Politics & Government

Budget Proposed by West Hartford Town Manager Has Lowest Increase in 21 Years

The proposed Fiscal Year 2014 General Fund budget is $241,554,357, a minimal increase compared to the prior fiscal year.

West Hartford Town Manager Ron Van Winkle outlined the proposed general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2014 to the Town Council Tuesday night, requesting an increase of $3,757,400 or 1.58 percent more than the previous year's budget of $237,796,957.

“I bring to you a budget tonight that has the lowest spending increase in more than two decades,” Van Winkle told the Council.

The total budget is driven by the $140.055 million budget presented to the Board of Education last week by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen List. That budget represented a total increase of just 0.9 percent, the lowest spending increase in more than 30 years. The education budget is approximately 58 percent of the town's overall budget.

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The portion of the budget for municipal services will increase 3.1 percent, or $2,657,061. The capital financing portion will decrease $185,831 or 1.3 percent.

“Property taxes themselves are the workhorse of our system,” and are the primary source of revenue for West Hartford, as is the case with other Connecticut municipalities, Van Winkle explained. In West Hartford, property taxes amount to 88.6 percent of all revenues.

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Other revenue sources include state aid grants and economically-sensitive collections such as conveyance taxes and building permits, which continue to decline.

This year's budget incorporates elements of the state budget proposed by Gov. Dannell P. Malloy, including changes in state grants which equal a revenue reduction $137,293.

The governor's proposal to exempt taxes on the first $20,000 of a vehicle's assessed value has not been incorporated into this budget. There are currently 47,090 vehicles registered in West Hartford, and 43,687 of those cars would become tax exempt under Malloy's proposal, said Van Winkle.

Adoption of that proposal is optional for the 2014 fiscal year, Van Winkle said. If adopted this year, it would result in a tax reduction of $14,978,000, which would be extremely difficult for the town to sustain, he said. If that revenue were lost but expenses remained the same, it could result in a 7.7 percent (2.77 mill) increase in the mill rate on real estate and personal property. Although there would be savings to those who would see car taxes eliminated or significantly decreased, “it's difficult to determine the impact; we couldn’t get to single answer of who would be affected," said Van Winkle. "It’s certainly something we would watch," he said.

The impact of sequestration which calls for 5.3 percent reductions in federal aid, has not been incorporated into the 2013-2014 budget, Van Winkle said. The majority of the cuts would affect the Board of Education, which received approximately $7 million in federal aid last year. A potential reduction of $350,000 "isn't overwhelming," he said, "but it's something we need to keep our eye on."

Because West Hartford is a mature, developed town, it is difficult to promote growth of the Grand List, said Van Winkle. In 2012, the town's total net taxable Grand List increased by only 0.23 percent, he said. That increase would generate additional revenue of $480,097, but the remainder of the budget increase must come from other sources.

That gap will be filled by a proposed 1.7 percent (0.6 mill) increase in the mill rate, from 35.75 to 36.35. Van Winkle calculated the impact as $12 per month for the average homeowner.

The town will continue to to make the "full actuarially recommended contribution" to the employee pension fund. “There’s no question that [the pension plan] is a problem for the town,” Van Winkle said. Economic conditions and benefits required to be paid under former contractual agreements are still having an impact, although newly-negotiated contracts have incorporated either defined-contribution or hybrid plans as well as increases employee contributions.

“We have a plan to return the pension plan to health,” said Van Winkle.

Van Winkle called the proposal for 2013-2014 a "good budget." "We really have made some good changes to our budget to get us to a better place," he said.

Public hearings on the town budget have been scheduled for Thursday, March 28 at 2 p.m., and Thursday, April 11 at 6 p.m. in Room 314. The Town Council is scheduled to adopt its budget on April 23.

The Board of Education will hold a public hearing on March 27 at 7 p.m., and will adopt its budget on April 9.

A complete copy of West Hartford's budget will be available beginning Wednesday morning at www.westhartford.org. The education budget is available at www.whps.org. Town Council members can also be contacted with any questions.


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