Less than a week after city lawmakers voted to raise taxes by 7.7 percent, they voted to lower them.
The Board of Aldermen made that vote unanimously Monday night, to lower property taxes for the coming fiscal year by 1.08 mills.
The decrease resulted from some unexpected money for New Haven included in the state budget approved by the Connecticut House of Representatives over the weekend.
Taxes will still go up next year. Monday’s vote just means that they won’t go up as much as they might have.
When the Board of Aldermen voted last Tuesday to approve the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, it included a property tax increase of 3 mills, or a 7.7 percent hike. Monday’s vote will reduce the tax hike to 1.92 mills, a 4.94 percent hike over the current year. The new tax rate will be 40.8 mills.
The difference is due to $6.3 million more than expected from the state in Payment In Lieu Of Taxes and school transportation funding, among other things.
“I think any relief to our taxpayers at this point is more than welcome,” said Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks, the chair of the Finance Committee.
Higher property taxes only go down when the dependency payment from the state goes up. How sad is that? It's like the kid who won't move out of the basement because he doesn't have to pay rent or utilities.