Combined Killingly proposed budgets would mean 1.95 mill jump
The Killingly Town Council this month will begin reviewing 2023-23 town and school board budget proposals that, if approved without change, would translate to a combined 1.95 mill increase over the current 25.14 mill rate.
A public budget hearing is scheduled for April 13 after which the council will deliberate and possibly make changes to the two spending plans. Annual Town Meeting will be held on May 1 followed by a May 9 machine vote on the spending proposals. The town and school budgets are approved by voters separately; if one passes and the other fails, only the rejected budget goes through a further amendment process.
General government
Town Manager Mary Calorio’s $25.7 million general government spending plan – or $11 million “net” budget after revenue and reimbursement numbers are factored in – represents a nearly $6 million increase from the current fiscal year. That figure drops to a $876,600 increase when revenue numbers are included.
The general government budget covers funding for town operations – including human services subsidies and reimbursable student resource and school armed guard programs – debt services, solid waste subsidies and capital projects.
The budget plan calls for adding two new constables to the town’s police force while reducing its number of resident state troopers from two to one for an anticipated $40,000 in savings. The budget plan also calls for pulling $500,000 from the unrestricted fund balance account for the replacement of the town library’s roof and $2.3 million – the same amount as last year – for various road renewal projects.
Education
The Board of Education on March 8 approved a $46.8 million spending plan – or $27.6 million net budget. The budget represents a $1.8 million, or 3.94%, increase from the current year and would require a 1.39 mill rate increase to the town’s mill rate.
The budget calls for funding several new positions, including a district psychologist, business office assistant, half-time family and consumer science teacher and a part-time custodian. The district this year is slated to reimburse the town approximately $531,000 for the cost of a school resource officer and five new armed school security officer positions.
The town expects to lose roughly $500,000 in tuition revenue this year due to an anticipated drop in the number of Brooklyn students enrolling at Killingly High School, though state grant funding is expected to partially mitigate the loss.
Tax bills
The combined budgets would result in a $273 annual tax bill jump for a resident with property assessed at $140,000; a $478 yearly increase for a resident with property assessed at $245,000; or a $1,024 tax bill increase for a resident with property assessed at $525,000. To check your assessed property value, go to https://www.axisgis.com/killinglyct. A tax calculator can be found at https://killingly.org/assessor/pages/tax-calculator.
John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Proposed 2023-24 Killingly town and schools budgets require mill jump
