Politics & Government
Naugatuck to Vote on Budgets Today
Residents will be asked to vote on both the town and school spending plans.
Naugatuck taxpayers will head to the voting booths today to vote on a proposed $59.47 million school budget and a proposed $51.42 million municipal budget.
A referendum on the budgets will be held today, Tuesday, July 9, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Naugatuck Historical Society headquarters at the old train station, 195 Water St. In order for the votes to count, 15 percent of registered voters must vote at the referendum.
Residents will be asked to vote yes, no: too high, or no: too low on both the town and school portions of the budget.
If the budgets fail, borough officials make changes and send it to a second referendum. If that fails, it goes to a third and final referendum. If the third referendum fails, borough officials are expected to make cuts and then set a budget that they believe is appropriate.
Naugatuck Tax Collector Jim Goggin said he is waiting for the results of the referendum to send out motor vehicle taxes and the second half of real estate taxes.
Background
Naugatuck officials set the tax rate for next fiscal year at 44.8 mills after approving a budget of $110.9 million, a 3.08 percent increase in spending.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. 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.
The school portion of the budget was set at $59.47 million, an increase of 2.4 percent, and the municipal budget was set at $51.42 million, an increase of 3.87 percent.
Naugatuck officials usually set the budget and tax rate without say-so from voters. Per the Charter, someone must petition and get signatures from 8 percent of voters to force referendums on the school and town budgets, which is what happened this year.
The Non-Vote Movement
There are some Naugatuck residents, like Ever Linares, husband of State Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, who want to spread the word about the referendum to get people to vote. He posted an announcement reminder to residents on Naugatuck Patch recently.
However, there are some, like Board of Education Chairman Dave Heller, who are telling people not to vote at all so that the results would be null and void as there would be less than a 15-percent voter turnout.
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