The Shelton Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved a $115.5 million budget that sets the city’s tax rate at 22.4 mills in 2012 – 2013.
That means a homeowner with property assessed at $250,000 will see a tax bill of $5,600.
Mayor Mark Lauretti predicted most homeowners would see lower tax bills than last year, as a result of property revaluation.
“About 90 percent of our residential properties will see a tax reduction, even though there’s an increase in our mill rate,” Lauretti said.
Residential property in the city decreased in value by about 20.7 percent after the revaluation.
But commercial real estate increased, he said.
“The burden falls on our corporations,” Lauretti said. “As I’ve explained to some of our larger tax payers in the corporate arena, they’ve been the recipient of this for 20 years, this shift in their direction. They’ve also been the recipient of four years without a tax increase, and a tax reduction this year.”
Numbers
The total 2012 – 2013 budget is $115,555,564. That’s a spending increase of about $3.7 million over the current budget of $111,886,203.
The new tax rate will be 22.4 mills. That’s a 3.83 mill, or 20.6 percent, increase over the current mill rate of 18.57.
The Board of Education portion of the budget proposal is $63,736,627.
The current schools budget is $63,700,000.
Education
Up until Tuesday, the Board of Apportionment and Taxation, as well as the mayor, had recommended decreasing school funding.
The Board of Education had requested a $64.3 million budget, about a 1 percent increase in spending.
Tuesday, the Board of Aldermen brought the line item to $63.7 million — about $36,000 over current spending.
The city and schools had disagreed about some spending, Lauretti said — including a “pay to participate” program for athletics instituted in 2012 during a school budget crunch.
Lauretti said he has budgeted about $285,000 in a city “youth programs” line item to pay for the athletics if the school district wouldn’t put it in the education budget.
“It’s hurting the programs,” Lauretti said of “Pay to Participate.”
The Board of Education in December had said it wanted to scale back the costs for students to participate in sports and activities. But, members said that would be impossible if they didn’t receive an increase in the budget.
Board of Aldermen president John Anglace said the city expected several retirements from the school system in the coming year, and made its budget recommendations based on assumptions of savings.
The school district expects at least eight people will retire. Anglace said the city expects more.
Superintendent Freeman Burr was not immediately available for comment Tuesday evening.
Changes
The Board of Aldermen Tuesday also added more money to several line items from the proposed tax board budget.
The increases include:
- $24,478 for a membership with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM)
- $1 million for road maintenance
- $500,000 for recycling bins (Click here to read about a new recycling program the city hopes to institute)
- $200,000 for youth programs
