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04/02/2024 01:36 PMNORTH HAVEN
The North Haven municipal budget for the upcoming 2024-’25 fiscal year is proposing a 8% increase in the mill rate as a means to cover several unfunded mandates that the town is facing in some of its departments, said First Selectman Mike Freda.
The budget proposes a total of $130,425,151 in total expenditures, representing a 7.3% increase from the current year’s budget, which has run on $121,499,883 in expenditures. The Town Government portion of the budget is a proposed $63,844,255, marking an 8.5% increase from the current year. The Board of Education (BOE) portion of the budget makes up approximately half of the total recommended budget, sitting at a proposed $64,972,728, a 5.4% increase from the current year.
Freda said the proposed budget is more “complex” compared to the current year’s one, as the town is facing a rise in employee healthcare costs and is also paying the debt on renovations at North Haven Middle School and the North Haven Police Department buildings, in addition to a boost in pension contributions. The First Selectman said that funding these expenses is imperative.
“You can’t cut back on those obligations,” Freda said. “That's how towns get into financial trouble—by not making the full pension payment, by missing debt payments, and by not funding the employees’ health insurance. Those are three critical areas that can never be compromised.”
The cost of town employee benefits, including health insurance and pensions, have increased by 14.9 percent of the proposed budget, rising from $15,620,725 to $17,953,577. The debt service for the middle school and police department buildings has risen by $346,070, or 3.5%, from the current year.
In order for those obligations amounting to $2,678,922 in increased expenses to be fulfilled, the town is proposing a 2.6% hike in the mill rate from 32.65 mills to 35.25 mills. The fulfillment of these obligations and covering a requested $3.3 million increase in the BOE budget “makes up the bulk of the increase” of the overall municipal budget, said Freda.
The mill rate increase will also cover several unfunded mandates that the town is required to fulfill from the state and federal levels. One of these mandates is for coming up with an ADA assessment plan for sidewalks at a cost of $150,000. Pertaining to education, there is necessary funding for the town’s adoption of the Right to Read state initiative, which is projected to cost between $250,000 to $300,000. The town also must meet the rising costs for special education that need to be covered at $550,000, along with meeting a $200,000 mandate to complete studies of the HVAC system systems at all six public schools.
“Every city and town is subject to the mandate, and it is designed to have the school districts assess the quality of air for their students and to see what the recommendations are from the study to improve,” said Freda.
According to Freda, it makes better fiscal sense for these mandates and the aforementioned obligations to be funded through an increase in property taxes, rather than town’s fund balance, which is also known as a rainy day fund.
“The reason that we're not using as much fund balance is because the rating agencies have asked us not to be as reliant on the fund balance,” he said.
North Haven has a Triple A rating from S&P Global Ratings, a standing that Freda can be maintained by not tapping into the rainy day fund, thereby continuing to demonstrate good budgeting practices.
The capital expenses are outlined in the budget and have increased from $723,533 in the current year’s budget to $1,308,168 in the proposed budget. In the proposed figure, $640,000 is dedicated to the fire department and is partly associated with a $300,000 expense for new personnel protective turnout gear for the town’s firefighters, an important part of the budget, said Freda.
“We have to help the fire department and make sure that their turnout gear for on scene response times has not aged out,” Freda said.
There is also a $300,000 lease on a fire engine that must be paid, while the remaining $40,000 is set to go toward improvements at the Northeast Station on Washington Avenue.
A raise in the mill rate would also established to fund the fire-associated capital expenses.
The budget is available to view on the town’s website.