Seymour voters approved the town and school budgets for 2014 – 2015 during a referendum Thursday.
The town budget passed 832 – 711.
The school budget passed 789 – 758.
The budget adds .81 mill to the mill rate. A residential property assessed at $105,000 will pay an additional $85 in taxes next year.
This was the second time at the polls for the spending plan. Both budgets were rejected during a referendum May 1. About $400,000 was trimmed from the plan for the second go-around with voters.
Recent history shows residents in Seymour are extremely weary of tax increases, once even voting down a school budget that contained no increase in spending.
It explains why members of the Board of Education were so happy after the results were announced at the Seymour Community Center Thursday.
“Look at me, I’m shaking,” school board Chairman Yahsu Putorti said, extending a trembling hand toward a reporter.
“I am thrilled to death that it passed. It is such a relief. I’m shaking, I’m so happy. You worry about this all the time,” Putorti said. “Now we’ll be able to plan for the rest of the year.”
School board member Kristen Harmeling said she was proud of her Seymour neighbors for supporting education.
First Selectman Kurt Miller said that voters’ approval of the town side of the budget allows Seymour to move forward with a capital plan, improving roads and improving technology.
Had the budget been rejected again, that might not be the case, he said.
“I think had this budget gone down, those were some of the cuts we were looking at,” Miller said.
The combined budget totaled $54.4 million.
Voter turnout was about 17 percent, up about 4 percent from the May 1 vote.
There are 9,224 registered voters in Seymour, but anyone who owns $1,000 worth of property is also eligible to vote, Putorti pointed out.
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