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03/30/2018 01:03 PMOn March 26, the Board of Finance (BOF) voted unanimously to send a recommended $112.18 million town budget to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM). The BOF-recommended bottom line meets all of the town's fiscal needs while delivering a miniscule mill rate increase of just seventh-tenths of one percent, or .20 mills, increasing the current rate from 28.47 mills to 28.67 mills.
First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove said the BOF-recommended budget "...upholds our mission of investing in our infrastructure, funding our future liabilities and providing programs and services for the residents of Branford."
In dollars, the BOF-recommended budget of $112,186,952 represents an annual spending increase of $373,977 or 0.3 percent. The budget includes a recommended $57.26 million for the town's schools (operating, capital and leases); $45.29 million for town costs, $1.35 million for contingency and $8.27 million for debt service (bonding repayment).
The $112.18 million bottom line was developed by the BOF making several adjustments to a $113 million request received in February; in which the Board of Education (BOE) sought $57.38 million for schools and the town asked for $46.29 million for municipal costs (see related story for more details of BOF adjustments).
BUDGET HEADS TO RTM:
The BOF-recommended budget now heads to the RTM for committee revenue, and possible further cuts.
"The RTM will act on this budget; they can move around line items, they can decrease the budget. They cannot increase it," explained BOF chairman Joseph Mooney on March 26.
Cosgrove told Zip06/The Sound the BOF-recommended budget maintains the town's track record of fiscal responsibility.
"It still goes before the RTM, which may make some further adjustments; but I think at this point, we're going from 28.47 to 28.67 [mills]; and that is still being very conservative in our revenue projections as well as taking the prudent approach in budgeting our liabilities at the levels we have funded them historically," said Cosgrove.
Once the RTM committee recommendations are reviewed, the full RTM votes to adopt the town's 2018-19 budget; followed by the BOF convening in May to officially set the town's new mill rate.
"Finalized budget expenditures will come back to the Board of Finance in May; we will validate and solidify the revenues and we set the mill rate officially at that meeting," said Mooney.
Branford's new fiscal year runs July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.
REMEMBER LAST YEAR?
The minuscule mill increase in the BOF-recommended budget represents what Cosgrove described as "smoothing out the budget" following last year's efforts by the town to budget conservatively for 2017-18 while also addressing unknowns wrought by the state fiscal budget crisis.
"Last year, we put ourselves in a position where we were spectators of the state budget process, and we were able to go forward with some certainty; and then this budget smooths out what we funded for last year," said Cosgrove.
Last year, on May 9, 2017, the RTM adopted a $111.8 million town budget, after months of work by the town to pivot and address anticipated and changing state budget impacts. But on May 15, 2017, another state budget proposal by Gov. Dannel Malloy potentially put Branford on the hook for an additional $2.2 million not figured into the town's newly-adopted $111.8 million bottom line.
Branford then played it last card before the BOF set the mill rate; with Finance Director Jim Finch working with the BOF to address the potential $2.2 million increase. The final plan called for using some revenue from the town's general fund, together with taxes, to address the potential $2.2 million increase (at the time, the town's general fund balance stood at $24.61 million). Without money from the general fund, underwriting an additional $2.2 million with money raised solely from tax revenue would have bumped the overall tax increase to 7.4 percent last year, Finch noted at the time.
With that plan, the BOF was able to recalculate a proposed 28.87 mill rate (equaling a 5.3 percent annual property tax increase) for 2017-18 down to a final 28.67 mill rate, equaling 3.85 percent tax increase. Of that increase, 2.35 percent was earmarked for potential state impacts.
BUDGET HEADS TO RTM:
The BOF-recommended budget now heads to the RTM for committee revenue, and possible further cuts.
"The RTM will act on this budget; they can move around line items, they can decrease the budget. They cannot increase it," explained BOF chairman Joseph Mooney on March 26.
Cosgrove told Zip06/The Sound BOF-recommended budget maintains the town's track record of fiscal responsibility.
"It still goes before the RTM, which may make some further adjustments; but I think at this point, we're going from 28.47 to 28.67 [mills]; and that is still being very conservative in our revenue projections as well as taking the prudent approach in budgeting our liabilities at the levels we have funded them historically," said Cosgrove.
Once the RTM committee recommendations are reviewed, the full RTM votes to adopt the town's 2018-19 budget; followed by the BOF convening in May to officially set the town's new mill rate.
"Finalized budget expenditures will come back to the Board of Finance in May; we will validate and solidify the revenues and we set the mill rate officially at that meeting," said Mooney.
Branford's new fiscal year runs July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.
REMEMBER LAST YEAR?
The minuscule mill increase in the BOF-recommended budget represents what Cosgrove described as "smoothing out the budget" following last year's efforts by the town to budget conservatively for 2017-18 while also addressing unknowns wrought by the state fiscal budget crisis.
"Last year, we put ourselves in a position where we were spectators of the state budget process, and we were able to go forward with some certainty; and then this budget smooths out what we funded for last year," said Cosgrove.
Last year, on May 9, 2017, the RTM adopted a $111.8 million town budget, after months of work by the town to pivot and address anticipated and changing state budget impacts. But on May 15, 2017, another state budget proposal by Gov. Dannel Malloy potentially put Branford on the hook for an additional $2.2 million not figured into the town's newly-adopted $111.8 million bottom line.
Branford then played it last card before the BOF set the mill rate; with Finance Director Jim Finch working with the BOF to address the potential $2.2 million increase. The final plan called for using some revenue from the town's general fund, together with taxes, to address the potential $2.2 million increase (at the time, the town's general fund balance stood at $24.61 million). Without money from the general fund, underwriting an additional $2.2 million with money raised solely from tax revenue would have bumped the overall tax increase to 7.4 percent last year, Finch noted at the time.
With that plan, the BOF was able to recalculate a proposed 28.87 mill rate (equaling a 5.3 percent annual property tax increase) for 2017-18 down to a final 28.67 mill rate, equaling 3.85 percent tax increase. Of that increase, 2.35 percent was earmarked for potential state impacts.
COSGROVE DISCUSSES BRANFORD'S BUDGET MISSION:
On March 26, Cosgrove said that while this time of year is known as "budget season," the town maintains the budget throughout the year by looking for efficiencies and ways to reduce tax payer burden, such as a current effort exploring options to further control growing costs.
"We look year 'round at how we can improve, and how to improve services and provide them efficiently, and we continue to do that," said Cosgrove. "I've always felt it was important to sustain the level of services that we offer, maintain the high quality of life that we enjoy in Branford, but we also have to be mindful of the tax burden. So we have to do everything we can to provide services efficiently to retain budget growth, but we also have to focus on maintaining our quality of life; the high quality of lifestyle that's attractive as a town for people to come to and invest in, therefore not only preserving our Grand List, but actually growing our Grand List. So that's the other piece of the puzzle."
Branford mainly relies on funding annual budget expenditures through property taxes collected based on the annual Grand List (a record the town's assessed taxable and tax-exempt property). Based on the new mill rate and Grand List assessment, the town calculates new tax bills which go out each July.
For the 2018-19 mill rate calculation, Branford's net Grand List stands at $3.55 billion (up 0.7 percent over 2017-18). The town's tax collection rate of 98 percent creates a total of net taxes available in 2018-19 equaling $99,489,450 which is an increase of 1.4 percent over net taxes available for 2017-18.