Where We’re At and Where We’re Going
March 8th, 2010 by Amy Primorac
Here’s some sobering information for you:
Local Mill Rates July 2009:
Shelton: 18.61
Fairfield: 18.9
Easton: 21.7
Newtown: 23.43
Trumbull: 24.07
Monroe: 29.5
Stratford: 30.36
Bridgeport: 38.74
Now look at the average home prices in those same towns:
Avg Home Prices
Fairfield 538000
Easton 538000
Newtown 463000
Trumbull 388000
Monroe 388000
Shelton 313000
Stratford 238000
Bridgeport 163000
A few things pop out on this:
First: We’re not saving any money with our multiple referenda and repeated budget cuts. All we do is put off until tomorrow what we should be doing today. What we end up really doing is costing ourselves more long term. Our roads are the perfect example; because we often cut this “non essential” expense in the past, the roads are a disaster today and are going to take far more work and time and money to make right again. Doesn’t it seem strange to you that we vote more times than any of these towns and yet our mill rate is higher than any of our neighbors?
Second: Note which two towns have higher mill rates. Quick gut question: are their schools considered high performing or low performing? Next quick gut question: overall, on those districts with lower mill rates than ours, would you consider their property values higher or lower than ours?
The Board of Finance meets again on Wednesday evening to go over the Board of Education budget. Their meeting is at 6:30pm at Town Hall. You can let them know how you feel about the BOE budget, the Town Budget or life in general by attending the meeting or emailing your comments to Mark Reed, the Chairman of the BOF. His email is mreed@monroect.org.
The BOF will vote on a final number to send out to referendum on March 17 at 7:30pm at Town Hall. The BOE will be waiting until their decision to decide how to proceed with plans for next year. They make their decision on March 18 at 7:30pm at Masuk High School.
