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A screen shot from a Seymour Board of Finance meeting last month.
SEYMOUR — A public hearing on the town’s proposed $59.2 million budget for fiscal year 2021 – 2022 lacked one thing Tuesday — the public.
Not one resident tuned in to the Board of Finance’s virtual public hearing held via Zoom.
Board Chairman Bill Sawicki held the meeting open for 20 minutes to give residents a chance to dial in or log on, but there were no takers.
“I guess it’s a combination of people are busy, and they’re going to express what they feel at the ballot box,” Sawicki said. “Historically, and as far as I can remember, these annual town budget hearings rarely have any real attendance to speak of, maybe eight or 10 people show up. It’s just something that doesn’t get attended well. But we do hope people come out and vote one way or another to exercise their right to speak out on the budget.”
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis thought people would show up because the town recently underwent a revaluation of real estate, and although the mill rate is slated to decrease from 36 mills to 34.71 mills, some residents will see their taxes rise due to increases in their individual property assessments.
It’s been a bone of contention on Seymour-related Facebook community pages.
“We heard a lot of residents were upset about their taxes and assessments going up, and I thought a lot more people would be here expressing that,” Drugonis said.
Drugonis said reval caused “one-third of residents’ taxes to go up, one-third went down and one-third stayed the same.”
Under the proposed lower mill rate, Sawicki said a resident with a house assessed at $200,000 will pay $258 less in annual taxes, from $7,200 to $6,942.
“Yes, some people will pay more because of reval and some will pay less,” said Sawicki. “One hundred percent of the people won’t be happy, but we do what we think is best overall. A 1.8 percent (budget) increase is fair. But we will respect the voters’ wishes obviously whatever they decide, and hopefully they will pass the budget and our job will be done.”
The budget proposal next heads to the annual town meeting scheduled in-person for 6 p.m April 22 at Seymour Middle School. From there, it goes to the annual budget referendum, scheduled for 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 6 at the Seymour Community Center, where voters have the final say.
Even with a reduced mill rate, the overall budget represents an increase of about $1.1 million, or 1.8 percent, more than the current budget.
Drugonis attributed the increase to a spike in employee health insurance and trash and recycling fees, along with contractual obligations which are around 2.5 percent raises for town employees.
The budget, in part, includes $45,000 to hire a part-time economic development director; brings additional seasonal employees onboard to assist the public works department, and gives $4.4 million to the police department, which includes funding for a second deputy police chief.
There’s also $35.4 million slated for the Board of Education, which represents a 2 percent increase, and an additional $300,000 for capital improvement items, including a new dump truck and storage building for public works and police body and dash cameras (as mandated by the new police accountability bill).
More information about the budget can be found on the town’s website.
