An image showing the newly adopted mill rate (under the ‘prelim’ column) from the Derby tax board meeting of May 18, 2021.
DERBY — The city’s tax rate is going down by 5 mills under a new, $47.4 million budget adopted by the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation on Tuesday.
The mill rate was 43.8. The mill rate is now 38.6.
The spending plan’s bottom line was $47,387,577.
Members of the tax board added just $1 to the school budget, bringing the total education allocation to $19,076,007.
That allocation is far short of the $629,000 increase the school district had requested earlier this year.
However, Dr. Matthew Conway, the school district’s superintendent, said schools are expecting a chunk of the $629,000 requested increase to be covered by additional funding from the state.
Also, the tax board put aside $150,000 in the budget’s working balance that was earmarked for the school district should the need arise. Tax board members also said the school district has the option to use some $300,000 in a reserve fund created a few years back.
The tax board allocated an additional $131,430 to the Derby Police Department, bringing the total police budget to $4,067,943. The budget contributes $700,000 to the city’s pension fund. The current budget only allocated $190,000 because money was diverted to fix the city’s fiscal mess after a budgeting mistake.
The budget takes into account a state-mandated property revaluation, which changed the assessment for many properties in Derby.
To determine your tax bill under the new budget:
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1. Find your old tax bill and look at how much you paid in property taxes. Write it down and put it to the side.
2. Find your new (or latest) assessment, which is available online here.
3. Multiply your new (or latest) assessment by 38.6, then divide that answer by 1,000. That’s your new property tax bill.
4. Compare your answer from step 1 to your answer in step 3.
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Tax board member Brian Coppolo voted against accepting $47.38 million in revenue. Coppolo said he heard Derby will not be receiving $1.2 million in “distressed municipality” funding from the State of Connecticut. Mayor Rich Dziekan and Judy Szewczyk said they had not been told that, and that the same process used every year to estimate state funding had been used in this budget.
Conway and Szewczyk pointed out that towns and cities across the state always adopt budgets before the state government passes its budget — so there is some risk involved.
The Valley Indy emailed three state legislators during the tax board meeting to ask about the distressed municipality funding. State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, a Republican who represents Derby in Hartford, said she had not heard about a change in distressed municipality funding for the city.
Andrew Baklik, Mayor Dziekan’s chief of staff, noted the budget doesn’t include for some $3.6 million in federal ‘American Rescue Plan’ funding the city is expected to receive. He indicated there’s some wiggle room if the state doesn’t come through with the distressed municipality funding.
The new budget covers the fiscal year starting July 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2022.
