Budget passes with low voter turnout

CROMWELL >> There was both good news and not-so-good news in the outcome of the budget referendum Tuesday.

The good news? All three components of the $49.252 million budget for 2017-18 were overwhelmingly approved in voting in the Jake Salafia Gymnasium at the high school.

The not-so-good news? Only 263 residents turned out to vote.

In the rush to get the results read out Tuesday night, an election official had erroneously put the number at 254.

There were 10,079 residents who were eligible to vote, Town Clerk Joan Ahlquist said. Those who did turn out were just 2.59 percent of those eligible to do so, Ahlquist said in an email Wednesday morning, using numbers provided by Registrar of Voters Bonnie Anderson. It also represents a fall-off in the number of voters from last year, when 288 residents visited the polls.

The low turnout prompted Board of Finance Vice Chairman Julius C. Neto to suggest Wednesday morning, “We may need a marketing strategy to get the word out.”

The results themselves were lopsided.

The $16.22 million general government budget was approved by a vote of 176 to 86. The $29.34 million education budget was approved by a vote of 176 to 87. And the $3.69 million debt service budget, the interest paid on previously approved bond issues, was approved by a vote of 205 to 56.

Following the vote, the Board of Finance met in the library/media center at the high school to set the tax-mill rate for the coming year. It is a six-step process and each step gave finance board members a measure of the town’s financial wellbeing.

The entire budget-making process in every city and town in Connecticut hangs on the issue of how much aid municipalities can anticipate from the state. Town officials have said they do not expect updated estimates of state aid until June 7 at the earliest.

In the meantime, “We’re relying on what we know,” Finance Board Chairman John A. “Jack” Henehan said as the board began its review.

“These are the numbers that have been given to us by the state,” Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said.

Projected revenues from sources other than taxation amount to $6.334 million, Henehan said.

Next up was approving the senior tax deferral program to help seniors who meet certain income requirements to defer a portion of their taxes. That number was $117,000, according to information provided to the board by Assessor Shawna M. Baron, who said it is less than the previous year.

Also, the board allocated $690,000 from the fund balance to fund capital items approved by the Town Council and the finance board.

Next, the board reviewed tax revenues. For the past several years, the finance board has set the projected collection rate at 98.75. This is considered a relatively high collection factor,” Director of Finance Marianne Sylvester told the board. “We have been consistently hitting that target,” Sylvester said.

Once again, in 2016-17, Tax Collector Douglas Sienna has exceeded the number, Sylvester said. Meeting the 98.75 rate “is viewed very positively when Standard & Poor looks at our overall numbers” in determining the town’s bond rating, Sylvester said.

Under Sylvester’s stewardship, in 2014, the town for the first time attained the much-sought-after Triple A bond rating. That rating was reaffirmed last fall when Sylvester took a $5.5 million bond issue to market.

The higher the bond rating, the lower the interest rate the town has to pay when it borrows money.

Next, the board turned its attention to the grand list, the list of taxable goods and property in town. This year, it stands at $1.353 billion. “That’s a lot of grand list for a small town,” a buoyant Henehan said.

What’s more, Sylvester noted, it represents an increase of more than 2 percent. “That is very significant — and very positive for the town.”

“Now, we put all these pieces together and look at the mill rate,” Henehan said.

Salvatore proposed a .30mill increase, which raises the mill rate from 31.38 to 31.68 mills. That is a factor basically of the growth in the grand list, the manager said.

“That’s not bad,” Henehan said in moving the proposal, which passed unanimously.

FILE PHOTO