Willington's Municipal Budget - Round 2 continued

Well folks it looks like we’re down to the wire with a battle of the charts.

Those folks at the Blue tent were distributing 2 charts (see the B+W versions above) yesterday at the transfer station. The goal appears to be an attempt to refute the 14% increase touted by the Red tent, which implied an across-the-board increase. This was captured from my analysis of the impact on Willington residents and I would agree that the 14% was taken out of context and was simply one data point out of 139 that range from 13% to 15%.

One chart showed the bulk of the tax increase on single family homes (~1,596 properties) as being less than a 10% increase. I question the methodology used by the assessor to generate this chart as it does not truly reflect reality I discovered during my analysis.

The 2nd chart allegedly shows the overall distribution of tax increases for ALL properties. I’m not sure what “All Properties” really means as the assessor records show that there are 2,637 accounts under Real Estate yet this chart reflects 2,546 properties. I suspect it may include a number of Commercial and Industrial properties whose revaluations increased nowhere near as much as residential properties. Again, I question the criteria used for the data inquiry to generate this chart.

My new chart (in color above) shows the tax increases in a bit more detail and includes 1,912 residential properties (including condos). If you add up the numbers associated with each range of % tax increases you’ll find that there are 1,117 residential properties that will experience a tax increase of 10% or more and 662 will experience a tax increase of 15% or more (average %, not exact).

My approach has been (and will always be) to develop an accurate analysis of how revaluation has adversely our town budget and the resulting effect on many residential property owners.

The budget we will be voting on tomorrow provides little set-aside for upcoming expensive capital improvements that most residents recognize as being necessary. The unanswered question is: How are we taxpayers going to be able foot the bill when we can no longer “Kick the Can Down the Road”?

Our Grand List increase from $487.2M to $658.6M has been driven primarily by residential property evaluations. Because of this 35.1% increase in the Grand List I have been advocating for a Phase-in of the 2024 revaluation. Using this mechanism would gradually increase the Grand List and the property assessments over a period of 4 years. The initial increase would be less impactful in years 1-3 than an immediate implementation of the full revaluation. This allows taxpayers time to adjust their budgets accordingly, yet could still provide the Revenue by Taxation needed to satisfy our town’s budget without severe reductions in saving for the future.

Very few officials in our local government have seemed interested enough in this concept to further investigate the possible unintended consequences. To me, it demonstrates a lack of consideration for those who will have to pay the way.

Ralph H. Tulis
Willington CT