Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller shared a $52.9 million budget proposal with the Board of Finance Monday that increases spending by 2.65 percent.
It fully funds the Seymour Board of Education’s $31.1 million budget request and, if adopted as is, would see the mill rate increase from 32.83 to 33.36.
That’s an uptick of 0.53 mills — or 1.6 percent.
A resident with a home assessed at $230,000 would pay $7,672.80 in taxes under the plan, up $121.90 from this year’s $7,550.90 in taxes.
The proposed 2013 – 2014 budget makes a lot of assumptions — that state funding to towns for various projects won’t get cut, for one, and that the town’s share of employee health insurance premiums will only climb 6 percent.
Also, the town is in the process of negotiating contracts with unions that represent about half of the town’s employees.
Overall, Miller’s proposal totals $52,926,149.
Revenue is up slightly in Seymour. The town’s grant list grew by $10.4 million, or 0.85 percent in the past year.
Monday’s meeting was the first of several Board of Finance budget workshops, at which members talk with different town officials and boards and commissions about funding for next year.
Click here for a schedule of the budget workshops.
Voters get the ultimate say in Seymour.
Miller said he challenged the town’s different departments to a target of a 2 percent increase. He said he didn’t have in-depth conversations with some departments — such as the fire department and public works — but that those departments will be making presentations directly to the finance board.
After the meeting, Board of Finance Chairman Trish Danka said Miller’s proposal seems workable, though the board will keep an open mind to proposals from other boards or departments as their budget workshops progress.
“I’m just one member, but it seems like our questions are satisfied at this point,” Danka said. “We do have to hear from some of the departments.”
“If they have different ideas from the first selectman, it doesn’t make one right or wrong,” Danka said. “It’s just going to be what we see as a team.”
But even if the Board of Finance is satisfied, Danka said she can’t yet tell whether Miller’s proposal would be acceptable to taxpayers at referendum.
“Times are still tough,” Danka said. “I’m never ready to speak for the public before we’ve even had a chance to get out there and hear what they have to say. We’re so early in the process.”
“I think they will absolutely appreciate the process this year much better than in the past,” she added. “I think that it might make them take pause and actually look at the budget a little more closely to see where that money is going.”
The town’s current budget totals $51,558,192, of which:
- $15,947,873 is spent on town operations
- $30,398,026 is spent on schools
- $4,890,293 services the town’s debt.
At Monday’s meeting, Miller presented a spending plan with a bottom line of $52,926,149, with:
- $16,352,269 for town operations, up 2.54 percent
- $31,114,026 for schools, up 2.36 percent
- $4,967,293 on debt service, up 1.57 percent
The budget is in line with priorities outlined by Miller in a December interview with the Valley Indy — restoring the police department to full staffing levels, committing more money to the town’s roads, and developing a long-range plan for capital expenses instead of waiting for problems to come up before addressing them.
Miller’s budget proposal would also fully fund the Board of Education’s budget request for 2013 – 2014, which the school board voted on last month.
After the meeting, the First Selectman said that the proposed spending increase could be lower if negotiations with the unions go well, or if the town can save some money on health insurance.
“I would expect that the number would come down based on union negotiations and some other things that we’re waiting for,” Miller said.
But, he noted, his proposal assumes aid from the state staying the same, another number which is still up in the air.
Earlier in the meeting, Kevin Mahoney, a representative from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said that’s not a sure thing.
Gov. Dannel Malloy will be presenting his budget to legislators in Hartford Wednesday.
Mahoney said CCM has been “hearing signals” that Malloy’s proposal may decrease aid slightly to towns.
“Town aid might take a bit of a nick,” Mahoney said of possible cuts in state aid proposed by Malloy. “We hope that they’re minimal if they do occur.”
And even if the governor does propose them Wednesday, Mahoney said CCM will pressure lawmakers to restore that money to towns when a budget is passed.
