Canton Voters Say 'Yes' To Town/School Spending

CANTON, CT — For town and school officials, the sequel to Canton's budget referendum last month proved to be better than the first.

That's because one month after town/school spending for 2024-25 was rejected, Canton voters said "yes" to a budget, approving the spending plan 984-824 at the polls Tuesday night.

The overall spending plan was larger than current spending, but the tax impact it will have on individual taxpayers will vary.

Local officials project a tax rate of 34.15, but how that will impact individual taxpayers depends on new assessments from the recently completed revaluation.

Because of the reval, 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.

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

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'