Danbury's Budget Proposal About $227,350,000

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton outlined a tough financial picture Thursday when he gave the City Council the budget outline that came from the city's department heads and finance director David St. Hilaire.

Boughton said the city's new property revaluation just lowered the value of the city's property by $2 billion because of the recession. The city's property is revalued every 10 years by state law. Boughton is proposing to keep department spending flat and to eliminate 25 city jobs that are now vacant.

"We can avoid layoffs," Boughton said. In addition to eliminating 25 jobs now, Boughton said the city will leave another 30 city jobs unfilled.

He is also proposing an early retirement plan that would allow workers who have reached the number 75 by adding their age to their years of service. The plan would let 100 city workers cash out of the city's pension plan, thereby eliminating the need for the city to fund those pensions in the future.

The city council will now review the budget proposal and it has about 30 days to make changes or accept it. The budget includes no increases to water or sewer rates. The budget was presented at Thursday's City Council meeting which continued without pause after the budget presentation.

The 2012-2013 budget was approved at $220,100,000, with a tax rate of 22.45. Boughton said next year's budget is proposed to be $7.25 million higher, a 3.3 percent increase. The new tax rate is slated for 26.8.

The proposed budget assumes Governor Malloy's proposal to stop taxing cars will be rejected in Hartford. That proposal would have cost Danbury another $11 million.

"That would have resulted in a catastrophic tax increase," Boughton said.

The existing tax rate was approved in May 2012 at 22.45, and the proposed tax rate is 26.8. The final budget figures and the tax rate won't be known until May.

The cost of this plan to a typical homeowner is somewhat unclear, because of the drop in the city's grand list, which Boughton said fell $2 billion. Boughton said 60 percent of the city's homeowners will see no tax increase. It is unclear because home values fell and taxes increased, so the net increase in taxes is unknown until the budget is adopted.