Bristol Passes Budget With No Increase In Mill Rate

By Dean Wright, The Bristol Press

May 19, 2022

Bristol City Council and Board of Finance passed the fiscal year 2022 to 2023 budget with no increase or decrease in the city’s mill rate.

The city approved a general fund budget of $215,183,250 and set the tax rate at 38.35 mills, under the suggestion of the Board of Finance. That’s a 2.6% increase from the previous year's budget of $209,594,190. A dollar of every thousand is considered equal to one mill in assessed property.

“The City of Bristol has been financially secure since 1911, when we put a strong Board of Finance in place,” said Bristol Mayor Jeff Caggiano. “I’m very pleased I’ve inherited a pretty good situation that I think will continue to get better. We have lots of new businesses coming in and so we expect to see a commercial Grand List growth which should take some pressure off homeowners.”

Bristol is in a “unique situation in that it is underdeveloped,” he added. With continuing fiscal policies, the mayor anticipates a “nice rebound” for the city and good news for taxpayers.

Caggiano said the city had minor fluctuations in its budget and that the biggest shifts were in contractual labor finance increases.

“We did go back and ask each of the department heads to come back with what we call a zero-based budget, looking at their budget to eliminate those things they don’t need any longer and try to stay focused on those things that are required,” said the mayor. “We were open to new items as long as they were getting rid of the things that weren’t valuable any longer.”

City officials kept department increases as close to zero as they could, he continued. City Hall does not have a larger control over salaries because of contractual obligations.

The mayor considered current inflation issues to be a “lagging indicator” and while not currently much of a problem for the city, they could become a bigger concern in the future. The city has budgeted with inflation issues in mind but fluctuating fuel prices would need watching, he added.

Despite motor vehicles appreciating in value, due to a cap on the automobile property tax mill rate at 32.46 across the state, Bristol is seeing around $200,000 less in revenue than what it would have received if the cap had not been signed into law by the governor.

As the mayor and other City Council members in the past have shared, concerns for police department budget increases continue as Bristol has had to designate $500,000 more to local law enforcement needs due to state mandates, of which city officials say will not be reimbursed.

Police accountability bill mandates have required Bristol police to have more body and dashboard cameras, interview room cameras, behavioral health assessments and drug testing for officer recertification.