The town and school budgets adopted by borough officials are now in effect as not enough people attended a budget referendum Tuesday to make the results valid.
In order for the results to count, 2,624 people, or 15 percent of those eligible, needed to vote. However, only 2,388 voted, so the proposed budgets go into effect.
Both budgets would have failed miserably if the votes had counted. (Numbers in comments section below.)
The school portion of the budget for this fiscal year is $59.47 million, an increase of 2.4 percent over last year, and the municipal budget for this fiscal year is $51.42 million, an increase of 3.87 percent over last year. All told, the budget is $110.9 million, a 3.08 percent increase in spending.
Naugatuck officials set the tax rate for this fiscal year, which began July 1, at 44.8. The tax rate, expressed in mills, is up significantly from 33.55 mills after a state-mandated revaluation saw the average home drop in value by 29.1 percent. The average house in Naugatuck was assessed last year at $171,000, according to the Naugatuck Assessor’s Office, which says the average house has now dropped to $120,000. In the current fiscal year, the average homeowner paid $5,737 in real estate property taxes, and will pay $5,376 based on the new tax rate.
The increased tax rate, however, means that in all likelihood, most people will see a significant increase in automobile taxes if the budget is approved – Tax Collector Jim Goggin said he expects car tax bills will go up 22 percent on average. Commercial property owners are also likely to see a significant tax increase as those values went down just 3.8 percent on average in the revaluation.
The net increase in tax rate – what the increase would be had there not been a revaluation – is .93 mills.
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