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07/19/2017 08:00 AMHere it comes again. When the Connecticut Assembly failed to pass the proposed “mini-budget” on June 30, Governor Dannel Malloy signed an executive order slashing education and municipal aid to towns $684 million or 27.9 percent.
Clinton was cut $6.2 million or 93.8 percent, most of which was Education Cost Sharing grants that were cut to zero—but Clinton’s budget anticipated a much smaller cut to $3.3 million.
How might Clinton bridge this $3.3 million gap if the cuts stand? If Clinton’s boards of Education, Selectmen and Finance make no adjustments to spending and expect Clinton taxpayers to simply absorb the difference, that translates into an additional 2.21 mills or a 7.4 percent surcharge on top of tax bills that have already been sent—bills that reflected a 10.2 percent mill rate increase. That is a cumulative year-over-year tax hike of 18.3 percent to an effective mill rate of 32.12. Ouch!
If so, Clinton’s mill rate disadvantage will lengthen compared to its neighbors, whose cuts were much smaller and will have much less of an impact: Madison -$670,433 or -55.2 percent; Old Saybrook -$92,957 or -38.1 percent; and Westbrook -$51,510 or -38.1 percent.
Such a disadvantage is extremely destructive, depressing property values and discouraging economic development. Increasing property taxes is dispassionate, as property taxes are the second-most regressive tax paid by Connecticut taxpayers. They fall disproportionately as a share of household income on the bottom 10- to 20 percent of households by income.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial about Connecticut’s budget put it this way: “liberals will eventually come after everyone else after they tap out the wealthy.”
When these developments were called to the attention of Clinton’s Board of Selectmen at its meeting on July 5, they appeared completely indifferent and have yet to propose a solution.
Kirk Carr
Clinton
Kirk Carr serves as an alternate on the Board of Finance.