Carbone wants to keep tax rate flat

City, school budgets still under review

TORRINGTON >> Mayor Elinor Carbone wants to keep the city’s tax rate flat in the coming fiscal year, but how this will be accomplished is still unclear.

Board of Finance members reviewed a draft plan for city-side expenditures in the 2017-18 fiscal year Tuesday.

Under the draft proposal, the municipal budget would increase by $1.47 million, or 2.76 percent, to $54.7 million.

The chief factor behind the ris-

ing budget is an increase in pension and benefit funding for city employees. This line item is projected to increase by $1.29 million, or 11.32 percent, in the coming fiscal year.

Carbone said that she was planning to keep the tax rate in the city of Torrington level at 45.75 mills, but uncertainty about the amount of revenue to be collected has kept the specifics of the city’s financial plan up in the air.

In recent weeks, Carbone has noted a planned decrease in motor vehicle tax assessments — expected to fall to 32 mills. It’s a particular source of concern, she said, since the change would cut nearly $2 million in revenue from the city budget.

City departments have been asked to prepare flat budgets for the coming year, Carbone said, and have been advised of the possible need for greater cuts.

“Zero is the sum game from my perspective — and by zero, I mean a zero mill rate increase,” said Carbone. “I’d even love to see us decrease that mill rate. So we’ll continue to chip away to bring spending proposals in at zero, but until we get that revenue picture better, I don’t know if there’s anything else we can control at this point.”

Carbone said Tuesday that she expected the timeline for setting a tax rate to be similar to last year, when the Board of Finance approved a budget and set a tax rate on June 1. Uncertainty regarding projected state funding for municipalities has been a common point of concern around the region, as local officials seek to create budgets for the coming fiscal year.