Town on track for 2.8% budget increase
Includes money to create new Elmwood community center and library
After dipping into its fund balance to keep taxes level last year, West Hartford needs new revenue to fund a nearly 2.8% budget increase, town officials said.
Town Manager Matt Hart on Wednesday evening proposed a $308.6 million plan for the next fiscal year, about $8.4 million higher than current spending.
The proposal generally carries no major new initiatives, but is enough to maintain current staffing and services, Hart said.
One exception is a new fund for buying property in Elmwood to replace town facilities there, including the Faxon library branch and the Elmwood Community Center. Doing that would free the town to sell some of its Elmwood buildings, Hart said.
The town council will review the budget in the coming weeks, and hear public opinion at a hearing March 30. The council can make adjustments until it votes April 22 to adopt a final version and set the tax rate.
As the proposal stands, property taxes would rise by 3.25% starting July 1. The tax rate would rise by 1.36 mills to reach 43.16.
“Annual taxes for the average homeowner with a single-family home assessed at $227,525 and two vehicles assessed at $21,638 ($10,819 each) would increase by $339,” Hart wrote.
The school system would get $6.2 million of the new money; its budget is proposed to increase 3.6%. Pay raises and rising benefit premiums account for $3.5 million of that increase.
Even though enrollment is dropping enough to eliminate more than 10 teaching jobs through attrition, the school system still seeks an additional $2.2 million to cover negotiated wage increases for teachers, administrators and staff.
The schools would add two special education instructors and one and a half jobs addressing educational equity. The budget also accounts for rising costs for busing and special education tuition.
Municipal government would get $3.3 million more than this year, an increase of 2.9%. That includes money for rising contractual costs for trash and recycling disposal, about $900,000 in contingency for unsettled labor contracts, and higher payments into the town’s health, retiree health and workers compensation accounts.
The town kept taxes frozen this year because of economic uncertainty at the start of the pandemic. It agreed to use as much as $1.5 million of its reserves to cover any shortfall when the current budget year ends June 30; officials won’t know until the summer whether they’ll need to spend any or all of that.
“As the town is continuing to make every effort to keep taxes as low as possible during this pandemic, the replenishment of that $1,500,000 back to fund balance will be done on a gradual, responsible basis,” Hart wrote.
Capital spending would drop by $1.2 million, or 6.9% compared to last year. Most of the money is designated for regular projects such as wastewater infrastructure improvements, school building security upgrades and road repaving.
However, Hart is also proposing a new project: The $6 million purchase of a property in Elmwood to host all municipal services from that section of town.
The council and Hart aren’t yet releasing details other than to say the property is near Beachland Park and would offer better facilities than the current Elmwood Community Center. All services of the Faxon library branch and the community center would be relocated to the new property.
“The project would provide us with the opportunity to consolidate most of our Elmwood-based assets in one location, and to repurpose some of our existing assets for redevelopment and grand list growth,” Hart wrote.
The plan is to put aside $3 million in the new capital budget and $3 million the year afterward to come up with the $6 million acquisition cost.
NEWYORK— Patrick Ewing and Georgetown are making some noise at Madison Square Garden again.
It has been a while.
The Hoyas are back in the Big East Tournament semifinals for the first time in six years, with the former Georgetown and Knicks star leading the way.
Dante Harris made two free throws with 4.7 seconds left to cap a perfect game from the line for Georgetown, and the Hoyas upset No. 14 Villanova72-71inthequarterfinalsonThursday.
The eighth-seeded Hoyas (11-12) will play the winner of St. John’s-Seton Hall on Friday night. Georgetown last reached the Big East semifinals in 2015. The Hoyas last won the tournament in 2007.
“We took another step — in myhouse, by the way. This is my house,” Ewing said in a postgame television interview. “It’s a great win.
Huge win.”
Before Ewing became a Hall of Fame center for the Knicks, his Georgetown teams in the mid-1980s were the beasts of the Big East. Villanova has taken over that role in recent years, winning the last three tournament titles and dominating the Hoyas in the process.
Villanova had won four straight meetings and 13 of 15 against the Hoyas before Thursday.
“We played against the Cadillac, the Bentley, whatever you want to call them, of the Big East — the class of the Big East. And once upon a time that was us. But we took a huge step to be able to knock them off,” Ewing said.
Harris led the way with 18 points and drew a foul on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl driving to the basket with 4.7 seconds to go and the Hoyas down one.
Harris rattled in the first and swished the second to make Georgetown 23 of 23 from the line, the first time a team has shot 100% on at least 20 attempts in the Big East Tournament.
With no timeouts left, Caleb Daniels rushed up court and got off a long 3-pointer in traffic for Villanova, but it missed badly. The top-seeded Wildcats (16-6), playing without injured star Collin Gillespie, had advanced to the Big East semifinals the last five times the tournament was completed.
Last year’s ended halfway through the noon quarterfinal, when the pandemic brought the college basketball season to a halt.
The quarterfinal day at the Garden is often the best of the Big East Tournament. The marathon quadruple-header keeps MSG buzzing from noon to midnight. Not this year.
With COVID-19 restrictions still in place, the Garden was mostly empty for an old-school Big East rivalry between Wildcats and Hoyas. Ewing’s booming voice echoed through the rafters. “Rebound! Rebound!” he shouted after just about every Villanova shot went up.
Each quarterfinal team was given 100 tickets to Thursday’s games. There were maybe a few dozen people in the stands for the noon tipoff. A “Let’s Go Nova!” chant didn’t last long or find many takers.
“It was pretty cool to have some fans in there,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Not a lot.”
COVID protocols even made it difficult for Ewing to move freely inside the Garden. He said he would have to ask Knicks owner James Dolan about the frequent stops to check his credentials.
“Everybody in this building should know who the hell I am,” Ewing said. “I was like, what the hell? Is this Madison Square Garden? I’m going to have to call Mr, Dolan and say, ‘Jeez, is my number in the rafters or what?”’
Robinson-Earl led the Wildcats with 26 points and Jermaine Samuels added 20.
The Wildcats went up 70-65 with 1:29 left on consecutive 3s by Cole Swider and Robinson-Earl.
Villanova couldn’t close. The Hoyas tied it when Qudus Wahab was fouled by Swider while dunking and completed the three-point play with 40 seconds left.