Education
Town Hall 2015

RTM Sets Budget; Cuts Taxes a Bit More for a $16.33 Mill Rate; Finance Board, GOP Ed Board Members Sharply Criticized

By |
Download PDF

July’s town tax bills will be a bit lower after the Representative Town Meeting on Monday cut the 2020-2021 budget enough to reduce town taxes from 16.47 per $1,000 of assessed value to $16.33, a reduction of 14 cents. The Board of Finance had proposed a budget with a tax rate of $16.36 (11 cents under the present rate), and the final tax rate is 3 cents less than that. The RTM, with the legal ability to to cut budgets but not to raise them, is the final authority on cutting the budget and setting the mill rate. The RTM voted overwhelmingly to cut various, relatively small items from the Board of Finance’s proposed budget, including financing to: repaint the tennis courts at Weed Beach that are nearest the entrance, remove money from Town Hall maintenance and refurbishing project accounts where money hadn’t been spent, kitchen equipment for the Weed Beach snack concession, and money for a ride-on leaf blower. All the cuts came from the Board of Selectmen’s side of town budget.

Education

Board of Finance Cuts Tax Rate Slightly After Paring Down Spending, Education Cuts Debated

By |
Download PDF

With about 700 Darienites unemployed after losing their jobs in Connecticut on top of an unknown number of town residents who lost jobs in New York state, the Board of Finance decided to cut budget proposals from the Boards of Education and Selectmen, resulting in a slightly lower tax rate. The new mill rate will be no more than $16.36 (for every $1,000 of assessed value), down slightly from the current fiscal year’s $16.47, an 11-cent difference. The Finance Board’s goal was to keep the next town tax levy essentially the same as this one. The Finance Board’s cuts of about half a percent to the schools budget (on top of earlier cuts that the Board of Education agreed to make) came in the face of strong objections from members of not only the Board of Education, but also schools Superintendent Alan Addley and the Council of Darien School Parents. They said further cuts would hurt the educational experience of students.

News
Town Hall 2015

RTM Rules Committee Meets Monday Night: Agenda Includes Leaving Town Budget Approval to Finance Board

By |
Download PDF

The Representative Town Meeting may not be the final arbiter of this coming year’s town budget. Instead, the Board of Finance may be the last town body to decide on the budget, without then sending it to the RTM. A proposal to do that is one of the items on the agenda for tonight’s 7:30 RTM Rules Committee meeting. You can listen to the meeting live, and see it shortly afterward online, but not submit comment on to the committee. The Rules Committee will also consider a proposal, described vaguely in committee documents posted online, for a local tax deferment program or “low intereste rate program” for town taxpayers.