Budget Hearing Leaves 1 Step to Approval

Suffield's financial year 2012-2013 town budget will be presented for approval at a town meeting on May 9, the last step in the approval process following Wednesday night's public hearing at .

The hearing, which was witnessed by approximately 50 people including town officials, started with a short budget presentation from Suffield Board of Finance chairman Justin Donnelly. He called the budget satisfactory for consideration by the town and pointed out the relatively low tax increase of 0.67 mills to a mill rate of 24.84.

That increase is expressed in an example in the town's budget as a home with an assessed value of $210,000 costing $5,217 in taxes in the coming budget year, a raise of $141 over last year.

A few questions on specifics of the budget from residents followed, with the First Selectman and other town board and commission members either answering or stating their intent to find out more information.