Town aims for budget with no ‘undue burden’ on residents

CROMWELL — Quietly and in a thorough but unhurried fashion, town officials are “putting the finishing touches” on the proposed 2021-22 municipal budget.

Despite the pandemic, Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said “nothing unusual” has affected the budget process — with the exception of the mandatory masks which can sometimes require people to repeat themselves.

Salvatore said he and Director of Finance Marianne Sylvester have “met with each department head” to go over the proposed individual departmental budgets.

They now are completing the proposed spending plan for the coming year, which they will present to the Town Council by the end of the month, he said.

Salvatore said he would not go into any specifics of the proposed budget until the council has seen it.

However, “We are trying to put together a budget that meets the needs, programs and services which the residents of Cromwell have come to expect — and to do so without placing an undue burden on the residents.”

Salvatore said he has been buoyed by the fact that, despite the pandemic, residents are continuing to pay their taxes.

As he did in the spring, Gov. Ned Lamont has given Connecticut residents a three-month grace period in which to pay their property taxes without penalty.

The revised deadline for submitting taxes is April 1.

Collector of Revenue Douglas Sienna said the second-half tax payments “are coming in good.”

“People are great,” he added.

“Right now, [payments] are coming in slower, because people have got two extra months in which they can pay without interest,” Sienna said Friday. “I hope it follows the same pattern it did in July,” when the payments were regular and steady, and the town was able to meet its collection goal.

In his budget presentation to the General Assembly this week,

Lamont presented the list of how much municipalities will receive under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program, reimbursement for tax-exempt properties and state-owned land.

Cromwell is scheduled to receive $8,749 under Lamont’s proposal.

Salvatore said if the town receives the money, “It will be used as revenue to offset taxes.”