The Ansonia Board of Apportionment and Taxation approved a $59.2 million city budget for 2011 – 2012 Monday night.
The budget raises the tax rate by half a mill, from 25.75 mills to 26.25 mills.
That means a taxpayer with a home assessed at $200,000 will pay $100 more in property taxes next year.
The tax board used $500,000 from its fund balance to keep the tax rate down.
Education
The Board of Apportionment and Taxation rearranged some spending to give $300,000 more to the Board of Education.
They achieved the increase without bumping up the tax rate anymore than previously proposed as a result of cost savings on insurance, and using $100,000 from the city’s fund balance.
The school budget — now at $26.3 million — will likely mean layoffs, according to Superintendent Carol Merlone.
Merlone said the Board of Education will have to review the funding and see where it can make cuts.
She and Board of Education chairman John Lawlor said the $300,000 increase is a drop in the bucket, and won’t help the schools stay on track to improve.
“I don’t feel it is at all adequate,” Lawlor said.
Lawlor said Ansonia has the lowest per pupil spending in the state, at $10,521.
‘Degree of Unhappiness’
Mayor James Della Volpe said the budget is “very decent during these times.”
Tax board chairman Richard Sturges said the tax board kept the increase as low as possible.
“Nobody’s going to be happy,” Sturges said. “Nobody wants the increase. It’s the degree of unhappiness.”
One member of the public, Ken Plavnicky, spoke about the budget during public comment Monday.
“I just don’t understand how Shelton can lower its taxes and mill rate, and we can higher ours,” Plavnicky said. “Maybe our elected officials can talk to them to find out how they did that.”
Tax board members responded by saying that Shelton lowered its tax rate because it had a bigger increase in its grand list.
‘Not The Norm’
The extra money for the Board of Education does not appear in their line item.
Instead, the tax board added the $300,000 to the Board of Apportionment and Taxation line item.
The board will have unrestricted access to the $300,000, Sturges said.
Why do it that way?
The tax board was concerned about its potential inability to cut the Board of Education budget in future years, Sturges said.
“They tell us we can’t cut them below prior years,” Sturges said after the meeting.
So as a precaution, the money wasn’t directly allocated to the schools, to give the tax board leeway with future budgets. The thought is that if it wants to, the tax board could give the schools $300,000 less in 2012 – 2013, and still not be technically cutting its spending.
“This is not the norm,” Superintendent Merlone said after the meeting.
“It’s a game,” Lawlor said.
