THE VALLEY — Budget season is rushing toward a climax in Derby and Seymour, while Ansonia’s public process won’t start until later this month.
Here is where the budgets stand locally:
ANSONIA:
In March, the Board of Aldermen voted to disregard the budget deadlines in the Ansonia City Charter created by Mayor David Cassetti’s administration in 2014. The Aldermen had been ignoring the deadlines for several years.
Cassetti is scheduled to present his budget to the Aldermen and the Ansonia Board of Apportionment & Taxation at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 25 via Zoom.
The school district posted a budget summary in January showing they were seeking a $2.2 million funding increase from the city, but then said the document was posted by mistake.
DERBY:
The Derby Board of Apportionment & Taxation is scheduled to host a public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 9 on a $53.1 million budget that will add 4.6 mills to the Derby mill rate, bringing it to 43.2.
A single-family house on Hawthorne Avenue assessed at $112,000 would pay an additional $515 in property taxes next year if the budget is adopted as is.
A house on Sentinel Hill Road assessed at $220,150 would pay $1,000 more in taxes next year.
Mayor Joseph DiMartino’s administration said the tax increase is on the table because previous budgets had bad financial forecasts, including under-budgeting employee benefit costs by $1 million. Click here for a previous story and click here for every story The Valley Indy has written on the issue.
SEYMOUR
The town is considering a $66.6 million budget that carries a 3.5 percent tax rate increase.
Click here for a story on the budget’s public hearing.
The town side of the budget – that is, everything but education – carries a $590,501, or 2.27 percent, increase over the current budget.
The school side of the budget includes a $1.8 million, or 4.7 percent, increase.
If approved as is, the $66.6 million budget would raise the mill rate to 37.25 mills. That’s 1.27 mills more than the current 35.98 mills.
The owner of a house assessed at $300,000 would pay about $381 more in taxes next year.
A single-family house on 4 acres on Bungay Road assessed at $213,360 would pay $277 more in taxes next year.
A single-family house on .28 acres on Wood Street assessed at $139,720 would pay $177 more in taxes next year.
The annual town meeting will be held on April 17, 2024, at 7 p.m. at The Community Center at 20 Pine St.
Voters in Seymour get the final say on the budget at a referendum scheduled for 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 2 at the Seymour Community Center. Voters will vote‘yes’ or‘no’ on both the town and school budgets, which will be posed as two separate questions on the ballot.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis.
