Hebron Dollars & Sense
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- Created on Monday, 11 June 2012 07:10
- Written by Ronald Winter
Re-published with permission from http://ronaldwinter.blogspot.com
Monday, June 04, 2012
Hebron, a bucolic town of less than 9,000 people is in the middle of a perfect financial storm – created by a lousy economy, plummeting school enrollments offset by increasing costs for schools and government, interference from the state government that limits local options, a just completed property revaluation that drove the Grand List of Taxable Properties down, and a massive reliance on homeowners rather than business or industry to fund local government expenditures.
In fact, Hebron has such a minuscule industrial/commercial tax base that more than 90 percent of local tax revenues come from home values – which plummeted in the recent revaluation as a result of the ongoing housing crisis. Thus to make up for the decrease in the Grant List on which local tax rates are based, projected taxes are going way UP for a large number of Hebron homeowners.
(In the interest of full disclosure, my local taxes, if the current budget proposal passes, will increase by about 10 percent. To put this in perspective, I already pay more each month for property taxes and insurance than I paid for a full year back in 1985 when I built my home. In the last quarter century I have not seen an iota of an increase in local services while the cost has skyrocketed! More than 70 percent of our expenditures go to the schools and most of those budgets go to salaries for teachers and administrators.)
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- Created on Monday, 11 June 2012 07:08
Hebron - Yes - 796 No - 930
Andover - Yes - 113 No - 74
Marlborough - Yes - 283 No - 60
Total - Yes - 1192 No - 1064
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- Created on Sunday, 06 May 2012 19:43
Tuesday, May 8
Hebron Elementary School 6:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Do you know how your money is being spent?
When is enough enough?
VOTE NO on the Town Budget, which includes the HBOE budget. Time to tighten our belts, not expand them! Between the two, they want $339,697 or 1.87% more than last year. Remember last year's 4% increase? Has your spending ability increased that much?
VOTE NO on Capital Improvements Projects (CIP) budget. We need to spend more on maintaining our roads and less on the wish list. There are far more serious issues to address in Town than parking lots.
VOTE NO on RHAM budget. This is no time for new programs and initiatives. They want another $482,678 to teach an additional 26 students. WOW! That’s $18,565 per student!!
The Town has paid down debt totaling $688,114 this year, but budget increases eat up all that and more (+$195,698). So we’re really spending $883,812 more. When is it going to stop?
Hebron is ranked the 12th highest taxed town out of 169 in Connecticut when statewide mill rates are equalized. Not an honor to be proud of!
2005-2006 was Hebron’s peak enrollment year. In the following 7 years student enrollment declined by 318 students but the budget is up over $2.25 million. Why?
Current cost to educate one student is over $ 12,500 vs. $7,904 just 7 years ago. Why?
Do we really need 1 Superintendent, 2 Principals, 1 Assistant Principal & a Curriculum Director to manage 2 schools with a total population of 926 students & declining? That equates to 1 Administrator per 154 students.
BOE again looking to expand non-required All Day Kindergarten, servicing only 9% of school population. See H.B No. 6432. We don’t fit the criteria. So. Why?
There are new and expanded positions being proposed in town. Town-wide activity is down, yet staffing is up. Why?
Revaluation has shifted the tax burden onto residents whose homes have a market value less than $509,500. Is that you?
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- Created on Friday, 06 April 2012 07:50
The Town Hall Meetings can be viewed right on the Hebron Dollars & Sense website. Just grab a cup of coffee (you'll probably need it), click on the new link (Town Meetings Online) and see our elected officals in action.