2015 City Budget Amounts to Needed Fiscal Realities
By Chris Seymour | Correspondent at April 16, 2024 | 6:30 pm | Print
Mayor Erin E. Stewart has been hard at work finalizing a 2015-16 budget proposal that she says will not result in a tax increase for city residents one year after they saw an 11 percent jump in property taxes.
Stewart said she was “intent” on “passing a flat budget. I will not raise taxes,” underscored the mayor, in comments emailed to The City Journal early this week.
Stewart was scheduled to make her formal 2015-16 budget presentation on Thursday (April 16) after the City Journal went to press.
“I appreciate the hard work and patience of the Board of Finance and Taxation,” said Stewart. “Their scrutiny of the department requests resulted in a budget recommendation of $239 million, which would mean a mill rate of 58.3 mills. This figure is down from the department requests total of $253.8 million, which would carry a mill rate of 65.77 mills.”
“I have been scouring over the budget recommendation these last few weeks, looking at everything from the amount of paper we purchase to health insurance,” said Stewart.
“My budget is still a work in progress, but I have confidence that the plan I will present on April 16 will reflect the fiscal realities of New Britain and its taxpayers, and not include a tax increase,” added the mayor, stressing that 56 percent of the current $220 million budget goes to the Board of Education, funding that the Common Council and mayor “have no discretion over.”
The Board of Education has requested a 2015-16 budget that would be a $12.9 million increase over FY15 from $124,404,673 to $137,285,355.
Stewart said she sent a memo in November to department heads warning them about “the bleak fiscal outlook” for New Britain over the next two fiscal years. “I want to thank the department heads—the people who know the intricacies of their department and know where savings can be found—for submitting requests that reflected this reality,” said the mayor.
“The city made difficult financial decisions last year to help turn our finances around and while we have made progress, there is still more work to be done,” she added. “It will take us several years before we can say [the] city is fiscally stable once again.”
The mayor will hold her April office hours on Tuesday, April 21 at the New Britain Police Department Police Station Community Room. The open office hours begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a budget workshop with the mayor. The Common Council has until June to adopt a budget for fiscal year 2015-16.
Stewart’s office provided the City Journal this week with a list of various current spending, department requests for next year, and the Board of Finance and Taxation’s recommendation (BoFT), which are listed below.
Total FY15 (current) budget: $220,692,210.00; Total FY16 Department request budget: $253,862,065.00; Total FY16 BoFT recommended: $239,113,811.00.
Mills: FY15 (current) budget: 49 mills; FY16 department request budget mill rate increase over FY15: +16.77 mills (65.77); FY16 BoFT recommendation: budget mill rate increase over FY15: +9.30 mills (58.30).
Police: current: $15,767,812.00; Police Department request: $15,766,910.00;
Police Board of Finance and Taxation recommended (BoFT): $15,819,519.00.
Fire: current: $12,107,687.00; Fire Department request: $13,742,398.00; Fire BoFT recommended: $13,173,362.00.
Public Works: current: $13,568,634.00; Public Works Department request: $13,805,879.00; Public Works BoFT recommendation: $13,501,630.00.
Education: current: $124,404,673.00; Education Department request: $137,285,355.00; Education (BoFT recommendation): $124,243,673.00.
