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05/18/2021 03:18 PMCitizens in Essex adopted a $25,653,515 town budget for fiscal year 2021–’22 (’22) by a vote of 37 to 0 at the annual town meeting on May 10. The budget is a $999,938, or 4.06 percent, increase from current year.
“I think it’s a very reasonable budget,” said Tracey Celentano, finance director for Essex, by phone after the May 10 vote. “A lot of thought went into being fiscally responsible with it.”
At the Board of Finance (BOF) meeting directly following the annual town meeting, town officials discussed waiting to set the mill rate until more up-to-date financial information on the close of the current fiscal year is available.
“I think they just want to take a lot of time and put a lot of thought into what it will be and the greater the information that we have, the more accurate it will be,” said Celentano.
The town is anticipating a surplus at the end of the current fiscal year, a portion of which, town officials said at the May 10 BOF meeting, could be applied to offset an increase in the mill rate.
“If we have a significant surplus, we can use some of that against some infrastructure projects,” said Essex First Selectman Norman Needleman at the BOF meeting. “Obviously, I never really recommend lowering the mill rate for recurring expenses based on surplus, so we’re going to have to be prudent about it.”
A break-even mill rate for the budget is currently at 22.68, an 0.87 mill or 4.0 perrcent increase from the 21.81 mill rate in fiscal year ‘21, according to the town’s budget proposal document. To calculate property tax, the assessment of a property is multiplied by the mill rate and divided by 1,000.
Of the town’s $25.65 million budget, 65.6 percent is spent on educational costs, 29.5 percent on town government, and 4.9 percent on debt service.
The town will spend $1,253,664 on debt service, which is a decrease of $215, or 0.02 percent from current year. Other categories are driving the overall $999,938 increase.
The town government budget will increase by $199,365, or 2.70 percent from current year to $7,577,938. The Essex Board of Education budget will increase by $152,975 or 1.98 percent from current year to $7,861,407. The Region 4 Board of Education budget will increase by $647,813 or 7.79 percent from current year to $8,960,506.
The town’s educational costs for Region 4 are increasing in correlation with the number of students from Essex who are eligible to attend John Winthrop Middle School and Valley Regional High School, otherwise known as Average Daily Membership (ADM).
In fiscal year ‘21, the cost allocation for Essex was based on 345 students, or 39.75 percent of the total Region 4 budget. In fiscal year ‘22, the cost allocation for Essex is based on 353 students, or 41.38 percent of the total Region 4 budget.
“I had thought initially that this year, we would see a bump in ADM and then we would begin to drop down, but I think the most recent numbers…indicate that we’re going to be at this level,” said Needleman.
Another important consideration for the town is how to spend the $1,951,568 in federal grant monies it will receive as a result of the most recent federal COVID-relief legislation, the American Rescue Plan.
Celentano said that the eligible uses of the federal money “needs to be identified first before we can make any concrete decisions.”
The funds must be used for eligible expenses by Dec. 31, 2024.
A special meeting of the BOF to set the mill rate is scheduled for Thursday, June 10 at 7 p.m.