PLYMOUTH — The mayor is proposing a spending increase for 2024-25 that would require a 2.5% increase in taxes.
The budget would total $46,054,250, which is $1,236,434 more than the current budget of $44,817,816. The tax rate would go up 0.99 mills, from 37.7 mills to 38.69 mills.
A homeowner with a house assessed at $200,000 would pay $198 more in taxes, from $7,540 to $7,738.
“I feel this is a well-rounded and respectable budget,” Mayor Joseph Kilduff told the Board of Finance on Thursday night.
During a brief budget presentation, Kilduff highlighted the major increases. He first cited the assessor’s office, which is requesting an 8.8%, or a $9,423, increase, from $107,400 to $116,923. Kilduff said the additional money is mainly to try to attract a certified assessor. The previous assessor, who no longer works for the town, was not certified.
Kilduff, however, said he was not optimistic that he would find a certified assessor, as there is a dearth of them. He said he has talked briefly with Thomason First Selectman Edmond V. Mone about sharing an assessor — Thomaston is also looking to find one – but that they’re “very early in that process.”
The registrars of voters is requesting a 42.5%, or $31,500, increase, mainly because it is going to need to staff the polls for early voting. The registrars’ budget would jump from $74,080 to $105,580. The state is not expected to cover the additional costs.
“It’s another unfunded mandate,” he said.
Kilduff said he also eliminated a highway maintainer position, which he had added in the current budget. That would bring the number of maintainers back to seven, saving $53,000.
He said the town has had a “very difficult time” filling the position. He said he hopes that once a new public works contract is approved, that will make the position “a bit more attractive.”
Ideally, Kilduff said, he believes the highway crew should eventually have 10 members.
“We’re going in the wrong direction but we got to make the figures work as best we can,” he said.
The town’s agreement with Litchfield County Dispatch which sends out emergency crews to calls is potentially becoming too expensive. The cost of the service jumped from $223,110 in fiscal year 2023 to $334,500 this fiscal year, a difference of $111,930. The request for fiscal year 2025 is $449,000, an increase of $114,400.
Kilduff said outsourcing the dispatching service saved the town significant money but not any more. Town officials had discussions about bringing dispatch back in-house, but he said “the reality is the cost of equipment that we’d have to purchase, at this point, makes it not much of an option for us. But if we keep seeing the increases that we’ve seen, we may have to look at other options.”
The mayor said he reduced the Board of Education’s request for a 3.35% increase to 2%. He said the schools requested around a 4% increase for the current fiscal year and the voters approved it at referendum.
“Whether we go to referendum or not (this year), I feel it’s my responsibility to present a budget that would not need a referendum,” he said, referring to the town charter which requires budget proposals that exceed a 3% increase to go to a townwide vote.
Superintendent of Schools Brian Falcone said he understands the “difficult position the mayor is in and respects any decision he has to make with the overall budget. It is extremely challenging to balance our responsibility to keep taxes as low as possible and still move the town and school district forward with our vision of improvement.”
But he also said that a 3.35% budget increase is significantly lower than many other districts in the state and thus, the school board and his administration plan to pitch to the finance board on March 14 the proposal with the 3.35% increase.
Kilduff also highlighted some of the more expensive capital requests. He set aside $65,000, and another $65,000 in FY26, for the revaluation of properties.
The registrars are asking for $59,000 to replace tabulators.
The town’s request of $1 million is for the maintenance of roads, with state grants covering all but $448,232 – that comes from the town’s reserves.
Kilduff is setting aside $50,000 toward the replacement of two aging transfer station compaction trailers, with public works planning to complete the project in four years at a total of $126,000.
The land use department requested $90,000 for updating the town’s plan of development but Kilduff reduced that to $45,000, because he said he heard that a regional planning agency did Thomaston’s for $37,000.
Another factor in the budget includes an 11% increase in property and casualty insurance, from $1,316,119 to $1,462,104, a difference of $145,985. The arrest of a former teacher at Plymouth Center School a few years ago is “having a negative impact on the cost of our insurance because of pending litigation,” Kilduff said.
Health insurance is projected to increase by 8%, or $65,472, from $818,400 to $883,872.
Kilduff said he put in $200,000 for wages and benefit adjustments as a place holder because he is in contract negotiations with the town’s four unions. He said he expects to reach an agreement with each one before their current contracts expire on June 30.
The mayor also noted a loss of more than $100,000 in tax revenue because of the depreciation of motor vehicle values. The value of vehicles skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic, when factories shut down and motorists held on to their cars a lot longer.
Overall, Kilduff said the proposed budget gives the finance board some flexibility to make some changes but cautions members not to add too much more to the budget.
“I know we have this conversation every year – the town and the schools have needs,” Kilduff said. “But we have to do the best we can with what we have.”
