The Town Council on April 4th approved a Total Expenditure Budget of $150.94 million for fiscal year 2019-20, representing a decrease of 0.43% over the current fiscal year’s amended budget expenditure of $151.58 million. This is the first decline in more than a decade. The funds to be raised by taxation declined to $139.23 million from the current year’s $140.02 million, a decrease of 0.56% -- the first decline in more than 10 years.
The Town Council budget will be filed in the office of the Town Clerk and will become effective eight days after publication unless a notice of intent to file a petition for a referendum has been filed in the office of the Town Clerk within seven days after publication (Town Charter Sections C4-13 and C4-14).
The Total Expenditure Budget includes Board of Education operating expenses of $91.43 (up 1.86 %) , Town department operating expenses of $39.92 million (up 0.56 %), debt service of $16.84 million (down 9.29 %), and tax-funded capital projects of $1.73 million (down 40.32 %). To fund this budget, the amount to be raised from taxation is $139,230,687 (down 0.56%).
The Town Council’s budget takes into account the 2018 Revaluation as of October 1, 2018 where the town’s 2018 Grand List declined 7.64% to $7.71 billion from the 2017 Grand List of $8.34 billion. The decline in the grand list was primarily due to lower valuations of homes valued at more than $2 million. The overall average decrease in residential property values was 7.2%. Commercial properties increased on average 10.8 %.
The reduction in the Grand List will result in an increase in the mill rate from the current 16.960 to an estimated 18.259. The final mill rate to be set by the Board of Finance on April 9.
For further information, contact: Lunda Asmani, Budget Director, 203-594-3026.
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