Your Guide To Decoding The Ridgefield Municipal Budget

**News Release Submitted by Town of Ridgefield**

March 14, 2025

As budget season winds down, residents will soon have the opportunity to vote on the budget for FYE26. Understanding the complexities of the municipal budget can often feel like solving a challenging riddle. To help clarify the process, we’ve provided a simplified explanation below.

Let’s start by reviewing the language, which differs from that of a common household budget. Despite the difference, the underlying concepts are fundamentally the same.

The Town’s operating budget is a combination of the anticipated revenues (income) and expenditures (expenses) for the fiscal year, which runs from July 1st through June 30th. Revenues primarily come from property taxes, but also include investment income, transfer taxes from real estate transactions, and fees for various town services. Expenditures cover items such as employee salaries and benefits, equipment and supplies, building and road maintenance, and utilities.

The capital budget is a long-term plan that outlines spending for capital projects, which are large-scale initiatives used to improve infrastructure. As noted in the table above, a capital project is similar to a significant purchase that must be planned for outside of your day-to-day (operating) budget, such as a new car. Capital projects are funded through periodic bond sales, which are then repaid over time, just like a loan. This repayment cost is reflected in the annual budget under the title "Debt Service".

The mill rate, also known as the tax rate, is calculated by dividing the budgeted property tax revenues by the value of the town’s grand list, which is the net taxable assessed value of all the property in the town. This includes private residences, private vehicles, and commercial properties. Your tax bill is determined by applying the mill rate against the assessed value of your home and car(s). An easy way to understand how your taxes are affected by an increase in mill rate is to multiple your current yearly tax bill by the increase in rate. For example, if you pay $10,000/year in taxes and the mill rate increases by 2.09%, your tax bill will increase by $209 ($10,000 x 2.09%), resulting in a new bill of $10,209. If you pay $20,000/year in taxes and the mill rate increases by 2.09%, your taxes will increase by $418 ($20,000 x 2.09%), bringing your new bill to $20,418.

The Town also maintains a reserve fund that can be utilized for a major unbudgeted expense during the year and is also available to mitigate tax increases during a significant economic event, such as a major recession.

The Budget Referendum is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2025. As the budget referendum gets closer, a sample ballot will be made public so that residents can familiarize themselves with the budget questions before voting day. The sample ballot will be available on the Town website and in the Town Clerk's Office.

Before the Budget Referendum, there will be an Annual Town Meeting at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Monday, May 5, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. At this meeting, residents will vote on budget items under $100,000.