Town Council to vote Monday on 5% tax increase
The Town Council will meet on Monday to adopt a budget that would raise the mill rate by 5.1%, setting up a debate over school reserves, deferred infrastructure spending, and the town’s long-term fiscal pressures. For a house with a $300,000 market value — and assessed value of $210,000 (70%) — the taxes would increase by $338 to $6,953. Expect a vigorous debate and possibly some last-minute changes if deadlocks emerge. The proposed budget would increase the mill rate by 1.61 mills, from 31.5 to 33.11 mills. There are several fundamental tensions running through the budget debate. The special meeting is at 6 p.m. and will be on Enfield Television channel on YouTube. Special meetings typically do not include time for public comment. The Democrats hold a supermajority on the council, with eight of the 11 seats. Theoretically, that should allow them to adopt a budget easily, but Democrats do not necessarily move in lockstep and disagreements could emerge. School ...