By DANIEL P. JONES
Courant Staff Writer
June 25, 2008
The town council Tuesday cut nearly $2.6
million from a 2008-09 budget that voters rejected and
adopted a new spending plan that decreases the average homeowner's annual tax
increase by about $110.
The council split along party lines, with the six majority Democrats supporting
the new budget and the three minority Republicans opposing it.
The new budget is $213.5 million, down from the defeated budget of $215.9
million. Spending would increase by about 5.5 percent, down from 6.9 percent in
the budget that voters rejected June 17.
Curbside leaf collection by vacuum trucks was eliminated from the town budget,
for a savings of $385,000, and will not be offered this fall. Other savings
come from a reduction of about 20 municipal jobs and a variety of service
reductions, such as closing the main and branch libraries on Friday nights.
Outdoor pool hours also will be reduced, as well as private school
transportation expenditures and police- and firefighter-training expenses. The
town assessor's and tax collector's offices will be closed on Fridays.
The council is directing the board of education, which will meet tonight, to
reduce its 2008-09 spending plan by about $1.4 million. It will be up to the
school board to decide how to make that revision.
Republican council member Joseph Visconti offered an amendment to reduce the
2008-09 overall town spending increase to 4.9 percent. But Visconti offered no
suggestions for further budget trims to get to that figure, other than hoping
that union workers would give concessions if the town repeated a request for
such wage and benefit concessions. Unions rejected such a request late last
year while town officials were preparing the budget that ultimately was
defeated, and officials don't expect a different response.
The three Republicans voted for the amendment, and the Democrats opposed it as
unrealistic. Both parties agreed that they would like to see concessions made.
Republican minority leader Leon Davidoff defended Visconti's approach.
"The worst thing that can happen is that we get 'no' for an answer,"
he said. Maybe, Davidoff said, the town won't have to lay people off, eliminate
jobs or eliminate some services.
Mayor Scott Slifka called Visconti's amendment
irresponsible, especially because it was offered at the last minute while adopting
a new budget.
"It's irresponsible to state that you want to reduce the budget to a
specific amount without explaining how to do it," Slifka
said. "And the reason for that is they want to place all responsibility
for a tax increase on the Democrats and attempt to tell residents that they
never have to lose a service, and it's an unbelievable abdication of
responsibility."
The new tax rate, effective July 1, is 37.09 mills, compared with 37.64 mills
under the budget that was rejected. A mill represents $1 of property tax for
every $1,000 of assessed value.
The defeated budget meant the average homeowner in town — someone with a house
with a $354,000 market value after the 2006 revaluation — would have paid
$7,272 a year in property taxes, or a 7.6 percent tax increase. The newly
adopted budget calls for $7,160, a reduction of $112 in the annual tax burden.
The tax increase is 6 percent, instead of 7.6 percent.
Under the budget figure effectively offered in the Republicans' amendment, the
annual tax for the average homeowner would have been $7,069, according to Slifka, a difference of $91 annually, or less than $8 a
month.