Declining mill rate in Wilton? It’s complicated

WILTON — Comments have been made on videoconferenced meetings this week, that if school and town budgets remain flat, Wilton residents will potentially see a decrease in their property taxes.

“Based on current mill rate projections, we’re not going to have to raise taxes even to approve budgets that have been submitted with modest increases,” Board of Finance member Mike Kaelin said at a Democratic Town Committee meeting on Tuesday.

At the Board of Education’s special meeting on the same night, Chair Deborah Low said, “Before COVID, according to the mill rate models, even our normal budget request would have resulted in a flat mill rate. Now that we’re reducing our budget request, this could mean a tax reduction.”

The budgets, however, are only one component in computing a mill rate.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” Board of Finance Chair Jeff Rutishauser said.

One part is the increase in the grand list. For 2019 it was up 0.78 percent and after offsets, closer to 0.68 percent.

With the revaluation of properties completed last year, existing property values are generally the same for the next three years.

“If we keep expenditures flat and the grand list goes up, the tax rate generally goes down,” Rutishauser said. A lower mill rate applied to an unchanged assessment this year would mean less taxes owed, he said.

Another factor is the tax collection rate, which may be lower than in previous years when COVID-19 was not an issue.

The tax deferral program, proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont and adopted by the Board of Selectmen, gives some taxpayers — generally those who have experienced a significant economic decline due to COVID-19 — a 90-day grace period to pay their property taxes. A bill issued on July 1 and due July 31 will now be due Sept. 30.

The Board of Finance meets Tuesday to vote on projected budgets for town and schools and to present a proposed budget and mill rate. To view the meeting, visit wiltonct.org.