Budget With 1% Hike, But Amendment for Schools, Goes Before FTM

Barrington’s annual Financial Town Meeting is Wednesday evening, May 22, and additional spending for full-day kindergarten seems to be the only thing standing in the way of a 1 percent tax hike.

Next fiscal year’s proposed spending plan stands at approximately $63.55 million -- or about 1.1 percent higher than this year. It will be presented by Kathy Cadigan, chair of the Committee on Appropriations, in the high school auditorium at 7 pm.

The proposed 2013-2014 budget also proposes floating up to $4 million for a bond to fix roads. That size bond would generate more than $300,000 in debt service for the municipal budget.

The spending plan also proposes giving owners of older cars a slight tax break, which ia offset by a slight increase in property taxes across the board.

Registered voters will get a chance to boost the school budget by another $633,000, however, if they approve an amendment filed by Amy Morton of Waseca Avenue. The amendment doesn't specifically ask for all-day kindergarten, but that is the exact estimate of its startup cost in the fall.

The School Committee could actually use that additional money anyway it wants if approved by voters -- not just for kindergarten. Four of the five School Committee members support all-day kindergarten, but only one if it impacts negatively on other programs. Three of the five voted last week to implement full-day kindergarten next year if other school programs are not hurt by starting it then.

At least 35 voters must show up to hold a town meeting or the budget is approved automatically. The amendment for the schools is expected to generate a much larger group of voters -- perhaps hundreds of voters if an an online petition seeking signatures in favor of all-day kindergarten is any indication.

It is believed that the amendment could actually create the most contentious Financial Town Meeting in years. A written ballot is expected to be called for.

“Should you and your taxpaying Town Meeting attendees together vote to approve” the budget as recommended, said Cadigan, “your property tax rate will increase by approximately 1 percent over last year.”

That increase would hike the property tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value from $18 to $18.20. A median price homeowner would see a $69 boost in their annual real estate tax bill.

If the additional $633,000 is approved, the tax increase would go from $18 to $18.43 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The excise tax break on automobiles would be achieved by raising the exemption from $500 to $1,000 per vehicle. The effect of doubling the exemption cuts $21 off the tax per vehicle. 

The proposed school budget of $45.6 million – or $900,000 more than last year – “was a difficult process for COA” primarily because 87 percent of expenses are salaries and benefits, Cadigan said. That translates into a 2 percent increase in spending for the schools.

The COA believes the $900,000 boost in school spending “is fair and more than adequate to not only maintain the superior quality of a Barrington education, but also to roll out the first year of action steps” in the schools’ strategic plan, she said.

Cadigan said the overall “tax impact is so small also because of an “unprecedently large increase in school state aid of $989,000.”