Groton budget would require a 5.3% tax rate increase

Groton — Groton Town Manager John Burt on Thursday recommended a budget of $128.6 million for the coming fiscal year, an increase of 6.5 percent over current spending.

The budget would require an increase in the tax rate from 23.63 mills to 24.87 mills, or 5.3 percent. For each $100,000 in assessed property value, taxpayers would pay an additional $124 in taxes.

Burt recommended eliminating nine positions in town government and adding the equivalent of one, for a net loss of eight jobs.

“While increasing revenues for the town will continue to be a primary

goal, growth will not prevent an increase in the mill rate without making other changes,” Burt wrote to the Town Council. “The town has to

earnestly engage with other entities to enter into cost-sharing opportunities and regionalization. Employee benefits can no longer be afforded at their current levels.”

Groton cannot cut jobs without cutting or eliminating services, he wrote.

“A prosperous town cannot be achieved solely by continually cutting costs no matter what the impact,” he wrote. “The attraction of people and jobs is often tied into the services, or quality of life in a community. A low tax rate is only one component of prosperity.”

“Without parks, libraries, and other similar services, the town will suffer and never realize its full potential, but we also cannot afford to continue to provide our services in the manner that we have,” he wrote.

The budget would increase spending by 8 percent for town operations, 2.4 percent for education and 7.1 percent for the subdivisions, including Groton City and Groton Long Point. Town spending would increase mainly due to the costs of health care and employee-related benefits.

Burt would eliminate two public safety jobs, four public works or sewer-related jobs, one library job, one parks job and one position in information technology. The budget adds two part-time civil engineering jobs, resulting in a net loss of eight. Job cuts would save $611,000, according to the budget proposal.

While the town budget is increasing as a whole, town departments actually would have 1.2 percent less to spend. The increase in town spending is driven by double- and triple-digit increases in spending on employee benefits.

Groton’s grand list, or the total value of taxable property, dropped by 0.1 percent from the prior year, and the town expects to lose $260,580 in state support.

Spending on capital projects and debt substantially would increase in the proposal. Burt proposes a $2.5 million contribution to the town’s capital reserve fund to deal with a backlog of needs, almost $2.1 million more than current spending, or a 465.8 percent increase. Debt service would increase $751,790, or 16.7 percent.