Pomfret annual town meeting set for May 27
POMFRET — Pomfret’s 312th Annual Town Meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 27 at Pomfret Community School. Note the date change! The vote this year is again by paper ballot, however the General Government and Education Budgets will be voted on separately, a change from previous years. The ballots will allow taxpayers to vote on each budget and provide comments for the Boards of Finance, Education, and Selectmen.
The proposed budget totals $15,160,382. This is an increase of $426,047 over the current budget. The Board of Finance authorized the use of $455,310 to offset the mill rate increase.
Because it is a revaluation year, the mill rate will be adjusted, and the value of a mill will change. The current mill rate is 27.16 and the value of a mill is $402k. The proposed mill rate for next year is 19.89 (to be set by the Board of Finance after the Annual Town Meeting and vote on the budgets) and the value of a mill is now $561k.
The Pomfret Fire District is a separate taxing authority and has a proposed budget of $469,500 for a mill rate of .83 that, if approved at their Annual Meeting on May 21, will be added to the Town mill rate for a total mill rate of 20.72.
To calculate your property tax, multiply your Assessment (not your Appraisal) by the mill rate and then divide by 1,000.
The proposed Board of Education Budget is $11,722,872, with a 3.27 percent increase of $371,633 over this year. The drivers are additional staff, special education costs, and insurance increases.
The proposed General Government budget is $3,437,510, a 1.60 percent increase of $54,414 over this year. The budget includes a new item of $100,000 for the Tri-Town Ambulance program that covers Pomfret, Hampton and Eastford. The three towns and the Pomfret Fire District share the cost of the program that provides 24/7 emergency ambulance coverage.
First Selectman Maureen Nicholson said: “Your vote is important and your comments to the boards will provide valuable feedback. This year’s revaluation of real estate has created an increase in home values and taxes for most residents. The purpose of a revaluation is to correct the inequalities in the tax burden since the last revaluation. Revaluation is an equalization process during which each property is valued at its fair market value (by statute) at a point in time to determine each taxpayer’s portion of the budget.”
General Government, Board of Education, and Fire District Budgets are all available on the Town’s website along with the call for the meeting.
www.pomfretct.gov
Registered Pomfret voters may vote on the budgets. If you are not a registered Pomfret voter but own property in town, you can vote if you are at least 18 years old, are a U.S. citizen, your name is on the Grand List set on Oct. 1 of the previous year and the property has a value of at least $1,000.
.