By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Courant Staff Writer
April 23, 2008
The town council voted 6-3 Tuesday night
to adopt a $215.9 million municipal budget that calls for a 7 percent increase
in spending. It also would mean an extra $42.95 in property taxes a month for
someone with a $354,000 house, the average homeowner in town.
The council's three Republicans voted against the 2008-09 fiscal year plan,
which Democrats called a purely "maintenance budget" that includes
$124.9 million in school funding. The council trimmed $475,854 from the board
of education's recommended spending plan, savings that Mayor Scott Slifka attributed to a consolidation of services such as
ground maintenance with the town.
The budget will require a property tax rate of 37.64 mills, a decrease of 0.99
mills from the current rate. A mill represents $1 of property tax for every
$1,000 of assessed value.
Because the town is entering the second year of a five-year phase-in of the
2006 revaluation, each homeowner's property tax increase will be different. But
at minimum, town officials said, many homeowners will see a 6.9 percent
increase in their property tax bills. Within a few days, homeowners may compare
their property tax bills under the current budget with an estimate under
Tuesday's approved budget on the town's website.
Republican Minority Leader Leon Davidoff said the average taxpayer will have to
pay more than $7,000 in property taxes and called for "sacrifices" in
town services to keep
Democrat Carolyn Thornberry spoke after Visconti and acknowledged that
"the burden on our taxpayers is more than I had hoped" and that her
vote for the budget was "less than enthusiastic." However, she added,
"political pandering [does] not balance budgets in the real world."
Slifka said he recognizes that residents, some on
fixed incomes and in "dire straits," will feel the financial burden
of the rising costs to run the town. "I realize that, and from the bottom
of my heart, I wish I could make it better," Slifka
said. "But this is an effort to keep our town strong in the face of a very
difficult climate."
In the coming weeks, Slifka said, the town council
will announce initiatives in response to the impact of the budget, such as
exploring further tax relief for seniors.
Whether the West Hartford Taxpayers Association would bring the budget to a
referendum was uncertain Tuesday night. The group's president, Chris Torino,
said after the council meeting that he personally would not advocate for one.
But some members who overheard