Hebron Dollars & Sense

On September 14, 2009, Watertown became the last Connecticut town to adopt a mill rate for Fiscal Year 2009-10.  Attached is an Excel spreadsheet containing effective property tax rate increases for the latest budget season.  It also has a ranking of property and state income tax burdens by town for taxpayers in single family houses.

The median effective property tax rate increase was 0.91%, the lowest in over a decade.  For the 10 years before this year, the median annualized increase was 3.68%, with the lowest median increase for a fiscal year during that period being 2.35%.  This year's median increase was achieved despite minimal grand list growth and slight decreases in state aid to most towns.  It was made possible by curbing spending increases.  For example, the median spending change for referendum towns was a DECREASE of 0.07% compared to increases of 3.62%, 5.01%, and 5.23% for the prior three years.

The towns with the biggest effective tax rate decreases this year were Milford, Beacon Falls, and Bridgewater.  The largest increases were in Bridgeport, Chaplin, and Hartford.  The typical town came in with an effective tax rate increase this year about one-fourth of their usual increase.  However, the effective tax rate increase for the year or even over the prior decade does not indicate the tax burden in a town.  For example, East Hartford had the third lowest effective property tax rate increase for the decade ending with FY 2008-09, but ranks 147th of 169 towns for one property tax burden measure for FY 2008-09.  That tax burden measure is defined as the median tax divided by the median income for taxpayers in single family houses (there are many other ways the tax burden could be defined).  The tax burden is not a measure of the efficiency of a town's government.
Add a comment Read more: Summary of FY 2009-2010 Budget and Tax Increases Now Available from Bill Generous

Latest to join the Connecticut Municipal Consortium...Westport First Selectman ....New Canaan First Selectman..... Greenwich First Selectman.... Bethany Board of Selectmen.... Thomaston Board of Selectmen.

This bring the total to 211 Boards/Chairs representing 121 municipalities. See the map.

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Sept 1, 2009…. House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, far right, speaks while colleagues play solitaire on their computers as the House convenes Monday night to vote on a new budget. (AP) http://www.courant.com/

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An excellent report by the Yankee Institute http://www.yankeeinstitute.org/2009/08/the-care-and-feeding-of-our-congressmen/

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"Unpaid property taxes hit localities" this was predicted several months ago by a couple of local radio talk show host. Now it is coming to a town near you.

How did they come up with this prediction? Well, when the courts send out jury duty notices the undelivered mail is returned to them and thoses numbers are used to guesstimate what will happen the the tax bills.

Read the full story online from USA Today.

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