City Council approves modified New London city and school budget plans
May 20—NEW LONDON — The City Council late Monday night unanimously approved the 2024-25 general government and education budgets after making last-minute adjustments to both spending plans to address an unexpected state funding shortfall.
The $56.7 million city budget is a 1%, or $550,000, increase from the current year, while the $47.4 million Board of Education budget is a 3.3%, or $1.5 million jump. The combined spending plans translate into an average $750 tax bill increase for residential property owners.
This budget cycle was complicated by a series of modifications and a recent property revaluation that dropped the tax rate from 37.2 to 27.5 mills
The lop-sided results of that revaluation — all real estate, personal property and residential properties in New London increase by a 34%, but residential property values rose an average of 60% — meant the first property tax increase for most residents and landlords in six years.
A school board-approved proposal of $83.2 million that required $50.8 million in funding from the city ― a $4.5 million jump from last year — was later reduced to $46.8 million in Mayor Michael Passero's initial proposal.
The General Assembly later directed $2 million in state pandemic relief funding to New London to help keep the school district's early childhood center running.
The City Council also added $1 million back into the school budget using a combination of $200,000 in shifted city funds and $800,000 in anticipated state Educational Cost Sharing money.
But that extra ECS money never materialized, leading councilors on Monday to make up the difference by trimming $413,736 from the school budget and $365,000 from the city side.
Councilor John Satti said the reduction compromise was a "reasonable solution" to address an imbalanced budget. He noted the only other practical options were reducing the school budget by the entire amount or raising the tax rate.
"It's fair and equitable to cut it in half," Satti said.
The city savings came out of reductions across several departments, including information technology, public works, personnel and finance.
Finance Director David McBride said some of the planned municipal technology work, including software and communications systems upgrades, will still be done, but with federal American Rescue Plan Act monies.
