Dionna Carlson

Officials: Town To Survey Residents To Assess Spending Priorities

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The town’s highest elected official said Tuesday night that his office is preparing to make a recommendation on surveying taxpayers as the budget season gets underway. Addressing the Board of Finance at its regular meeting, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan noted that during a recent pre-budget workshop that included members of the Boards of Selectmen, Education and Finance as well as the Town Council, among others, officials concluded that it would be helpful in the coming weeks to understand what residents think New Canaan’s spending priorities should be. 

“We talked about doing a survey,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “We have been looking into a professional survey … We will come back to you with some recommendation regarding a survey.”

He referred to a joint workshop—held Nov. 17 at Lapham Community Center and moderated by former Town Councilman Kathleen Corbet—where officials shared opinions on who or what municipal body is responsible for the budget and what percentage budget increase would be acceptable to taxpayers, given New Canaan’s services. Speaking on behalf of a group that included Town Councilmen Mike Mauro and Jim Kucharczyk and Board of Education members Tom Cronin and Brendan Hayes, Councilman Liz Donovan said during the workshop that New Canaan might consider focusing on what drives demand in the town rather than specific increases in municipal spending.

Budget FY 2019

Op-Ed: Large Property Tax Increases or Fiscal Prudence?

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Dear New Canaan Residents,

My name is James Basch. 

I recently informed our town government bodies that I plan to pursue a budget referendum if our property tax mill rate in the upcoming fiscal year is increased by more than 4 percent. A referendum will compel reconsideration of a budget by the Board of Finance. It requires that 5 percent of town residents registered to vote (roughly 650 people) sign it. The town of Meriden successfully passed a referendum earlier this year after their town government proposed a 4.66 percent property tax mill rate increase. 

The context for the referendum draws on a key fact: our town government continues to increase operating expenses in the face of rapidly declining real estate values and thus, lower revenues from the property taxes that comprise the vast majority of the town’s funding. The extent of this decline will be determined by a five-year real estate revaluation being done this month. 

In March of this year, our first selectman projected that “Grand List could be down several hundred million dollars” for FY 2019-2020 after the revaluation.