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The Board of Finance set Fairfield’s mill rate at 23.93 Wednesday, effective July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014. The number is a 0.56 increase from the current rate of 23.37.
The tax increase set Wednesday night is nearly four percentage points lower than the town’s earliest projections, made after First Selectman Michael Tetreau first proposed a town budget in February. Since then the town’s government cut more than $8.9 million in town spending.
The town now plans to spend nearly $278.5 million in the 2014 fiscal year, which is still an increase of about 2.3 percent over the current year. The Representative Town Meeting also expanded the senior tax relief program earlier this year, which cost about $1.36 million in lost revenue for the town, so Fairfield’s tax rate will climb slightly higher than the town’s spending in this budget.
Fairfield’s tax base was also mostly flat from year-to-year. The Grand List as of January 31, 2013, is about $10.9 billion. The Grand List grew by about $31.8 million compared to the year before, or 0.29 percent.
The mill rate is used to calculate Fairfield’s tax bills each year. To estimate your tax bill, you multiply the rate by your property’s assessed value divided by one thousand. Assessed values are 70 percent of a property’s estimated worth as of the 2010 revaluation. Fairfield’s property assessments can be found online at Vision Appraisal.
For example, Fairfield’s average appraised home value is $650,000, according to Chief Fiscal Officer Robert Mayer. That property would have an assessed value of $455,000. Under the new mill rate, the tax bill for that property in July would be $10,888, an increase of $255 compared to July 2012.
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