The Derby tax board is scheduled to host a public hearing Tuesday on a preliminary budget that does not raise taxes.
It is the second year in a row the tax board has kept the mill rate steady. Spending is up slightly compared to the budget approved last May.
The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, according to the Derby website. Click here for the agenda.
The tax board (formal title: the Board of Apportionment and Taxation) wants the public to share opinions on the proposed one-year spending plan.
A final budget adoption is scheduled to take place at a meeting Tuesday, May 29. The budget covers July 1 until July 1, 2019.
The budget under consideration totals $42,715,091 — a budget-to-budget increase of less than 1 percent.
Derby schools are getting a 1.9 percent budget-to-budget increase, assuming the preliminary budget is approved.
The school district had requested a 3.2 percent increase from the tax board. School costs comprise about 44 percent of the total Derby budget.
The mayor’s office shows a $17,055 increase in spending. However, that’s offset by losing a salary in the community development department, where budget-to-budget spending is dropping by $33,532.
Most union employees are seeing pay increase of roughly 3 to 3.5 percent.
Andrew Baklik, Mayor Rich Dziekan’s chief of staff, and Carmen DiCenso, who took a job part-time with no benefits as economic development liason, both declined raises, though their employment contracts entitle them to pay increases.
The fire department is getting more money for vehicle maintenance, and the city is still trying to figure out how to account for the parking division. The city opted to dissolve the Derby Parking Authority a few years back. That was the group that operated the city’s aging public parking garage.
At a tax board meeting May 15, Derby City Treasurer Keith McLiverty commended his fellow elected officials on a job well done.
McLiverty said the tax board managed to pay for operations, pay down debt, fund post-retirement benefits — and dedicate $200,000 for “fund balance restoration.”
“It’s very impressive,” he said.
The tax board pondered whether to raise taxes slightly — by .13 mill — to provide some extra cushion for city operations in case the city loses state aid.
Ultimately, though, members of the tax board were united in approving a preliminary budget with no tax increase.
Sal Coppola, the city’s finance director, pointed out residents will eventually be paying large fees to the Derby Water Pollution Control Authority as work starts on at least $30 million in repairs to the sewer system.
Those payments will be coming later this year, WPCA chairman Jack Walsh confirmed Friday.
Voters approved that spending in 2014 — but people are still going to be unhappy when they finally start paying for the work.
The tax board also had the option to raise the mill rate on vehicles, but opted not to do so.
Last year the tax board approved a budget of $42,419,235 — but city government exceeded that budget by about $429,000, according to a chart under review by the tax board.
Last year’s late state budget made planning tough for the locals.
Tax board chairwoman Judy Szewzyk said the city received outside money after last year’s budget was approved, causing the revenue side of the budget to increase.
She said each addition is reviewed and voted upon by the tax board.
A review of the tax board meeting minutes from 2017 and 2018 show that a big chunk of the $429,000 is revenue that came in from police officers working outside jobs.
That’s money paid to the city by outside parties who pay police officers to do things like direct traffic while road work is done.
The city counts that money as revenue and the officers are paid.
