Next few weeks tell a tale
With the coming of March, the beginning of the budget season takes place. The Voice will push back its next issue to March 27 to publish Mayor Dorinda Borer’s second budget as chief executive. This annual legal notice will not only give the specifics of the spending plan but also announce the time of the public hearing that will allow taxpayers’ views on it.
This is the time for all taxpayers, homeowners, business owners, and all those who pay property or personal property taxes to pay something else — attention. What happens in the next several weeks affects every West Haven resident.
With property revaluation happening this year, assessments have, as they normally do, gone up. Property values have little to do with actual value than they do with market value. The real estate market has been heated over the last few years, and most residents have seen their assessments rise, some to incredible numbers.
It is from those assessments and the city Grand List of properties that the mill rate is determined. While it has happened, seldom does a grand list go down. Those who are not homeowners are still affected. Each October an assessment is given to personal property, and this, too, aids in fixing tax rates.
Once the mill rate is determined through the budget-constructing that is currently ongoing, the mayor’s office presents its proposal to the City Council. According to the city charter, the third Thursday of March is the last date upon which the mayor can present her budget to the council. Usually, that is the date chosen by mayors due to last-minute adjustments and circumstances.
Once proposed in a special council meeting, the legislative panel sets the date for the annual public hearing. That is the only time the public has input on the budget in a specific forum.
Once the hearing is completed, the council becomes a committee-of the-whole under the leadership of the Finance Committee chairman. For the next several weeks the council will review the budget and can make alterations to the package with a supermajority of nine of the council’s 13 votes. Over the years. This has been a difficult hurdle, though in the most recent past, councils have been more successful in altering line items.
We are still under the direction of the Municipal Accountability Review Board, MARB, and it must give its imprimatur to the plan before it can go into effect. Over the seven-plus years the MARB has been in charge, it has altered several plans, including imposing a tax hike. That is not expected this time around, but it must be understood MARB has the final say.
The charter then directs the budget to go before the council during another special meeting on the first Thursday of May for approval as an ordinance needing a simple majority to pass. Failure to get that majority imposes a default that puts the mayor’s original proposal into effect. This has happened on occasion in city history and is one of the reasons we have had recurring financial problems going back 34 years.
The next few weeks are important to all residents of the city. We encourage residents to attend the public hearing and take note of the March 27 edition of this publication. Knowing what is proposed and what obligations will result are an important part of the process. Now is the time to get information.