K-Man Band back in town..

Quite possibly the best original music (and cover tunes) to ever play at our local establishments. Special thanks to Ethan, Tim, Lou, Clarke after dark, and the rest of the crew at I-95 FM for bringing them back and raising money for the United Way. As a seasoned K-maniac I will see you at the next show. Thanks to Tony Richards and the band as well.

New newsletter

I have developed an e-newsletter that will be e-mailed out from time to time to update our residents on issues and happenings in the city. The Boughton Bulletin is completed and will be e-mailed shortly. If you want to be included as a recipient please e-mail me your address and we will add you to our list. Newsletters will be available only to subscribers so make sure you sign up now!

All the Best,
MayorMark

PS. Absolutely no taxpayer dollars are used for the Boughton Bulletin

UPDATE #1- by popular demand, here is the link to the Boughton Bulletin. Now, sign up because I will not always put this on the web!

Westconn gets funding to design new Fine Arts Building.

This is huge. Westconn received funding from Gov. Rell to begin designing the Fine Arts building on the Westside campus. The bond appropriation will be for 12.2 million dollars. Wow! This is crucial because the state would not spend that kind of money if they were not going to build the building. Great news! Thank you Gov. Rell.

Don't forget the phase in..

Several of you have contacted me about the impact of our budget on your taxes. Some of you have taken the new mill rate (21.35) and multiplied that against your new assessment. This is a mistake because you are forgetting the phase in of the reevaluation. There is no easy way to determine your tax liability, I would suggest that you contact us at the office (797-4511). But rest assured that the majority of residents will see between a 5% to 7% increase.

Budget Passes.

A lot of work. That what putting together a spending plan for the City of Danbury. This budget was, by far, the most difficult that I have written and worked on. Why? A variety of reasons. Revenue's from building permits and from the Real Estate Conveyance fee are off by about 50%. On top of that, we have a state mandated reevaluation to be managed. With a average tax increase of 5-7% for our homeowners, I think we have done the best we could given the circumstances. Commercial property will see on average, higher increases because the reevaluation showed a tremendous increase in the value of commercial property.

Some have claimed that we should have not done the revaluation. That is just silly. The State of Connecticut requires all municipalities to follow their schedule. There is no mechanism in the statutes to throw data from a reval out. You can delay the implementation of the reevaluation for one year if there are so many appeals that you cannot get a read on the grand list, but you still have to implement the reevaluation the following year.

There was some positive things that came out of the budget process this year. The grant agency system or lack of one is a disaster- we are going to restore some order to the process. The education budget continues to present challenges. Our capital plan which will be voted on next month, must continue, or we will pay in the long run. To be continued...

All The Best,
Mayor Mark