None of them are what he would call great.
“This by far will be the most challenging year we’ve ever had,” he said toward the beginning of his hour-long presentation.
That’s because of uncertainty over the state budget — and what kind of money state lawmakers will send to Connecticut’s municipalities.
But Miller said Seymour is in a better position than most others because he and other officials have tried to put the town on solid financial footing since taking office in 2011.
The Valley Indy broadcast Miller’s presentation live on Facebook using an iPhone. Click the play button on the video above to watch.
Miller’s recommending overall town spending decrease about 2 percent to $23,047,272, and a school district budget of $32,974,415, a year-over-year increase of 1.15 percent.
That’s about $120,000 below what the school board has requested, but the first selectman said he thinks the difference can be made up when the town renews its health insurance contract for employees.
Here are brief summaries of the first selectman’s three budget options:
The first assumes level funding from the state, and would decrease the mill rate from 36 to 35.73.
The second assumes level funding from the state and also assumes state lawmakers follow through with a proposal to cap motor vehicle taxes at 32 mills. That would mean the real estate tax rate would increase from 36 to 36.13.
The third assumes a proposal from Gov. Malloy to decrease state aid to wealthier suburbs and increase it to poorer cities passes, and would increase Seymour’s real estate property tax rate from 36 to 37.09.
That’s about 3.02 percent, meaning a person with a house assessed at $150,000 would see his or her taxes go from $5,400 to $5,563.50, or up $163.50.
But Miller predicted to board of finance members Malloy’s budget proposal will be “dead on arrival” in the legislature.
Even so, he and Board of Finance Chairman Bill Sawicki said the town should plan long-term on the assumption that state aid to the town will decrease.
Sawicki noted that even in Miller’s worst case scenario, the options presented by Miller don’t contemplate any drastic cuts to departments.
“We’ll just do our best and try to come with some reasonable way of dealing with this,” he said.
In Seymour, residents have the ultimate say on the budget via a referendum.
The Board of Finance has scheduled five more meetings this month to deliberate on a spending plan.
Sawicki said they’ll likely send a proposal to a public hearing toward the end of the month.
If that happens, Miller said a referendum would likely go to residents during the last week of April.
Miller’s budget proposal is posted below.
Kurt Miller Budget Proposal by The Valley Indy on Scribd
