.7 million taxpayer portion of the bill includes $22.9 million in state Education Cost Sharing (ECS) funding and $1.6 million from the district's non-lapsing account. The major reasons for the increase include an additional $2.3 million in employee raises; $709,000 more in health insurance costs; just over $1 million more in tuition for special education students; $44,000 in increased unemployment costs; and nearly $95,000 more in liability insurance due to construction at the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School Campus. Another $2.3 million is allotted for the preschool operations at the Early Childhood Center at B.P. Mission. District officials are hoping state lawmakers will step in and help fund operations at the Shaw Street facility as they did last year. Ritchie, echoing board President Elaine Maynard-Adams, is referring to the spending plan as a 'community budget,' or one that funds programming beyond the classroom walls. 'For instance, we have 302 homeless students, the highest number we've ever had,' she said. 'The district is responsible for conducting home visits, food and transportation. And the state has cut our transportation funding for those students by half.' Passero said deep proposed cuts to New London's pool of state aid — more than $2 million — under Gov. Ned Lamont's biennial spending plan means he'll recommend not increasing school funding above the current year's $48.1 million figure. 'Since ECS funding is not increasing, the actual percentage increase to taxpayers that's being proposed is double the 13.7% they're announcing,' Passero said. 'We're already in a hole and will be making cuts the general government budget. I will be sending a letter to the district earlier than usual informing them we don't have the money for an increase.' Ritchie called a flat-funded budget a 'devastating' prospect, especially as past budgets have not been enough to keep up with inflation and contractual wage increases. 'The average asks for other school districts in the state is between 6.5 and 8.5% increase, so we're not alone here in New London,' she said. 'But we have the added challenge of not being a wealthy city. The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the district's Welcome Center, 3 Shaws Cove.
