Raise taxes? Are you kidding? We’re not getting our money’s worth as it is.
That was the message Tuesday during a public hearing on Derby’s $40.9 million budget.
The budget, if adopted as is, would increase the tax rate by about 4 mills. That would raise the average single-family home’s tax bill by about $300.
The tax board is expected to make a final decision on the budget during a meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Derby City Hall.
Since it’s a revaluation year, the budget’s tax impact is all over the place, depending on how your property was reassessed. Some property owners will see their tax bill decrease. Others will see their taxes go up more than $300.
The document below contains the requests from:
1. Department heads
2. The preliminary budget recently adopted by the tax board
3. The mayor’s budget, revealed for the first time Tuesday night.
Speakers Tuesday didn’t want to see any tax increase.
“I just think the budget is way overboard,” resident Theodore Anglace, Jr. told members of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
A Minerva Street mother of two said she can’t let her kids play outside because the neighborhood isn’t safe. She can’t sell her house because no one wants to move to Derby. People who can get out are doing so. Yet the city is pondering a tax hike.
“You are financially strangling the people who are here in Derby, and the services are less than what they were,” she said.
Her comments drew applause from the audience. The majority of seats were full in Aldermanic Chambers.
In Derby, the tax board is responsible for setting a budget, and holds a series of meetings starting as early as January.
The mayor also has the opportunity to suggest a spending plan, and so Mayor Anita Dugatto gave her proposed budget to the tax board Tuesday.
But the mayor’s budget did not include revenue projections, making it impossible to state definitively what her budget will do to taxes.
Dugatto’s budget totals roughly $41.2 million. That’s about $279,000 more in spending than the $40.9 million budget the tax board was considering.
But the mayor said her budget will not drive the tax rate up 4 mills, because of revenue changes that were not made public Tuesday.
Presumably the public will learn more at Wednesday’s tax board meeting.
The mayor’s budget allocates $17.7 million for Derby Public Schools. That’s about $65,000 less than what the Board of Education asked for.
Because of the recently approved state budget, Derby schools are also losing about $40,000 in state “Alliance District” funding, money targeted toward struggling schools.
District officials had repeatedly described their budget request as “lean.”
Derby Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway said he and the district’s business manager will have to see what the tax board decides Wednesday.
“We came in at bare bones, so it is going to be tough,” Conway said of potential budget reductions. “I wish it was easier, but it’s not.”
