The Derby tax board Thursday adopted a $37.2 million preliminary budget after more than 90 minutes of deliberation.
The budget carries a spending increase of about $1.6 million.
The vote was unanimous, although three tax board members cautioned the numbers discussed Thursday could change.
“It’s not in anyone’s interest to hold up the process. This is a preliminary budget,” tax board member Judy Szewczyk said.
A public hearing on the 2012 – 2013 budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, May 21 in the Aldermanic Chambers in Derby City Hall.
The final adoption of the budget is scheduled to take place at a tax board meeting Wednesday, May 23.
The mill rate shows a steep increase happening due to the fact Derby residential properties, as a whole, lost value during a revaulation earlier this year.
Last year, there were 3,849 houses in Derby. The combined total assessment was $637,184,580.
This year the same number of houses are worth $501,996,600.
That’s a 21 percent drop in assessed value.
Taxes?
The new mill rate in the proposed budget is 36.6 — a year-to-year increase of 8.7 mills.
However, the new assessment numbers from the reval vary depending on where you live in Derby.
Tax board members said a house assessed at $105,000 could pay an additional $325 in taxes next year if the budget is adopted.
A property assessed at $180,000 on Hawthorne Avenue would pay $6,588 in taxes next year.
Under the old assessments, that same property on Hawthorne Avenue was probably assessed at $228,000 last year and had a tax bill of $6,361.
Bottom line — a tax bill increase of $227 for that property.
Szewczyk produced data indicating the average property tax bill — one that saw a 21 percent decrease in assessment due to the reval — could see an average tax increase of about $100.
To calculate your property tax, multiply your most recent tax property assessment by 36.6 and divide by 1,000.
To compare that with your previous tax bill, look at your bill — or multiply your old assessment by 27.9 and divide by 1,000.
Schools
At the start of Thursday’s tax board meeting, Derby Public Schools Superintendent Stephen Tracy told the tax board he was advising the school board to shave $200,000 from their $16.1 million funding request.
That meant the school district is now asking the city for a 2.7 percent ($421,000) spending increase for education, as opposed to the original 4 percent ($621,000) increase.
The new spending on education totals $15,969,000.
The lower education total means the school district will only try to hire one librarian instead of three, as called for in the original school budget request. Over the years, the Derby school district has lost all four librarians due to the city’s money woes.
Tracy said the school budget is not likely to result in layoffs — but he said he could not promise there wouldn’t be layoffs.
A portion of Tracy’s comments is posted in this video:
