The first of New Canaan government’s three funding bodies voted unanimously last week in favor of a spending plan for the town for next fiscal year.
The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of a budget of about $186.9 million for the 12-month period starting July 1—an approximately 3.3% increase over current spending.
The budget “does not consider projected revenue that we will have greater visibility into during the Board of Finance and Town Council reviews,” according to First Selectman Dionna Carlson.
“The Board of Selectmen’s approved budget reflects a commitment to holding the line on spending while maintaining services for town residents and continuously seeking improvements and efficiencies,” Carlson said in a statement. “While we have a strong start to the budget, reduced revenue from financial instruments is increasing the amount to be raised by taxation to 5.3% and a year-over-year mill rate increase of 6%.”
As it stands, the spending plan for fiscal year 2027 includes a Board of Education operating budget of $118.3 million (up 3.9%), town operations expenses of $35.3 million (up 2%), debt service of $18.2 million and tax-supported capital projects of $1.4 million.
Carlson said that as “we gain more insight into the current year revenue and expenses during the coming months, I remain optimistic that we will find additional opportunities to reduce the FY 2026-2027 budget before it becomes final in April.”
Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted in favor of the budget during a regular meeting held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
It now goes to the board of Finance, which will begin its review during the appointed body’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Only the finance board can add to the selectmen’s budget at this stage. The Board of Finance is expected to vote on the budget prior to March 12, when it goes to the Town Council for a final review and approval. That legislative body can accept, reduce or reject the finance board’s recommendations, but cannot add to the spending plan (one of many processes currently under review by the Charter Revision Commission). The Town Council is expected to vote in April.
Citing figures from the assessor, Carlson noted in a town-issued press release that the 2025 Grand List increased by .8%, to $10.022 billion.
Well guys I like to look at property taxes to see how things are going.
back in 2015 the Town collected $125.7 million in property taxes.
this year budget 2026-27 will collect $168.6 million that’s $42.9 million more.
So were did it all go ?
70% is for the schools and as you know they have contracts that call for increases in salaries. they don’t tell you it only for those who have jobs.
but if you look at salaries for the schools it was $54,5 million in
2015-16 which is now $76,.2 million + $21.1 million which doesn’t = the $42.9 million.
a different of $21.6 million not paid out for salaries.
Forget about the schools having 90 more staff then they did in 2014 with
almost 300 less students — that’s an issue for later.
were did that money go?