SEYMOUR — A public hearing on the proposed 2020 – 2021 budget is scheduled to be held online 7 p.m. May 12.
The meeting will be held using the Zoom video conferencing platform.
If using a computer, tablet or cell phone, download and install the Zoom app to make viewing the meeting easier.
The meeting ID is: 874 3599 4126
To join from a phone, call this number: (646) 558‑8656
Please note: The public is not allowed to speak during the Zoom meeting.
Instead, comments on the budget must be emailed.
First Selectman Kurt Miller said the town isn’t looking to stop people from talking, but there are concerns a Zoom meeting could fall apart if too many people attempt to speak at once.
A limitation of the platform is that the audio tends to drop out of more than one person speaks.
The town posted a note on its website explaining how comments will be handled:
“Public comment sessions will be held, but due to technical limitations, it must be submitted ahead of time.
Public comment received up until noon the following day can be included with the minutes of the meeting.
Public comment should be submitted via email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).”
TOWN BUDGET DOCUMENTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
The proposed budget keeps the mill rate flat.
“We’ve kept the mill rate stable for the fifth year in a row at 36,” finance board chairman Bill Sawicki said during an April 22 meeting.
The total budget (school and town government) totals $58,084,616. That’s a 1.4 percent increase over the budget currently in place.
The school board side of the budget totals $34.6 million, a 1.5 percent increase in funding. The town side of the budget totals about $23.4 million.
The budget uses about $228,000 from fund balance in order to keep the tax rate flat, which is especially important because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, the finance board had been considering a slight tax increase, but COVID changed that.
“I have to believe that off of this COVID mess we’re all in, there are a lot of people suffering in this town with layoffs, furloughs, pick some kind of bad thing,” Sawkicki had said in an April 14 meeting of his board. “Income is probably not secure for quite a number of people.”
Video from the April 14 Seymour Board of Finance meeting:
The Town of Seymour has been purposely growing its fund balance, sometimes referred to informally as a “rainy day fund.”
“If a pandemic isn’t a rainy day, I don’t know what is,” Sawicki said.
Miller told The Valley Indy the amount of money being taken from the budget isn’t out of the norm compared to previous years.
“It’s a little higher, but we’re usually in the $200,000 to $300,000 range,” he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the way the budget is approved.
Usually the finance board holds a public hearing, and the Board of Selectmen host a town meeting on the budget before sending it to referendum.
This year there will be no referendum. The seven elected members of the finance board will have the final say at a meeting scheduled for May 26.
Residents can email comments on the budget up to May 26.
In response to the public health threat and social distancing guidelines from the COVID-19 crisis, Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order giving towns and cities that hold budget referendums the ability to change the process.
Miller said the town didn’t want to put senior citizens at risk by opening polling places and holding a 12-hour public vote. In addition, Miller noted the budget keeps the mill rate flat, as has previous budgets. With no budget controversies circulating, Miller said it didn’t make sense to put people at risk by opening polling places.
Video from the April 22 Seymour Board of Finance meeting:
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