Montville Committee Passes Budget That Would Lower Taxes

Tuesday night, Montville's Finance Committee - thanks to a mixture of cuts and addition revenues - trimmed $524,000 from the mayor’s proposed budget, bringing the town's spending plan for next year below this year's total.                 

This spring, Montville Mayor Ron McDaniel proposed a $55.96 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which would have necessitated a tax increase of 0.17 mills. Tuesday night, the finance committee, by both cutting spending and finding additional revenues, trimmed $524,000 from his proposal, which brought the spending plan to a $55.43 million total, or roughly $190,000 less than this year’s budget.

The bottom line for taxpayers is that taxes will go down if this budget is adopted. However, the tax rate could change depending on how state funding changes, and that is changing “by the hour,” according to Montville Finance Director Theresa Hart.

Most of the big cuts Tuesday came out of the mayor’s capital plan. Specifically, the finance committee voted to not buy a new school bus, a $88,000 savings, to not buy a police car, a $35,000 savings, and to not make some improvements to the town’s schools.

The budget still needs to be finalized by the Montville Town Council, which will vote on it this month. The finance committee, which is a subcommittee of the Montville Town Council, is composed of Candy Buebendorf, Joe Jaskiewicz and Rosetta Jones.