Tax Board Approves $112 Million Budget

The Board of Apportionment and Taxation on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of recommending a $112 million budget for fiscal year 2011-2012.

The tax board will now forward its proposal to the Board of Aldermen for review. The aldermen have the final say on the budget, and are slated to vote on the bottom line May 15.

In the meantime, the tax board plans to present its recommended budget to the aldermen during a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. March 31 at .

According to tax board Chairman Mark Holden, the budget the tax board approved represents the same bottom line that Mayor Mark Lauretti proposed last month, just with some minor tweaks and modifications here and there.

The total monetary requests from all the various city departments initially came in at $114 million, but Lauretti reduced that figure to approximately $112 million. If approved by the aldermen as is, the city tax rate of 18.61 mills would actually slightly decrease to 18.57 mills, which Lauretti had said would be the fourth consecutive year the city has been able to keep the mill rate the same or lower.

While the recession rages on, Lauretti had said Shelton remains “in a most enviable position given the fiscal condition of other municipalities, our state, other states and the federal government find themselves in.”

Lauretti said Shelton has “developed a financial structure that has created economic stability even in recessionary years. We have seen our grand list grow from just under $1 billion in 1991 to over $5.3 billion in 2010. This year’s grand list will generate $837,000 in new tax revenue to help our taxpayers through difficult economic times.”

The tax board was given Lauretti’s budget to review in late February, and spent the last several weeks at workshops sharpening their pencils, scrutinizing each line item. Holden said the tax board worked well together in coming up with a budget proposal they believe the aldermen can support, and would also be palatable with voters.

Holden said the tax board felt “very strongly” about some of the changes it made, including adding $10,000 for turnout gear for the fire department, as well as adding $15,000 for alarm maintenance to upgrade the antiquated call box system. Those items were not included in Lauretti’s recommendation.

Holden, however, said the items are a matter of public safety.

“A firefighter without turnout gear cannot go into a fire; it’s so critical that these guys are equipped with the proper equipment,” Holden said.

Holden said the board also recommended reducing some budgets, including those for postage, special events, emergency lights, youth programs, Valley Council of Governments and the Barnum Festival Program.

The tax board opted to keep the largest chunk of the budget, the budget, at $63.7 million, which is what Lauretti recommended. The school board initially requested a budget of $64.9 million, which school officials said contained no layoffs, and restored a few crucial positions that were previously eliminated.

The school budget also includes $800,000 in unemployment costs, which are necessary to cover 91 teachers the district had to lay off at the end of the last school year. School officials remain hopeful the city will again pick up the unemployment costs in its budget, as it did in the last budget. But without knowing if that will happen, the school board had to include the $800,000 in its budget.

The 2011-2012 school budget, with unemployment costs included, represents an increase of about $1.7 million, or about 2.5 percent, more than the current budget. If the city does front the unemployment costs, the increase is only about 1.5 percent over the current budget.