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First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, Finance Director Jim Finch and members of the Board of Finance (BOF) are working on ways to reduce a potentially stunning hike in the mill rate that could leave taxpayers in a financial pickle.
As the setting of the mill rate draws near (it takes places tonight at Fire Headquarters when the Board of Finance holds a special meeting at 7:30 p.m.), the town’s top officials have sought to find ways to help insulate the taxpayer from unexpected budget increases brought on by a huge state deficit. The town is required by town charter to set its mill rate by June 1.The first payment is due by July 1 and is considered delinquent after Aug 1.
Finch said in an interview he wants to put some certainty “into an otherwise uncertain process.”
Because of the new financial reality, the BOF last week postponed a vote on the proposed town mill rate and Finch’s formal presentation on the town’s fiscal condition for 2017 – 18 until tonight.
The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) met on May 9 and adopted a whopping $111.8 million school-town budget by a vote of 22 – 6. As of that night, the proposed budget would increase the taxpayer’s bill by 5.33 percent. After the governor’s May 15 announcement removing an additional $2.1 million from Branford’s coffers, the taxpayer’s bill could increase by 7.64 percent, town officials calculated based on the approved RTM budget.
“We Have Some Tools in the Tool Box”
We do have some tools in the tool box,” Finch said at last week’s Board of Finance meeting. “We have a fund balance.” It turns out that the town’s fund balance is currently $21 million.
In an interview, Finch, quoting President Abraham Lincoln, said, “Sometimes the best way to predict the future is to create it.”
So far the state legislature has failed to agree on a budget for 2017 – 18. Earlier in the year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that towns must now chip in to pay for teacher pension costs and other expenses. Branford’s share is $2,747,784. Then, in his latest budget proposal, Malloy cut an additional $2.1 million from Branford’s funding, creating a possible hike in the mill rate to 7.64 percent, town officials said. Had the state not made drastic cuts in the town’s budget, the taxpayer’s bill would have gone up by 1.42 percent.
Malloy and Len Fasano, the Senate Republican leader, are now working together on finding ways to reduce the state budget deficit . Click here to read the CT. Mirror story.
At last week’s BOF’s regular meeting, Finch observed that since “we don’t know what the state budget will look like, maybe the BOF should recommend a framework.” At this juncture the town does not know the final verdict regarding teacher pension costs, special education, and revenue sharing.
When there are bad times ahead, “the fund balance is our silo so to speak, so that we can survive,” Finch said at the BOF meeting. He said maybe the town debt plan had to be revised. Or maybe, in the end, the state works it out so that towns are not hit as hard.
Meanwhile, “There are a variety of things we can look at,” he said. What the town does know is its own budget, its grand list and its fund balance.
Focus on Mill Rate Outcome
“My suggestion to the Board of Finance is to focus on the mill rate outcome as opposed to trying to predict what the state might do,” Finch said.
What the BOF could do at this stage is most likely think about an appropriation from the fund balance, he said in an interview.
At the recent BOF meeting, Joe Mooney, chair of the BOF, and the other five BOF members listened intently as Finch spoke. Finch said he is trying “to insulate the taxpayer to some extent,” especially since a serious hike in the tax bill is arriving extremely late in the process for the taxpayer.
Finch noted that right now the reality is that the town of Branford will receive no educational aid. “Branford public schools will be funded 100 percent by the town.”
We asked Finch if he had a number in mind in thinking about the fund balance and drawing from it. “It would be premature to get into that kind of detail,” he said in an interview.
The number is likely to emerge at tonight’s special BOF meeting.
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