The first selectman was hoping town voters would approve a higher-than-expected, 14-percent tax increase this week, but was prepared to go back to the drawing board if it failed. Compounding Town Hall's difficulty is the fact that, whether the budget passes or fails, a failure to account for the Grand List drop means tax rates will rise even more than forecasted.

A day-long, town-wide referendum gave voters the chance to have their say on the $85 million town budget for 2010-2011 (see results story to the right in related links). It represents a 4.5 percent increase from the current budget of $81.4 million.

A higher-than-expected tax increase was noted on May 12 by First Selectman Michael Freda, who earlier estimated the proposed tax hike would be 2 to 3.2 mills. He explained that the 3.42 mill rise is due to taking into account the effect of the Grand List decrease, which boils down to lost tax revenue of $1.1 million that had to be made up in the higher-than-forecasted mill rate.

What this comes down to for the average property owner is a tax bill that will be several hundred dollars higher than this year's. For instance, there would be an additional $347 for a home valued at $197,470, which is at the town median point, with half the homes in town at higher values and half lower.

The average property value in town is $213,307, which translates into an increase of $402.

"We approached this budget with a serious carryover from the past two years of $6.6 million revenue shortfall," Freda said. "What we've done is put into effect annualized cost savings of $1,860,000, but because of the $6.6 million shortfall, plus the cost of running the town starting July 1, the incremental cost is going to be a 3.42 mill rate increase."

The $6.6 million shortfall represents 2.72 mills of that increase. Earlier, finance board Member Michael Hallahan calculated that the hefty 28 percent health insurance increase represented 1 mill.

The current tax rate is 23.48 mills and a 3.42 mill increase to 26.9 would represent 14.5 percent increase. Voting took place

May 18 at five polling places in town.

"I am hoping for a large turnout," Freda said May 12. "As North Haven's public servant, I'll be very interested in the results. It boils down to this: If it passes, we retain great services. If it fails, we go back to the drawing board… Last year about 21 percent of voters came out. I'm hoping for a larger turnout because my goal is to create a greater interest in the town by voters and to share with them every piece of information they want to see."