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05/21/2023 07:07 AMAt a Town Council meeting on May 17, the town council officially set the mill rate for the next fiscal year at 29.83 – the same as last year. A public workshop on the use of the fund balance has been scheduled for Thursday, June 8, at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall.
At a referendum on May 10, Clinton voters overwhelmingly approved a total budget of $62,148,955, a $2,483,084 increase over the current year’s budget.
Following that vote, the council had to formally set the mill rate at its next meeting, which fell on May 17. The vote to approve the mill rate was unanimous.
Since the mill rate was kept flat due to an appropriation of money from the town’s fun balance, a move that caused some second-guessing, the town council has opted to hold a workshop explaining how the fund balance works.
At a Town Council meeting in April, Chairman Chris Aniskovich suggested holding a workshop where the council members and the public could learn more about the fund balance and get on the same page about how it’s used. That workshop was supposed to be held on May 17 but was rescheduled for Thursday, June 8, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.
“We talk about it a lot, but I think It’s important that we actually have a workshop so that we can invite everybody so that people fully understand what the fund balance is and how it works and why it’s there and that we can stop with the 8,000 opinions we get every time we talk about fund balance,” Aniskovich said at the April 19 council meeting.
“So, people can understand what it’s there for and what we need it for, so we’re kind of educating the public so they understand what it is because a lot of times I think there’s miscommunication. They can come; they can ask questions. Karl can address some of the concerns you may hear here,” Aniskovich continued.
Keeping the mill rate flat – something the council has done three times in the last four years- proved controversial for the council at a meeting last month.
Originally the mill rate was projected to increase 0.55 percent, but at a meeting in April, council member Chris Passante made a motion to appropriate $283,000 from the undesignated fund to pay for some capital improvement in order to get to a flat mill rate.
During the discussion about the appropriation at that meeting, some council members said they were nervous about using undesignated fund balance to keep taxes low out of fear that looming capital projects in years to come could require a big tax jump in the future.
“You’re going to get to a point where that zero could be a 5% increase. You have to weigh that option,” Aniskovich said at the time.
Passante’s motion passed with council members Passante, Dennis Donovan, Carrie Allen, and Hank Teskey in favor, while council members Carol Walter and Tom Hollinger voted against the motion.