Politics & Government

Granby Budget Proposal Defeated at Referendum

Next vote will take place May 6.

By a tally of 617 to 514 Granby voters defeated the town's proposed 2013-2014 budget proposal at referendum Monday. 

That number represents approximately 15 percent of the 7,382 who were qualified to vote in the referendum. 

The proposed budget plan was $41,952,968, a 2.6 percent increase in spending from the approved 2012-2013 budget of $40,881,148.

How the proposal would have affected taxes is a more complicated picture. Without revaluation, the tax rate would have gone up 2.3 percent, according to town documents. 

With the Oct. 2012 revaluation, however, assessments, which are 70 percent of  current fair market value, went down. In order to collect the amount of taxes required by the budget proposal, the tax rate increase would have increased  14.7 percent, from 30.69 to 35.19 mills.

Since the assessment decreases varied, the impact to taxes in next year's budget would not be universal, said assessor Susan Altieri. 

Once new numbers are proposed, people can calculate taxes by multiplying their new assessment by the mill rate and dividing by 1,000 or call the assessor's office at (860) 844-5311 to get an accurate number. 

The Board of Finance met briefly after the totals came in Monday night but decided to take a one-day recess and convene again at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Chairman Mike Guarco Jr. said it would help to have a day to think about the numbers, especially since the board has received little input from the public. 

"We will discuss the results and determine what to do," Guarco said. 

A public hearing on the new proposal is set to take place April 29 at 7 p.m. at the high school, with another referendum a week later from noon to 8 p.m. on May 6 at Town Hall. 

Anyone interested in volunteering as a pollworker can email lwolfe.granby.ct@gmail.com. 



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