Canton Voters Back To Polls To Decide Budgets Tuesday

CANTON, CT — After some pencil-sharpening, Canton officials have fine-tuned a second town/school budget for Tuesday's referendum decision that is less than 4 percent larger.

Voters Tuesday, June 4, will go to the polls to decide the proposed 2024-25 budget after it was shot down by voters last month.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Canton Community Center, 40 Dyer Ave.

The combined town/school budget for 2024-25 now stands at $46.61 million, 3.99 percent smaller than current spending.

Referendum voters May 7 easily shot down a combined $49.35 million town/education budget for 2024-25 with 944 "no" votes and only 689 "yes" votes. Voter turnout was about 21 percent.

The overall spending plan was larger than current spending, but the tax impact it would have had on individual taxpayers would have varied.

Local officials project a tax rate of 34.15, but how that will impact individual taxpayers depends on their new assessments.

Because of a recent revaluation of taxable property in town, many residents are facing steep tax hikes already due to increases in their property values.

Voters at a town meeting in April approved a plan to phase in the tax impact from the revaluation over four years instead of all at once.

Included in this latest version of the Canton budgets are:

• A $32. 94-million board of education budget, which is 3.71 percent larger than the current school spending plan.

• A $12.38 million town general government budget, which is 4.87 percent larger than current spending.

• A $995,067 million capital improvement project budget, a 15 percent decrease.

• A $2.31 million figure for the board of finance, which is a 14.31 percent hike.

Canton First Selectman Kevin Witkos urged voters to participate in the process.

"Please do your civic duty and come to the Community Center on Dyer Ave between 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. to cast your vote," he wrote in a message to voters. "Democracy works best when we all practice it."

For the latest version of the 2024-25 Canton town/school budget, click on this link.

From May 8: 'Canton Voters Shoot Down Town/School Spending'