top of page
Search

BOF approved budget calls for less money raised from taxes

  • 2 days ago
  • 6 min read

While there were few surprises at the April 7 budget hearing for anyone who has been paying attention to Stafford’s discussion over the past few months, there were a few points worth noting. At the Board of Finance (BOF) meeting that followed immediately after the hearing, the board voted 4 to1, with chair Steve Geryk abstaining and Rob Proulx dissenting, to send the proposed budget to referendum.


To get started, here’s the broad overview of the budget that was proposed and approved to go to referendum. 


2026-2027 Stafford Budget Proposal

Board of Selectmen

$13,202,762

Debt Service

$3,042,361

Stafford Public Library

$614,410

Board of Education

$31,938,183

Total Expenditures

$48,797,716

Less: All Other Revenues

$14,475,077

To Be Raised From Taxes

$34,322,639


The Grand List is made up of three main components: real estate, personal property, and motor vehicles. According to the Town’s documents, the real estate is calculated at $1,110,892,770 and $66,935,110 for personal property. Motor vehicle taxes will bring in an estimated $117,850,660, according to the documents. The real estate value jumped significantly, up from $693,865,970 in the previous year. That was to be expected, given that properties were reassessed in 2025. However, personal property is down from $82,637,030. Overall, this budget year’s Grand List totals $1,295,678,540 — up from $888,914,260 last year. 


Where does that leave the Mill Rate? Down to a proposed 26.43 from 38.59.


How can the budget go up while the amount raised through taxes goes down?


During the BOF meeting, Geryk mentioned multiple times that even though the budget request increased by 3.18% the amount being raised through taxes is going down. The latest numbers Stafford Free Press received from the Town put the difference at $54,268 less than last year. Those of us sitting in the audience during the meeting could hear a chorus of disbelief coming from the back of the room, so after the meeting I asked Geryk how, exactly, it’s possible that this can happen. He brought in Interim CFO Lynn Nenni to help explain. 


The truth is that the answer is complicated but boils down to there being more revenue expected in the coming year. This year’s budget accounts for things like increased interest earned on existing funds, but there’s one big contributor: $689,517 from the State for the Motor Vehicle Cap. 


Essentially, the State capped the Mill Rate that municipalities can apply to motor vehicles. If a town’s Mill Rate was higher that the cap of 32.46 Mills (which Stafford’s was), the State would reimburse towns for the revenue lost because of the cap. Here’s where things get a little confusing. Nenni explained that the payments lag behind budgets, so the $689,517 owed to Stafford for this current year won’t show up until next fiscal year. So, it has been applied to the 2026-2027 proposed budget as revenue, helping to bring down the amount raised through taxes.


That, however, is the last payment Stafford can expect for the foreseeable future. Because Stafford’s new Mill Rate, whatever it turns out to be, will likely be less than the 32.46 capped rate, it will no longer be eligible to receive those reimbursements. 


Also, Nenni said commericial and industrial properties did not see their values go up like residential properties did. In some cases, they may have even gone down. This seems to be a common problem for municipalities in recent years, and it leaves residential property owners to shoulder the burden.


Find out how your taxes would be impacted using the Town's tax comparison calculator.

Public comments and questions

The public comment and question sections of this year’s meeting was a truly mixed bag. 


Joe Tetreault pointed out that “the budget has increased a lot more than what we’re saying,” because significant decreases in debt payments are offsetting spending in other areas. But First Selectman Bill Morrison also noted that some of the savings from the debt line will go to things like the Capital Improvement Fund to help prevent the “ups and downs” associated with budgeting for large projects. He said that the town’s auditors recommend it, and of the three CFOs he has worked with during his tenure, all have recommended building up this fund. (You can learn more about Capital Improvement Funds and how they help towns avoid big tax increases here.)


Several questions from Brian Bagley and Derek Dimmock revolved around increased utility costs — specifically at the library — and solar projects. This is a pretty typical point of confusion, and it comes up regularly. Leonard Clark, who is Chair of the Energy Commission and was in the audience, got up to explain a few of the finer points. The solar array on the library was put on for free, according to Clark, but the company that installed the panels got to keep the ZREC credits. The library just gets to use the power generated by the panels. In a winter like the one Stafford has this year, snow covers the panels and they don’t produce as much electricity, resulting in higher bills for the library. 


After Superintendent of Stafford Public Schools Scott Sugarman gave his presentation, Ray Dadalt said “I respect what your school board has done” but added that senior citizens are “not getting a 4.5% increase in our retirement.” He said that in a different year, when gas prices weren’t so high and other expenses weren’t skyrocketing, the schools’ requested increase might be palatable, “but not this year.” 


Others expressed a different point of view. Gergely Sirokman asked how outcomes for students had been affected by the previous year’s budget cuts. Sugarman listed a number of unfilled positions, cut programming, and other consequences of budget cuts. Sirokman then said, “ I would like to implore you to not back down from your budget.” Laura Allen echoed those sentiments later after noting that despite its challenges, Stafford’s students had performed better on History AP tests than neighboring Somers.


Henry Brooks suggested Superintendent Sugarman should re-examine his own pay. Sugarman then acknowledged that he is the town’s highest paid employee, but still makes significantly less than the Superintendent of Schools in Somers. Board of Education (BOE) Chair Erica Bushior, herself a teacher, later said, “You could not pay me enough to do what the Superintendent does.” She noted that in addition to needing to know the education side of things, he also “needs to be a business man” who understands every aspect of the schools. Bushior noted that Stafford had an interim superintendent last year because it was unable to find qualified candidates during the first round of searching. “We need to pay people what they are worth,” she said.   


Is a Mill Rate of 25 feasible?

As the night transitioned from the public hearing to the BOF meeting, the floor once again opened for comments. Dave Galotto, who is currently Vice Chair of the Republican Town Committee, said “Everything that was presented looks good,” but then added the budget has “zero percent chance of passing.” He suggested that he thought people would be willing to accept a Mill Rate of 25. “We’re not going to go backwards,” he sadded, saying he understood that it was inevitable that the budget would go up. 


However, when the board talked through this suggested scenario, it quickly became clear that it would actually represent a budget decrease from the current year. Nenni said the board would have to cut $1,852,820 to get down to 25 Mills. The requested increase this year is only $1,505,542 — meaning the budget would have to decrease by more than $300,000 from the current year. 


Some discussion ensued. For instance, Tony Pellegrino said, “I don’t see how we can go backwards.” Harold Blake Hatch said, “I don’t see that anything that we don’t do this year won’t be more expensive next year.”


While no BOF members expressed a desire to cut the budget, Rob Proulx did suggest the board take more time to digest the information. In the end, the motion to advance the budget to referendum did pass.


It was a long meeting with plenty of public comment, so consider taking some time to review it all yourselves.





bottom of page