Ansonia Budget Approved With Tax Increase

The Board of Apportionment and Taxation approved a $57.63 million budget Monday that will increase the tax rate by half a mill, or about 1.9 percent.

That means a resident with a home assessed at $200,000 will see a $100 increase in taxes next year.

The budget gives $500,000 more to the Board of Education, which was facing its second year of a flat budget under earlier drafts of the proposal.

“Although we’ll still have to make cuts, it’s not as devastating as a zero percent increase,” said Superintendent Carol Merlone after the 11-1 budget vote.

“I’d like to thank all the Board of Apportionment and Taxation members who voted for the increase to the education budget,” Merlone said.

The Tax Rate

The approved budget is a $2.6 million, or 4.8 percent, increase in spending over the current year’s budget.

It brings the tax rate to 25.75 mills, up a half mill from 25.25.

To calculate your tax bill, multiply the mill rate by the total assessed value of your home, and divide by 1,000.

Board of Education Cuts

The Board of Education budget, at $23.9 million, is only $500,000 more than the current year budget. The board had requested a $1.25 million increase.

Merlone said the small increase would still mean some layoffs.

Specifically, the board plans to cut three teacher-on-special-assignment positions. The board of education will also likely not fill two positions where teachers have already notified the district they are leaving, Merlone said.

The budget will also mean one cut at the administrative level, but Merlone declined to say which position because she hadn’t notified the person yet.

Merlone also said the Board of Education will cut spending to the sports line-item by an undetermined amount.

“They’ll have to make it work for themselves,” Merlone said.

The schools will also cut out a budget to purchase portable classrooms and instead teach music from a cart and double up classes in one school’s library, Merlone said.

Merlone said tomorrow she will meet with other administrators to go over the numbers and strive to make sure the budget cuts align with the district’s improvement plan.

The $500,000 increase will mean that none of the five full-day kindergarten classes will be cut, which was a possibility under the previous proposal.

Reaction

Tax board chairman Richard Sturges voted for the increase to the schools, but with a caveat charging the Board of Education to “handle it appropriately.”

“I also charge the families that came out in favor of more money to the Board of Education budget to go to the Board of Education meetings and put pressure on them to do the right thing with the money,” Sturges said.

But vice-chairman Ed Norman said the $500,000 increase was only a “Band-aid solution” to the schools’ plight and unfunded mandates from the state.

“Something drastically has to change — and it’s not at our level. I don’t believe it’s the city, it’s at the state level,” Norman said. “Something drastically has to change with the funding of education.”

Acting Mayor Stephen Blume noted that there would be no layoffs for city workers under the budget, thanks to two retirements in city positions.

“We have worked very hard in this challenging economy to provide the people of Ansonia with a fair and balanced budget that raises property taxes by only a small amount and represents a better performance than many of our neighboring communities,” Blume said in a written statement.

“All of us are volunteers and we have worked day and night to make spending reductions, make overdue personnel changes to save over $200,000 without layoffs, and to make sure our city provides its people with essential services,” Blume said.

Increases

The tax board increased the budget in the following places:

• BOARD OF EDUCATION: $500,000

• CONTINGENCY FUND: $50,000

• MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT FUND: $14,841

The tax board voted to take $200,000 from the city’s surplus funds to use as revenue to offset the increases.