A remarkably low debt service rate on Newtown’s latest bond offering and a respectable increase in the Grand List factored into a Board of Finance decision March 4 slashing a proposed 2021-22 tax increase by nearly two-thirds before sending the modified spending plan to the Legislative Council for the next round of discussion and vetting.

The council has scheduled a virtual public hearing on the spending plan Wednesday, March 17 at 7 pm. To participate in the hearing, call in at 1-646-558-8656, put in meeting ID number 981-8437-7007, and when prompted, the pass code: 295626.

A regular meeting of the council is scheduled to follow at 7:30 pm that same evening.

Going into budget deliberations in February, the finance board was considering a municipal spending plan for the next fiscal year in the amount of $43,925,927, representing a 2.2% or $951,168 bump, and a $80,682,470 school district request — a 2.58% increase, adding $2,030,694 to the current year. The municipal budget proposal contains the entire debt service expense on bonding, including all interest on borrowing for school district capital projects.

But a lot has happened over the course of a few weeks.

Armed with its latest AAA Bond Rate affirmation from Standard & Poor’s, Newtown went to market March 3 and received a 1.57% true interest rate as seven bidders vied for the offering. Town Finance Director Robert Tait said he was going into the transaction anticipating a final rate closer to 2%.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal told The Newtown Bee the savings between the interest rate that was anticipated and the actual debt service rate achieved will save taxpayers an additional $12,000 annually over the 20-year life of the bond.

A couple of weeks earlier, Tait reported the latest Grand List calculations of all Newtown’s taxable property had increased 1.64% — a positive change of $52,790,766 before any appeals, and assuming a tax collection rate of 99.2%. The Board of Assessment Appeals estimated adjustments are projected to be $1.5 million.

The Grand List breakdown illustrated a roughly $22.2 million or 0.78% increase in real estate valuations; an approximate $13.2 million or 5.26% increase in motor vehicle valuations; and about a $17.4 million or 13.07% bump in personal property valuations.

Motions And Reductions

The finance board’s first action March 4 was to move the proposed school district request. That motion was amended by member Matthew Mihalcik, who requested a reduction of $210,000. That amendment motion was countered by finance board member Christopher Gardner who suggested a $140,000 reduction.

That reduction amendment, and the corresponding reduction of $140,000 passed with Chair Keith Alexander being the sole No vote on both. A subsequent motion to send a district budget request of $80,542,470 to the council then passed unanimously.

Turning to the municipal budget proposal, Vice Chair Sandy Roussas first motioned the original amount before suggesting a $12,550 reduction in the form of an amendment. She noted that the various line items making up that reduction had been formulated by Gardner.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal then noted the challenging nature of managing the specific line item reductions and suggested the finance board achieve its action through a single reduction to the contingency line. Roussas then withdrew the original motion countering with a suggested reduction of $37,274 that would account for $12,274 in bond interest savings and $25,000 from contingency.

The motion to reduce the municipal budget request by $37,274 then passed unanimously, leading to a final motion and unanimous vote adjusting the municipal spending request at $43,888,653.

After some further discussion around shifting funding for capital items from the operating budget and paying for them out of the capital non-recurring account, Mihalcik motioned to further reduce the district proposal to $80,192,979, accounting for $349,491 in capital requests.

Further Municipal Cuts

A similar action on the municipal side brought a motion to approve that bottom line at $43,741,856.

The following lines were identified as shifting out of the operating budget request for funding through non-budget funds:

*Fire capital — $34,490;

*Emergency management NUSAR equipment — $9,300;

*Transfer station hook truck — $65,000:

*Public building and maintenance window abatement and municipal building — $10,000; and

*Various items from Parks and Recreation — $28,000

That motion passed unanimously.

Roussas then motioned to send a newly modified bottom line of $123,934,835 to the council. Tait noted that the final motions, if passed on to voters with no other council modifications, would represent an overall budget increase of 1.9% with an effective tax increase of 0.59%, generating a 2021-22 Mill rate of 34.97.

The current year Mill rate is 34.76. One mill represents $1 in taxation on every $1,000 in assessed taxable property.

To help taxpayers better understand certain specifics within the budget documents, the finance board published a 31-page document compiling dozens of questions put to various department heads and other municipal officials.

Residents can access the document by CLICKING HERE

The Legislative Council will presumably begin work on the newly amended budget proposals at the next scheduled regular meeting on March 17.