Flatto: Majority of Homeowners Will Not See Tax Increase From Recommended Budget

First Selectman Ken Flatto's proposed town budget for 2011-12 totals $264 million, a 5 percent, or $12.5 million, increase over the current $251.5 million budget. The overall tax levy needed to finance the proposed budget rises 4.2 percent, or $9.6 million - from $226.2 million to $235.8 million.

But Flatto, during a Tuesday press conference in Sullivan-Independence Hall, said about 62 percent of homeowners would not see a tax increase in the fiscal year that begins July 1 due to lower assessed values on their homes from the recent townwide revaluation. Those homeowners, Flatto said, would actually see a tax decrease.

"I'm thankful that most residents, if this budget were to be adopted as we're proposing, the majority of residents would see a reduction in their taxes," Flatto said. "One of the things we wanted to try to achieve is, at the end of the process, a majority of citizens would see a reduction in their taxes."

Flatto estimated that 62 percent of homeowners would see a reduction in their tax bills in the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1, while 29 percent would see an increase under his proposed budget. Flatto estimated that 9 percent of homeowners would see no change in their tax bills under his proposed budget.

The tax rate needed to finance Flatto's proposed budget is 22.36 mills, or $22.36 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Residents can determine what their tax bill will be in 2011-12, assuming no change to Flatto's proposed budget, by dividing their new assessment by 1,000 and multiplying the resulting figure by 22.36.

For example, a home with a new assessment of $600,000 would see a tax bill of $13,416.

Flatto's proposed budget faces review and votes by the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting. The selectmen and finance board can increase or reduce Flatto's proposed budget; the RTM can only reduce it.

Flatto's proposed town budget calls for a $1.6 million reduction in the Board of Education's proposed budget, which had been approved by the school board last month at $148.5 million, which is a 4.9 percent, or $6.9 million, increase from the current school board budget of $141.6 million.

In addition to a proposed $5.3 million increase in education spending, Flatto's proposed town budget calls for a $2.4 million increase in contributions to town pension funds; a $1.3 million increase in health insurance costs for town employees; a $1.1 million increase in annual debt service; a $1 million increase in road paving (town boards want expenses for road paving in the operating budget, rather than financed through bonds); a $545,000 increase in replacing capital equipment; a $229,000 increase in maintenance of town facilities; a $141,000 increase for inventory in town departments; a $135,000 increase in worker's compensation claims; and a $90,000 increase in utilities.

Flatto said the increases came after he had reduced by $2 million "town department requests that were pretty reasonable."

"This is a very lean budget, even though there is this increase. The only alternative is to make other cuts that would be detrimental to the base of the town's needs," Flatto said. "I've always been a believer we should not cut services citizens need. I tried to minimize increases wherever we can and not go past the point where reductions would cause a lot of citizen discontent."

During the press conference, Flatto at times was sharply critical of the Board of Education's Central Office, saying school officials had hired additional employees after the current budget was set and are now claiming they are part of their base staff. "No, that's not part of your base in staffing...Those are new hires," Flatto said. "The district has had a tendency to do that the last three years - added positions after the budget was done, then said, 'That's part of [our] base in staffing.' "

Flatto also disputed Supt. of Schools David G. Title's comment that the Board of Education's proposed budget only had the equivalent of 6.2 new positions because the rest of the new positions already existed but grant money dried up and they now had to be funded in the operating budget by town residents.

Flatto said the school district was able to find new grants and that only 2.2 of 19 new positions that required taxpayers' money were the result of losses in grants.

Flatto said he also did not think school administrators, whom he said were the most highly-paid employees in Fairfield, should receive 3 percent raises. "People making more than top town officials should tighten their belt and forego increases this year," he said, adding that the workforce on the townside was smaller than it was five years ago.

On the flip side, Flatto said town employees, particularly police officers, firefighters and Department of Public Works' employees, needed to be treated fairly and that it wasn't realistic to say they should not receive additional money.

"There are only so many people in the world willing to lay down their lives in the middle of the night to protect the community. There are only so many willing to wake up at 3 a.m. to deal with a blizzard...These employees deserve our respect and deserve fairness," Flatto said. "I think there's an equitable balance that needs to be achieved."

Flatto said the increase in annual required contributions to town pension funds had less to do with the financial crisis in the fall of 2008 and revelation that pension money invested with convicted scammer Bernard Madoff was worthless, and more to do with rising liabilities. He said more employees are on the plan and retirees are living longer.

"Our taxpayers were very fortunate for a decade when the town's investments overperformed," Flatto said, referring to a time when taxpayers did not contribute any money to the pension funds. "Now we have to do it, but it's only partially because of the investment drop a few years ago."

"The bigger impact is the liability of employee pensions has gotten larger," Flatto added.

Town Fiscal Officer Paul Hiller said 90 percent of town budgets are funded by local taxpayers and that officials were realistic in estimating revenue that makes up the other 10 percent. He said Gov. Dannel Malloy had promised to "hold the line" on education cost sharing grants and that town officials had only modestly increased anticipated revenue from town fees, such as those for building permits.

"The major drivers on the expense side are pension, debt, paving and medical insurance costs. They are ones we all face and have obligations to meet," Hiller said.