Town Council Votes For Another Tax Increase

The West Hartford Town Council voted and passed a 2.24% tax increase with its $216.7 million budget, bringing the mill rate to 38.38 mills.

Looks like it's referendum time in West Hartford.

There was one dissenting Democrat (council member Robert Durbin) and that was because he said that the budget didn't include restoration of curbside leaf collection, which was promised back in last November's election.

Here's some highlights from The Courant's story about the Council vote.

The new budget will take effect July 1, unless a referendum is triggered by petitions.

The current tax rate is 37.54, which means that a taxpayer is charged $37.54 for every $1,000 of assessed taxable property. Prior to the final changes, the proposed 2010-11 budget was $219.1 million, which would have required a tax rate of 38.91 mills, a 3.7 percent increase.

The reduced budget is possible because of nearly two dozen adjustments to trim $922,000 from the general government budget for 2010-11 and $1.5 million in long-term debt. To make some of the adjustments, the town is using a portion of the money from its $4.5 million Blue Back Square settlement to pay for some items. Among the biggest budget adjustments are an $825,000 payment to reduce school health benefit costs, a $465,676 payment to reduce town debt service, a $300,000 payment to next year's utility costs and a $100,000 cut in risk management insurance cost because of lower premiums.

The budget, which passed 8-1, does not have drastic cuts in services or programs, council members said. It eliminates 27 school positions and five town government positions. Some of the cuts involve already-vacant positions, and some will mean layoffs.

... The eight council members who voted for the $216.7 million budget said it is a lean plan that maintains essential town and school services and gives the taxpayers a rational blueprint for controlling costs.

... Other council members who supported the budget chided the school board for cutting its $121 million budget by only $24,000. School and town officials need to work closely to control costs, because the recession will continue to erode federal and state aid programs to cities and towns, Denise Hall, the Republican minority leader, said.

So the Board of Education only brought $24,000 in reductions to the table, after Town Manager Ron Van Winkle busted his butt to trim almost a million from the Town side. Van Winkle is to be commended, and the BOE.... well they are the reason why taxes will be going up.... again.

One can only wonder what will happen next year when this Board of Education will truly be in a hole when stimulus funding from Washington will be non-existent. They apparently do not believe in preparing for future budgets in a rational and sustainable manner. Such short sightedness is one of their hallmarks. The "education at any cost" crowd will again be pitting neighbor against neighbor in these very difficult economic times. They will trivialize the increase, despite the fact that expenses are going up for every household, and many are struggling to make ends meet... or at least wave at each other.

If a referendum petition drive does come into being, signatures must be collected and presented to the Town Clerk 4:30 on Friday, May 21st (which is 25 days). There are currently 38,252 registered voters, and according to Town Charter 6% of that number is what is needed to hold a referendum on the budget. That would be 2,295 verified signatures. It won't be difficult to obtain enough signatures from people who are fed up with the arrogance of the Board of Education.

See you at Stop and Shop.