By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
Monday, April 6, will be the last opportunity Middlebury taxpayers will have to comment on the proposed town budget, which is a 2.1-percent increase over the current budget, and the proposed Region 15 budget, which is a 2.48-percent increase over the current budget, before the budgets move to a Wednesday, May 6, referendum. The public hearing for the town budget is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Middlebury Fire House at 65 Tucker Hill Road in Middlebury. The Region 15 hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. in the All Purpose Room at Pomperaug High School.
If voters approve the two budgets at the May 6 referendum, Middlebury’s mil rate will increase .83 mil to 30.17 from the current 29.34. Middlebury property taxes will increase a bit more than 2.8 percent. Taxes on properties with an assessed value of $250,000 will increase $207.50 to $7,542.50 from $7,335. Taxes on properties with an assessed value of $500,000 will increase $415 to $15,085 from $14,670.
Middlebury’s portion of the Region 15 budget is increasing more than a half million dollars, $664,463, over the current fiscal year. The amount Middlebury pays is determined by the percentage of students the town has in Region 15 schools. That percentage is determined as of Oct. 1 each year, and then used to calculate the obligation for the following fiscal year.
On Oct. 1, 2014, Region 15 had 3,881 students enrolled compared to 4,012 the previous October. For the 2015-2016 year, Middlebury has 1,226 students, down 31 students from this year’s 1,257 students. Southbury has 2,655 students, down 100 students from this year’s 2,755 students. These numbers generate a budget obligation of 31.59 percent for Middlebury (up from this year’s 31.33 percent) and 68.41 percent for Southbury (down from this year’s 68.67 percent). Numbers are rounded.
Last year, the Board of Education (BoE) reduced the Region 15 budget proposed by Superintendent of Schools Regina Botsford by $154,000, but so far this year there is no indication reductions will be made.
Two of the four budget workshops scheduled in March were canceled due to bad weather. BoE memberPaul Babarik said the first of the two remaining meetings was dedicated to explaining the budget book, which is 4 to 5 inches thick. He said he left the second meeting with a lot of unanswered questions, and he had to ask Chairman Pat Perry to bring the meeting to order because Southbury parents at the meeting booed him while he was asking questions about the budget.
“They spent two or three or four months preparing the budget,” he said, “and we got four hours to review it and ask questions.”
Babarik said when he asked Perry to schedule more budget workshops between March 23 and April 6, she suggested meeting at 5:30 p.m. April 6.
“The way I see it is there was really no serious consideration given to reduce the budget amount, and Regina felt she had all the support she needed from the Southbury PTO members and she could ignore the Board of Education,” Babarik said.
Meanwhile, the Middlebury Board of Finance reduced the town budget by a total of $120,809 to $10.18 million from the original $10.30 million. Details of the changes to the budget will be in the mid-April print issue, which will be distributed April 17, in time for readers to review budget data before the May 6 referendum.
