Coventry council OKs $42 million budget for 2021-22
Apr. 10—COVENTRY — The Town Council on Monday unanimously approved a town and school budget of $42.423 million for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which equates to an increase in spending of $815,105 over this year's budget.
The proposed budget would require a local tax rate of 31.34 mills to fund it, an increase of 0.17 mills from the current tax rate of 31.17 mills. Residents and businesses in town would pay $31.34 for every $1,000 in assessed value of their property.
The approved budget accounts for $28,305,819 in school spending and $10,615,700 for town spending, and $2,781,581 for debt service. Another $720,030 is set aside for capital improvements.
BUDGET OK'D
WHAT: The Town Council approved a $42.423 million budget for next fiscal year
TAX: It would require a local tax rate of 31.34 mills to fund it.
NEXT: The budget now goes to a town meeting before a May referendum, so changes can still be made.
WHEN: Dates still to be determined.
The budget now goes to a town meeting where changes can still be made, however a date has not been set, as yet. Once the budget is finalized, it then goes to a May referendum.
Last month, Town Manager John Elsesser proposed a combined town and school budget of $42.747 million for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which would have required a mill rate increase of 0.62 mills, or 31.79 mills.
Elsesser's recommended budget increase was reduced in several ways.
According to town financial advisor Amanda Backhaus, the council decided to use its unrestricted fund balance, also known as the Council 1.5% fund, to pay for certain expenses next fiscal year, such as tree removal, a cemetery survey, and police video recording equipment.
The Town Charter allows the council to appropriate the funds for up to 1.5% of the annual tax levy, Backhaus said.
The town also expects to receive about $2.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to replenish lost revenue due to COVID-19, according to Backhaus.
The council plans to use some of those funds to add a police officer position with an annual salary of $80,000 that was removed from last year's budget proposal due to the pandemic, Backhaus said.
The federal funds cannot be used to reduce taxes, Backhaus said, and will likely go towards infrastructure and sewer projects in addition to COVID-19 recovery costs.
Guidelines on how the money can be used are expected to be released in early May.
"Coventry is still recovering from the pandemic and the government shutdowns," Town Council Vice Chairman Matthew O'Brien told the Journal Inquirer. "Last year we took many steps to respond to this crisis and keep our taxes flat."
While town officials remain hopeful, the pandemic has placed extreme stress on many town and school staff and services, even as many residents "are still experiencing hardships, remain unemployed, and are uncertain about the future," he added.
One unknown in the budget is that it uses the Gov. Ned Lamont's proposed state budget as a guide for state revenue, O'Brien said.
Lamont's budget projects that Coventry will receive the same amount of Education Cost Sharing Grant funds as last year, even though the state legislature adopted a new formula two years ago for the ECS grant projecting that Coventry would receive $165,000 less this year due to a reduction in student population over several years. The town manager says the state will likely maintain the current level of ECS grant money, but if that changes to reflect the earlier plan, it would impact the mil rate by about 0.16 mils, O'Brien said.
"The Council did everything we could to minimize the impact on our taxpayers while providing the funds needed to provide quality services in Town Government and our schools and support our townspeople — especially now," O'Brien said. "There is light at the end of this tunnel and Coventry will continue to be a wonderful place to live."
For updates on the towns of Coventry and Tolland, follow Michelle France on Twitter: @MFranceReport, Facebook: Michelle France, and Instagram: @MFranceReport.
