The Planning Department of Newtown has issued the following memo, June 30, 2020:
The State Plastic Bag Tax will be reinstated on July 1, 2020. In order to allow...
To the Editor:
I am often asked about the various types of support and expenditures that the library cycles through each year, and I hope this letter to the edi...
The American Library Association (ALA) announced that Newtown’s C.H. Booth Library was selected for the second consecutive year to participate in Libraries Lead...
To the Editor:
We have been Newtown residents for over 15 years. I am deeply offended by the letter that was published in The Bee last week from Clinton DePaolo...
The Newtown Bee is seeking resident input through Twitter. Periodically, we will post a question to our Twitter account (@TheNewtownBee) with #TellTheNewtow...
WATERBURY — Chase Collegiate School is offering online summer studies and enrichment programs from July 6 through August 7.
Students have adapted and excelled w...
Jerome “Jerry” Alexander Rekart passed peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, June 30, at his home in Newtown. He was 80 years old. Jerry was the son of the late A...
What are newtownbee.com readers reading? Each week we compile a list of the top most read stories published to our site.
Here is a roundup of the week’s top fiv...
Summer life may look different this year, with ongoing pandemic precautions and safety measures, but we know residents are still making memories.
The Newtow...
There is plenty to read at newtownbee.com, but so much more information to be found in print. If you read the print edition of The Newtown Bee, or subscribe, yo...
The issue is not that our taxes will go up. The issue is that the assessment came at a time when the pandemic brought folks to Newtown in a frenzy to buy small houses (like mine <2000 sq ft). 13 houses on my street with long time residents sold in less than 2 days each with most getting more than asking. And these 'comps' were used for my assessment (42% increase). Now that the market has stalled, housing prices have dropped dramatically. We will pay increased taxes for the next 5 years until the next assessment corrects this anomaly. And wait for the car tax! Not to mention the 'R' word.
I hope that concerned folks will focus on the budget that we vote to approve each year. It is the primary determinant of the taxes we pay. Assessments are, in a way, the distribution or redistribution of that tax burden across taxpayers based on the value of their homes. Even if there were no revaluation taking place, we would be paying more tax because we voted for an increased budget. The only other offset would be a meaningful increase in businesses or new homes providing additional tax revenues. As I understand it, the mil rate will adjust based on valuations (grand list) to provide the budget we vote for. Taxes will go up until we spend less or get more revenue from new sources.
Editor's Note: It should also be pointed out that NYA (and NVAC) built their own building — which has a footprint larger than Newsylum, Parent Connection, and the Ambulance headquarters combined — that each of the latter organizations also contributed their own significant funds to their construction and improvement projects; and that Newsylum and the Parent Connection both improved existing abandoned buildings that may have otherwise continued to be unused and deteriorating.
