Though the Board of Apportionment and Taxation has whittled the city budget proposal down to a zero percent increase, the citizen group that formed to oppose an earlier budget proposal still plans to pack the budget public hearing Monday night.
“Now that departments are looking at less funding than expected, we assume additional pressure may be put on BOAT members to restore funding,” the group, Axe the Tax, wrote in a press release Tuesday.
“We must be prepared to counter any supporters of an increased budget at the public hearing and will be reminding people that it is just as important now, if not more so, to speak out against any increase.”
Tax Axed
The Board of Apportionment and Taxation decided on a zero increase at a workshop Monday night.
Axe the Tax has been pushing for a zero percent increase in the budget.
When the budget proposal was first turned over by the Board of Aldermen in February, it included an 8.4 percent tax increase. City officials have said that was only a starting point for discussions, but citizens responded with concern about significantly higher tax bills in a tough economy.
Axe the Tax leaders said Tuesday they were “cautiously optimistic,” about the new proposal.
“I really feel for now this issue’s over,” said Charlie Stowe, one of the Axe the Tax leaders. “They took the teeth out of it. They neutralized it. The truth is, that’s all that really matters.”
The press release sent out by the group late Tuesday said its creation helped “heighten awareness and interest of the tax increase” and was helpful to the process.
“We are happy that BOAT did not see the increase as necessary and justified and thank them for looking at the budget from view of the average taxpayer and listening to their concerns,” the group wrote in their press release.
The Axe the Tax members have been attending budget workshops this month to watch the process, but Stowe said he was not at the workshop Monday night.
Neither was the Valley Indy.
Officials did not publicly post notice of the budget workshop. On Monday morning, a reporter from the Valley Indy was told the next meeting of the tax board was May 10. Monday’s meeting did not appear on a calendar distributed by members of the tax board.
A reporter from the Register attended the meeting and the paper published a story Tuesday.
Tax board chairman Richard Sturges was unavailable for comment.
Budget Details
The $57.07 million proposal represents a tax rate of 25.25, which means a resident with a home assessed at $200,000 will receive a tax bill for about $5,050.
Edward Norman, a member of BOAT, said the board cut spending in several departments, but kept in tact union raises that were sacrificed in last year’s budget.
Last year union workers gave concessions when they took no raises, Norman said, so the board felt they should be able to receive raises this year. But non-union raises were eliminated in the budget proposal, according to Norman.
The tax board also combined janitor positions at several city buildings, and shifted the extra workers to other open jobs in the public works department, Norman said.
It had the net effect of two fewer positions, without any job losses, Norman said.
The tax board also decided to purchase the police chief’s car instead of leasing it. That will save $750 a month, officials said.
Also, the tax board took about $200,000 from the unassigned surplus money on hand to offset the other budget costs, Norman said.
The tax board also cut in half several donations to local community organizations, such as TEAM and the Birmingham Group.
“I’ve been on the board for several years, and we don’t have a lot of fat in the budget,” Norman said. “We may be cutting stuff too close to the bone… It comes down to the bottom line: Some kind of (reductions in) services have to come with this cuts.”
Next Steps
The Board of Apportionment and Taxation will hold a public hearing on the budget proposal at 7 p.m. Monday May 10.
Then on May 17, the tax board finalizes the budget proposal and officially sets the city tax rate.
Norman said the proposal may be tweaked between the two dates.
For a look at all Ansonia budget stories, click here.
