Groton Town Council approves 0.54-mill increase in tax rate

Groton — The Groton Town Council on Monday night approved an increase in the tax rate from 23.63 to 24.17 mills, meaning that a homeowner’s taxes will go up by $54 for every $100,000 in assessed property value.

At this time last year, the council approved a 1.9-mill increase to fund the current budget.

According to a memo from Finance Director Cindy Landry, revenues for the current fiscal year “are anticipated to be far greater than in the adopted budget,” since anticipated state cuts to education didn’t come to fruition because Groton became an Alliance District.

Landry recommended using the additional revenue to increase the unassigned fund balance, so that the fund balance will “be available to mitigate a tax increase in future years,” when state aid decreases and debt service payments increase.

“It is an opportunity that is likely not to ever happen again,” she said.

The 2018-19 budget that Town Manager John Burt proposed in March would have required a 1.24-mill increase but the Town Council lowered the budget and approved a tentative increase of 0.65 mill.

The tax rate increase is now lower because the Representative Town Meeting cut the Town Council’s budget by $87,720, to $125,856,730. The RTM last year approved a budget of about $118.9 million.

Compared to the budget approved by the Town Council, the RTM cut $50,000 for contingency, $22,750 for Groton Long Point Police and $20,000 for insurance and claims, but added $5,000 for capital reserves.

The tax rate is calculated by subtracting operating revenues from the $125.86 million, dividing that number, which is $87.49 million, by the grand list, which is $3.68 billion, and adjusting for a collection rate of 98.4 percent.

The Town Council opted to keep the tax rates flat for Mumford Cove and the Sewer District, 0.34 mill and 0.27 mill, respectively.