Monday’s meeting was held on the Zoom videoconferencing platform.
DERBY — The city approved a $48.1 million budget Monday that includes a tax rate increase of 1.99 mills.
A single-family house assessed at $112,000 will pay an additional $216 in taxes next year.
It’s the second year in a row the tax board opted to raise taxes.
Last year the city, in the midst of a financial crisis, added 2.5 mills to the tax rate.
After four votes throwing around several different bottom lines, the majority of the tax board Monday voted to give Derby Public Schools an increase of $460,000.
It marks the first time in two years the schools received an increase from the tax board.
The total school budget is $19,076,606.
The tax burden in Derby has steadily shifted from commercial and industrial properties and onto the backs of residential property owners. The city has been unable to raise its grand list to cover the escalating costs of public employee salaries and benefits.
In addition to the normal pressure attributed to “contractual obligations,” the city is still trying to rebuild a fund balance that was found to be depleted last year.
A public hearing on the budget was held before Monday’s tax board vote.
The only people to speak were Andrew Baklik, Mayor Rich Dziekan’s Chief of Staff; Jim Gildea, the chairman of the Derby Board of Education; Tara Hyder, a member of the Derby Board of Education, and; Laura Harris, a member of the Derby Board of Education.
Prior to the vote, the school board members pointed out education had not received new local dollars in two years. Harris urged the board to fully fund the school board’s initial request, which hovered around the $1 million mark.
Gildea urged the tax board to look at schools as an amenity that could attract people to put down roots in Derby.
Hyder noted that several “generational families” in Derby have been moving out due to the fact education is underfunded.
The Derby WPCA recently adopted a budget that does not raise sewer bills. Users continue to pay a capital fee connected to some $30 million in sewer system repairs and upgrades a few years back.
