Politics & Government

Monday's Final Budget Vote Seeks to Cap Tax Hike

The Middletown Town Council is scheduled to vote on final passage on the Fiscal Year 2012 budget at 6 p.m. Monday, June 6.

Heading into the final budget vote Monday night, Middletown officials have further reduced their overall proposed FY2012 spending plan by about $80,900 in hopes of keeping the proposed tax increase below 3 percent this year.

Under the latest $63,453,738 proposal that now calls for a 2.99 percent increase, the average single-family home in Middletown with a median value of $420,000 would see tax bills go up by about $167.83 in 2012, instead of the $176.23 per year as previously proposed with a 3.14 percent hike.

The Middletown Public School Department, which had this year to balance its books, instead would receive a limited increase of about $550,000, according to Town Administrator Shawn Brown following the latest workshop with the Town Council Wednesday night.

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That leaves school officials tasked to further cut $349,046 from their proposed budget, from $37,084,949 to $36,735,903, over the summer.

As Middletown's Finance Department had worked to finalize numbers, they recently learned of an additional shortfall in revenue for the coming fiscal year — a loss of about $291,000 in public safety funding aid. Brown said the funds are no longer included in the governor’s proposed state budget for Middletown that had previously been offered to help cover contractual salary increases.

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 “The bottom line is that additional cuts are going to have to be made to balance the budget,” Brown told council members at the workshop, in explaining the school department decrease. More cuts would have to occur across the board in various departments, he said.

Despite the financial challenges ahead, the Town Council this week asked for an increase in spending in one particular area — community youth sports.

In a 4-3 vote at the budget workshop, the council supported Councilor Ed Silveira’s proposal to add $6,500 to the Parks and Recreation Department budget for youth athletics for such activities as hockey, baseball, football and cheerleading. Councilors Art Weber, Richard Cambra and Barbara VonVillas opposed the increase, arguing that the council had previously voted to level fund such organizations without singling out any particular groups for increases.

Silveira argued that hundreds of children and teens benefit from the activities.

A separate motion by Councilor Richard Cambra to cut $31,000 from the budget by eliminating civic appropriations to groups receiving tax breaks of $20,000 or more failed to receive support for a vote.

What's next?

  • The l is scheduled to take its final vote on the FY2012 budget at 6 p.m. on June 6 prior to the regularly scheduled council meeting.
  • The proposed budget can be viewed free of charge at the Town Clerk's office.


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