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