DERBY – Mayor Joseph DiMartino unveiled a $52.9 million budget April 1 that keeps the mill rate as is.
“I am happy to report that I will be keeping that commitment to you and that my 25-26 budget proposal will not raise taxes,” DiMartino told members of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation (tax board).
The members of the tax board voted to adopt the mayor’s budget as the city’s preliminary budget and to set a public hearing for 6 p.m. April 8. In Derby, members of the tax board have the power to adopt budgets and set mill rates.
The budget proposes a mill rate of 43.2.
The mayor’s budget presentation included a section titled “historical recap” where he said audited budgets from 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 found $1.9 million shortfalls in each fiscal year. DiMartino put the blame on “reckless” budget forecasts made before he took office in December 2023.
To address the fiscal issues, DiMartino hired Brian Hall as finance director. Hall is the budget’s primary architect. The administration and the tax board used $1.7 million in ARPA money to close the budget deficits, reduced the pension contribution for one year by $500,000 – and then raised the mill rate by 11.9 percent.
This budget season the mayor asked the managers of the various city departments to not ask for increases, given the tax hike last year.
The mayor’s proposed budget allocates $20,448,449 to the Derby Board of Education. The school board has asked for $21,043,120. That’s a shortfall of $594,671. However, Superintendent Matthew Conway said the school district should be able to cover the difference. Click here for a previous story.
Spending overall in the $52,891,986 proposed budget is down from the budget approved last year by about 0.6 percent, or $294,363.
The budget does not fund new fire trucks. That issue is in front of the Derby Capital Planning Commission. Its members met in mid-March and discussed a possible referendum in November to ask voters for permission to borrow money. They’ll talk about it again later this month.
Tax board member Michael Gray said the budget isn’t without risk. Example – the city is planning to switch insurance companies, but the various city labor unions have to agree.
Hall said the city hopes the switch will save $700,000 next year alone.
Gray also said state and federal grants remain an open question. Derby schools rely heavily on grants, and the Trump administration has been calling for large scale spending cuts.
Still, Gray said the budget presentation April 1 was the most thorough he’s seen in his seven years on the board.