The Legislative Council held the final public hearing of the 2019-20 budget process March 20, drawing only two residents representing the 20,000-plus local taxpayers.

But it is probably a fair bet those two residents, Ron Bossio and Ken Schaefer, represented many in town who have reached their limit when it comes to tolerating annual property tax increases.

The hearing, which took less than 12 minutes to conclude, had Mr Bossio calling for the council to consider the possibility of offering a tax relief program that benefits all local seniors and disabled persons, versus the current program that concentrates property tax reductions across four tiers of the community’s lowest earning qualifying households.

Mr Schaefer spoke in favor of a different approach, freezing tax increases and proportionately lowering the amount of taxation in the future based on the total number of residents who are required to pay.

Once the council concludes its work on the separate municipal and school budget requests — and makes any potential adjustments — the two spending packages, along with four capital authorizations, go to voters for endorsement or rejection at referendum on April 23.

The selectmen’s request amounts to a 2.75 percent increase over the 2018-19 adopted budget and includes a $250,000 proposed increase in the Capital Roads line for continued local road improvements and maintenance. The Board of Selectmen’s budget request also includes all debt service for local capital projects, including all school district projects

The total proposed town-wide spend — following a nominal finance board amendment adding $12,000 for daytime fire apparatus drivers in Hawleyville and Dodgingtown — is now $42,207,726, representing a $1,140,759 increase over the current adopted budget.

The Board of Education unanimously approved its 2019-20 budget for $78,104,410, a roughly 2.7 percent increase from the current year’s budget. After review, the finance board moved this request unchanged from the school board.

Once final council recommendations have been made, voters at referendum will weigh in on the town and school spending proposals separately.

Voters will also be asked to authorize four capital spending authorizations: $1 million for capital roads, $2.7 million for a high school boiler/lighting replacement, a Hawley School boiler replacement and lighting protection at Sandy Hook School totaling $744,239, and $265,000 to cover most of the cost of creating four new regulation pickleball courts at Fairfield Hills.

If that final measure passes, an anonymous donor has pledged an additional $25,000 to complete the new pickleball court project.

During the council’s brief hearing March 20, Mr Bossio introduced himself as being new to town, having moved to the Watkins Drive neighborhood from Ridgefield.

He reminded the council that his former community has long provided a senior tax benefit to every qualified resident over age 65 — a break on their taxes. Mr Bossio said when his family moved to Newtown and downsized their home, he was not happy to see his property taxes were nonetheless higher than he was paying for a larger property in Ridgefield.

He said his former community, like many, was split between two main factions, school supporters who backed budget increases that benefited the school district, and those who did not support increases. But once the community initiated a tax break for virtually every taxpayer over age 65, it diffused issues between tax activists and school supporters.

He also pointed out that higher taxes brought out more voters, which resulted in more budget votes failing.

Mr Bossio also noted that the benefit functioned to help keep seniors in town. He said seniors bring diversity to a community, and in his case, relocating to Newtown put him in closer proximity to his own children. That permitted him to provide assistance to them by taking care of his grandchildren.

In looking over Newtown’s senior benefit, he pointed out, “Once you hit the benefit threshold, you fall off a cliff.”

In closing, he encouraged the council to research spreading a relief benefit to all qualified taxpayers over age 65.

“This tax break may not be doing what you want it to do,” he said, adding that there may be those who really need a break but may not qualify under Newtown’s program guidelines. For those taxpayers, he said, the program only “looks good on paper.”

“I can’t tell you the right amount, but consider studying it,” he requested.

Mr Schaefer said he relocated from California to the Castle Meadow Road neighborhood and quickly found that Newtown and Connecticut have a “very different tax structure.”

“I wasn’t used to the amount of real estate taxes. We pay over $1,000 a month.” He said getting his first Newtown tax bills generated “quite a shock.”

Mr Schaefer related that he had run a business for more than 30 years in California, and in his world, “to increase a budget, you need more customers. Here, he said, Newtown residents represent those customers, and “you’re losing customers, so you’re losing taxes.”

He said the idea of increasing a budget with no more revenue coming in doesn’t make sense from a business or personal point of view.

Mr Schaefer said he faced a situation here that is likely shared by many of his age demographic — it is extremely hard to get a job after 30 years in his former post, which puts an even greater burden on older residents when tax time comes.

Regarding the current budget proposals, Mr Schaefer concluded, “It doesn’t make sense to increase. Use what you have and make cuts where necessary.”