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Old Saybrook Budget Referendum on May 15

Old Saybrook’s annual budget meeting is set for Monday, May 7 at 7 p.m. at the Old Saybrook Middle School Auditorium; as required by town charter, the meeting will be adjourned to a town-wide referendum vote, set for Tuesday, May 15. The polls at the Old Saybrook Senior High School Gymnasium on May 15 will be open between the hours of noon and 8 p.m. on that day.

Two budget questions will be weighed by town voters. The first question is whether to adopt the proposed budget for 2018-’19 for town general government of $19,795,258.22 as recommended by the Board of Finance. The second question is whether to adopt the proposed budget for 2018-’19 for the Board of Education in the amount of $25,809,822 as recommended by the Board of Finance.

The town budget proposal represents a $171,266 or 0.87 percent increase in spending over the $19,623,992 2017-’18 budget. The BOE proposal represents a $42,161 or 0.16 percent increase in spending over the $25,767,661 2017-’18 budget.

Combined, the $45,605,080 town and Board of Education budgets would increase spending by $213,427 over the combined $45,391,653 2017-’18 budget, less than one-half of one percent at 0.47 percent over the current year’s budget.

With a favorable $11 million increase in the town’s Grand List, and organizational changes that contained town personnel expenses, First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., said at the budget hearing that the Board of Finance will likely set a lower mill rate for the next fiscal year than the current 19.66 mills per thousand dollars of assessed property value.

How much lower will be a decision that the Board of Finance will make after the referendum votes are counted; the projection is that the new mill rate could be as much as 0.03 to 0.06 mills lower next year than this year’s 19.66.

If both budgets pass at referendum, the Board of Finance will meet that evening of May 15 to set next fiscal year’s mill rate.

Editor’s note: The April 26 story “Selectmen Set Budget Vote for May 15” was edited incorrectly, merging elements of the Westbrook budget into the discussion of the Old Saybrook budget.