After an emotional public comment session that pitted Derby senior citizens against Derby school parents, the city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation approved a 2012 – 2013 budget Wednesday totaling $37,124,033.
(Editor’s Note: The Valley Indy learned after midnight that a clerical error resulted in the wrong bottom line being adopted. The actual budget total is $37,050,868. The tax board is scheduled to meet again Thursday to make this correction)
The new tax rate is 35.5 mills — an increase of 2.4 mills, according to the tax board, if you adjust the current budget to reflect this year’s revaluation in Derby.
The old mill rate, prior to revaluation, was 27.9.
Some residents in Derby will see a steep increase in property taxes. Others will see their property taxes stay the same. It all depends on how your assessment fared in the recent revaluation.
Please skip to the bottom of this story for a formula to figure out what the new mill rate will do to your property taxes.
The new budget carries a spending increase of about $1 million over the current budget.
By a 8 – 2 vote, the tax board also approved a Derby school budget of $15,858,944 — a 2 percent increase over the current school budget.
Almost everyone in the audience at Wednesday’s meeting were there because they received a robocall from either the Derby school district or Mayor Anthony Staffieri. It was standing room only, with some 60 people in the Aldermanic Chambers in City Hall.
The debate over how much to fund Derby schools was really the only bone of contention, as it has been for at least the past three years.
School parents wanted the tax board to give the schools a 2.7 percent increase, while Staffieri’s supporters, several of whom were senior citizens, said they just couldn’t afford any tax increase.
Phil Martino, 70, urged the tax board to reduce spending. The seniors had already paid for the school district for decades. Enough is enough, Martino said.
“I love this town. I don’t want to move to Florida,” Martino said. “The years I got left, I want to be buried here. Please don’t chase me out,” he said.
Another senior said he was living on just $1,000 a month. A tax increase would force him to adopt a constant diet of pasta fagioli.
The meeting Wednesday also underscored Staffieri’s distrust of the school district. The mayor said the administrators keep spending money but the problems within the schools remain the same.
“I’m not against education,” said Staffieri, who did not want the schools to receive any additional money from the city next year. “But I have to listen to everybody. I have to hear a senior crying to me that she doesn’t have money for her medication.”
Parents also said they were feeling the brunt of the country’s never-ending bad economy.
Parent Tina Carlson said she was willing to accept a small tax increase if it helps the school district — even though she and her husband are looking for work. The funding request from the schools wasn’t extravagant, Carlson said.
“We’re not asking for a swimming pool. We’re not asking to teach our kids Chinese in kindergarten,” Carlson said.
Parent Stacey Whelan said she works two jobs on top of her husband’s salary in order to keep their family afloat.
“You’re worried about losing seniors, how about all the families? I can tell you five families off the top of my head that have left in the last six months because of the school system,” she said.
Click play to watch Whelan’s comments. Click here to read reaction from residents who followed the tax board meeting on the Valley Indy Facebook page.
There was common ground for audience members. Several people from both “sides” said it is time to seriously consider regionalizing the Derby school district with another city, such as Ansonia.
In essence, Derby can no longer afford schools.
Regionalization is a topic that Derby has been exploring for about a year, Superintendent Stephen Tracy said. The district has had several meetings with Ansonia on the topic, but any decisions are still far off.
WHAT IS MY NEW TAX BILL???
Every property owner in Derby should have received a letter in 2011 titled “NOTICE OF PROPERTY REVALUATION.”
The letter contained your “Total 2010 Assessed Value (from 2005)” and your “Total 2011 Assessed Value (new).”
In English — that’s your old assessment and your new assessment.
The two numbers printed under those categories are the key to finding out how much your taxes are increasing — or decreasing — under the proposed Derby budget.
Here is how to figure it out:
Take your “Total 2010” number, multiply it by 27.9 (the old mill rate) and divide by 1,000. The result is your old tax bill.
Take your “Total 2011” number, multiply it by 35.5 (the new, proposed mill rate) and divide by 1,000. The result is your new tax bill.
Finally, compare the difference between the two results.
Then breathe a sigh of relief or get out your pitchfork, depending on the number.
