Item No. 9 on the Board of Finances Wednesday night agenda was setting the mill rate for the Towns 2011 fiscal year, but Chairman Thomas Flynn knew that wouldnt do. We knew that a lot of the press was there, and we wanted to get it to them to make their deadlines, Flynn explained Thursday morning.
So Item 9 was leapfrogged to the forefront. By unanimous vote of the nine-member board, the mill rate was established at 19.27 percent, an increase of 2 percent over the current years 18.9 percent. What does that mean for taxpayers?
The new rate, which takes effect July 1, will mean an increase of $19.27 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Paul Hiller, the Towns fiscal officer, provided another example. A homeowner with a property assessed at $500,000 will experience an increase of $92.50 a year, he said Thursday morning.
Wednesday nights meeting, held at the Board of Education Administrative Offices on Kings Highway East, turned into a marathon and wound up at 12:15 a.m. I was the last person out of the room, Hiller said.
According to Flynn, the 2 percent increase in the mill rate was attributable to a decrease in revenues from state aid, investment income and conveyance tax. He said that he was comfortable, from an operating respect, with the budget the BOE recommended to the Representative Town Meeting. And I applaud all the cuts the RTM made.
After two lengthy back-to-back meetings that culminated at 12:40 a.m. on Wednesday, the RTM adopted a $251.7 town budget for 2010-2011.
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