Oxford residents sent the town’s school and town budgets to a May 15 referendum during the annual town meeting Monday.
More than 200 attended the meeting at Quaker Farms School, according to First Selectman George Temple.
The referendum will ask voters to approve or reject three items:
- $13,407,217 in municipal spending, an increase of $26,501, or 0.2 percent.
- $26,548,247 in school spending, an increase of $609,101, or 2.3 percent.
- $734,000 in one-time spending to repair several roads in town.
Voting will take place at the Quaker Farms School gymnasium May 15 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Temple was optimistic about the referendum Tuesday.
“I think it’ll pass,” he said. “I think it’s an honest budget.”
Temple highlighted the proposed road improvements as “sorely needed and long overdue,” and said he’s working to cut town expenses and grow the town’s grand list before next budget season.
“My goal for next year is to cut taxes,” Temple said. “I think we’ll be able to do that.”
If the budgets succeed at referendum, the mill rate would go from 23.21 to 24.10, an increase of .89 mills, or 3.82 percent.
On a house assessed at $250,000, that means property taxes would go from $5,802.50 to $6,025.
Click here to read more about the Board of Finance’s budget deliberations.
