DERBY — Members of the tax board are scheduled to meet again online at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 in order to finalize a city budget.
Mayor Rich Dziekan proposed a $47.5 million budget earlier this year that would lower the mill rate by .4 mills. The tax board adopted his budget as its preliminary budget on April 18, and then held a public hearing on the budget Monday. They met again Tuesday night during a meeting where tax board members peppered Dziekan’s administration with budget related questions.
By the end of Tuesday’s meeting, the tax board was debating whether to increase spending in two areas: Derby schools on a line item related to capital projects.
Walt Mayhew, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the additional spending could result in a mill rate of 1.1 mills. That means a single-family home assessed at $160,000 would pay an additional $176 in property taxes next year. CORRECTION: Mayhew said .1 mill increase during the meeting. The Valley Indy mistakenly reported 1.1 mills.
A .4 mill rate reduction would result in a $64 smaller tax bill next year for a single-family house assessed at $160,000.
Tax board member Mike Gray noted Derby has been underfunding the school district, as proven by the fact the school district is using “alliance district” funding from the state to bankroll teachers — something Derby schools is not supposed to be using the money for, as the state expects the city to pay for core instructors. While the mayor’s budget allocates another roughly $198,000 for schools, Gray suggested the allocation be increased to $232,277. Tax board member Chris Carloni opposed the idea, saying the city has increased funding by some $2 million over the decade while enrollment has dropped.
Ultimately the board didn’t make a decision on what to do with the budget by the end of the meeting.
The meeting was marked by a series of clashes between Derby’s deputy finance director, Nancy Balsys, and Jen Desroches, an elected official on the tax board. Desroches has complained that Balsys doesn’t share financial info with her, and the two seemed annoyed by each other as Desroches asked a number of questions about the budget during the meeting.
Click play to watch the meeting, which was streamed to HOW MANY people on Valley Indy social media.
The city charter sets the budget deadline at Friday.
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