Norwalk tax board wraps it up with final vote on 2015-2016 budget

May 5, 2015

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Correction 2:22 p.m. May 5: Minor corrections have been made in the paragraph listing district mill rate increases by amount and percentage, per Director of Management and Budgets Bob Barron. Also, a link to the budget summary and rates has been added.

NORWALK – The Board of Estimate and Taxation completed its months-long process of determining the city’s operating budget for 2015 – 2016 Monday night, setting it at a final amount of $326,989,609.

The six-member board approved the budget unanimously after learning of last-minute technical adjustments from Robert Barron, the city’s director of management and budgets. That included compensations for early retirements, a $32,000 drop in revenue from the Parking Authority and the Water Pollution Control Authority, he said.

The board also set the mill rates for the city’s nine taxing districts. The mill rate is the number of dollars paid in property taxes per $1,000 in assessed value. They are:

Districts 1, 2, 3, 8, 9: 25.371
District 4: 25.430
District 5: 24.710
Districts 6 and 7: 22.852

The First District is the city’s downtown, the Second District is South Norwalk, the Third District is East Norwalk, the Fourth District is the main area of the city with sewers, the Fifth District is the main area of the city without garbage collection, and the Sixth District is Rowayton.

In addition, the mill rate on motor vehicles was set at 28.805.

According to the city’s director of finance, Thomas Hamilton, the budget represents an increase of around $9.488 million, or 3 percent, over the current 2014-15 budget.

Hamilton said the total tax levy for the new budget is an increase of 2.3 percent over the current year, driven by a 0.7 percent increase in the grand list. The tax levy approved by the board amounts to $296,608,814.

According to Hamilton, the mill rate increase for Districts 1 through 4 is 0.33, or 1.3 percent; for District 5 it’s 0.38, or 1.6 percent, and for District 6 it’s 0.43, or 1.9 percent.

The fiscal year 2015-16 budget summary and tax rates are posted online.

The city’s new fiscal year begins on July 1.

Comments

3 responses to “Norwalk tax board wraps it up with final vote on 2015-2016 budget”

Robert Barron

May 5, 2015

NoN, thank you for reporting the budget and associated mill rates that were approved by the City of Norwalk’s Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET)last night. A minor correction to the article: in the last paragraph, “According to Hamilton…” you quoted the increases that were shown in the BET’s package before the $41,002 worth of “technical” corrections were approved. The approved change in mill rates for Districts 1-4 is 0.33 or 1.3%; for District 5 it’s 0.38 or 1.6% and for District 6 it’s 0.43 or 1.9%. The fiscal year 2015-16 budget summary and tax rates are posted online at the following URL: http://norwalkct.org/index.aspx?nid=941 Thank you. Bob

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Piberman

May 6, 2015

There was a time the BET actually reduced budget requests from the Mayor’s office. But that required “willing and able” BET members serving the community. Times achanging.

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1. Mark Chapman
  
  May 6, 2015
  
  @piberman
  
  From Tom Hamilton’s printed comments introducing the city budget:
  
  The recommended budget represents an austere spending plan that limits overall spending to an increase of $9.2 million or 2.9%. Reducing expenditures to this level has been a major challenge, given the fact that the city faces structural expenses which are rising in certain key areas: Wages and Salaries for settled contracts, reserves and new positions total $1.8 million or 3.8%, and Debt Service costs are increasing $1.5 million or 5.7%.”
  “If the departmental requests totaling $328,620,752 were approved unaltered, it would require a $9.3 million or a 3.2% increase in the tax levy. Mayor Rilling advised me that he could not support a tax levy increase of 3.2%. In formulating my recommendations, my objective has been to maintain essential services, and reduce the tax levy to a level that is affordable to Norwalk’s taxpayers.” (Emphasis added)
  
  See the story with budget link: https://norwalkcurrent.com/?p=33768
  
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