Looking Beyond the Blame Game: Enfield's Real Tax Challenge

The previous post may have come off as a little too harsh on the Republicans. But there's a history that's troubling and needs to be addressed. My first post on the tax shift lacked context—context that this flier below helps illustrate.

This 2023 flier claims the Democrats "soaked us with a 9.6% tax increase" in their second year. The tax increase was real—by my calculations, taxes went up about 4.5% in 2022 and roughly 9% in 2023.

But the flier misleads voters about the causes.

In 2022, the Democrats actually reduced spending by almost 1%, yet taxes still rose 4.5%—entirely due to revaluation effects. In 2023, they increased the budget by 5.4%, and taxes rose about 9%. Of that 9%, roughly 5.4% corresponded to the budget increase. The rest still reflected revaluation impacts.

Looking at their two-year record: they cut spending by 0.75% in year one, then increased it by 5.4% in year two, for a total budget increase of about 4.6% over two years.

Flier sent by Republicans to voters in 2023 town election

If not for the revaluation shift, tax increases would have closely tracked that 4.6% figure—rather than the much higher amounts homeowners actually experienced.

To be clear: a 5.4% budget increase in any single year is legitimately high and worth serious debate. Democrats should be held accountable for that spending decision. But the flier's focus on the 9.6% tax increase ignores that roughly half of that impact came from revaluation shifts—not spending.

Context matters here: the Republicans' final pre-election budget included a 5.5% spending increase—also a significant jump. It avoided a tax hike only because of strong grand list growth just prior to revaluation. That growth temporarily masked the imbalance between residential and commercial property values.

The point is this:

Unless we acknowledge the problem—the structural shift in property valuations—we won't have an honest discussion about how to deal with it.

Both parties should be able to agree on the same set of facts and the core issue: residential property values have soared, commercial values have remained flat, and homeowners are footing a larger share of the tax burden—regardless of the budget.

Candidates should absolutely debate how much the town should spend, and on what. Republicans and Democrats can both make valid arguments about priorities.

A certain amount of partisan overstatement is expected in any election. But the challenge posed by the 2026 revaluation is likely to be exceptional and unavoidable.

Given rising home values and an unstable commercial market, homeowners could face another increase as steep—or steeper—than what followed the 2021 revaluation.

At this point—given what's ahead—taxpayers deserve brutal honesty from both parties.