Ansonia tax board Chairman Rick Sturges has some bad news.
While the 2013 – 2014 budget won’t be finalized until next month, city residents shouldn’t expect tax relief — though just how much a taxpayer’s bill may go up depends on how his or her specific property fared in a recent revaluation.
“If anything, it’s going to go up, not down,” Sturges said Wednesday. “I don’t expect anybody to be happy.”
Mayor James Della Volpe, meanwhile, calls the spending plan “still a work in progress.”
“Hopefully it’s not that high,” Della Volpe said Wednesday of the tax rate. “Hopefully we make some more adjustments before we have the final budget.”
The Numbers So Far
The city’s mill rate is currently 27.65.
The city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation, which has the final say over the budget, has been deliberating for weeks and making adjustments to the $60,778,052 spending plan for 2013 – 2014 aldermen sent them in February.
That figure represented a spending increase of about 3.6 percent.
In the weeks since the tax board has made minor adjustments to bring the total budget down about $100,000, Sturges said.
As the numbers currently stand, the new mill rate would be 38.441 — but that number takes into account a revaluation of all property in the city.
For comparison’s sake, officials have calculated a “new” mill rate of 29.217 based on the old grand list.
From 27.65 to 29.217 is an increase of nearly 5.7 percent.
But due to a property revaluation, the actual mill rate will be far higher — 38.441 with numbers as they are now — because the value of real estate took a nosedive after the housing bubble burst in 2008.
How much a resident’s tax bill will change depends on how much the value of his or her property fluctuated between revaluations.
Schools?
Meanwhile, Sturges said, nothing’s set in stone yet.
The tax board’s deliberations will continue every Monday night at 6 p.m. up to a public hearing May 13, he said, with the board adopting a budget May 20.
“We’re still deliberating,” he said after the tax board’s regular meeting Monday. “We’ve gone through all the departments, we’ve made all of our cuts, but we’re still discussing Board of Education.”
School funding has been a sore subject in Ansonia for years.
Last year the school district eliminated 24 positions as a result of a budget gap caused by a $2.2 million loss in grants.
And last month the school board put 38 employees on notice that their contracts may not be renewed for 2013 – 2014.
The school district’s budget for this year is $27 million.
The Board of Education in January asked the city for roughly $1.8 million more for 2013 – 2014. About $410,000 of the proposed increase was for grants the school district expects to lose and asked the city to cover.
The requested increase also included $624,237 for employee benefits, $437,145 for tuition, a cost connected to special education, $221,427 in transportation cost increases, and $142,119 in salary increases.
In February aldermen voted unanimously to pass a budget to the Board of Apportionment and Taxation which includes an increase for school spending of $540,000 — about $1.3 million less than the school board requested.
Aldermen at the time said it was the best they could do in light of tough financial circumstances.
Sturges said that between now and the tax board’s deadline for passing budget — May 20 — “We are probably going to be adding things,” but said he couldn’t be specific.
“The problem is that we have no idea what the state’s doing yet,” he said.
Click here for an April 18 update on the budget picture from CT News Junkie.
Della Volpe shook his head ruefully when asked about school funding Wednesday.
“It’s the hardest (budget) I’ve been involved with in my 14 years,” he said. “We just don’t have the revenue coming in. We’re going to try to do the best we can to keep taxes as low as possible.”
Referendum?
Another unknown — aldermen may decide to ask residents to bond several million dollars for infrastructure projects at at as-yet-unscheduled referendum.
Sturges said figuring out how the city could finance the borrowing if the referendum were approved — or needed repairs if it were rejected — complicates deliberations this year.
Della Volpe said Wednesday that officials hope to firm up the numbers and that aldermen may decide at their meeting next month, scheduled for May 14, whether or not to proceed.
The mayor said that Public Works Superintendent Michael Schryver is currently working with contractors to put together estimates for the projects, which may include:
- A new boiler and heating/air conditioning system at the police department.
- School security upgrades.
- A new boiler and windows at the library.
- Roof repairs at City Hall, Eagle Hose Hook & Ladder, and the armory.
- Work at Nolan Field — repaving the parking lot, upgrades to the fieldhouse, and a new scoreboard.
Della Volpe ballparked a “preliminary” estimate for all the work at $4 million to $5 million, and said aldermen were shooting for a June referendum date.
“It’s something that’s desperately needed, it’s infrastructure that needs to be addressed,” Della Volpe said of the projects. “We’ll come in with a final number and we’ll give it to the Board of Aldermen to decide whether or not to go forward with it.”
