SEYMOUR – The Seymour Board of Finance on Wednesday (May 8) unanimously approved a reduced town and school budget for fiscal year 2024 – 2025, nearly a week after voters rejected both budgets.
The board met via Zoom where members approved a $66.4 million bottom line. That is $240,000 less than the budget rejected by voters on May 2.
A second budget referendum is scheduled for 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 16 at the Seymour Community Center, 20 Pine St.
The revised mill rate is 36.84 mills. That’s a .88 mill increase over the current mill rate of 35.98, and a decrease from the rejected budget’s proposed mill rate of 37.25.
A single-family house on 4 acres on Bungay Road assessed at $213,360 would pay $183 more in taxes next year. Under the budget rejected on May 2, they would’ve paid $271 more in taxes.
A single-family house on .28 acres on Wood Street assessed at $139,720 would pay $120 more in taxes next year (as opposed to $171 under the budget rejected on May 2).
The revised budget allocates $26.6 million for the town side of the budget and $39.7 million for the Seymour Board of Education.
The revised town side of the budget – that is, everything but education – is now $550,500, or 2.1 percent, more than the current budget.
The revised school budget is now $1.7 million, or 4.2 percent, more than the current budget.
In Seymour, voters vote on the town and school budgets separately.
On May 2, the town budget was rejected by 11 votes.
The school budget was rejected by 102 votes.
At a meeting Monday night (May 6), the finance board met for a workshop to decide where the budgets could be reduced. The board actually voted on a reduced bottom line Monday night, but due to a calculation error, they had to schedule another meeting for Wednesday to correct the record.
The school budget’s bottom line was reduced by $200,000.
The $200,000 reduction includes $150,000 in “shared services” with the town (facilities director, IT director and human resources director). Those services are not disappearing. Kurt Miller, Seymour’s chief administrative officer, said the figures were initially double-budgeted and included in both budgets. Now they’re only on the town side of the budget.
Other reductions to the school budget included $25,000 for utilities, $15,000 for building repairs and $10,000 for propane.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis and school board chairman Chris Champagne said the budgets are lean.
“Our budget is to the bone, anything after that, it’s staff,” Champagne said.
“I don’t want a tax increase either. I’m a taxpayer, too, but we have to do better and move our town forward,” Drugonis said. “If we cut more, it’ll be town services that go.”
Less than 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots on May 2, despite the town using robocalls, social media and physical signs across town telling people to vote.
