Mill Rate to Rise 10 Percent

By Wiley Wood

The Board of Finance met twice in April to set Norfolk’s budget for 2014-2015, in advance of the annual budget hearing and town meeting.

The town expects to raise $6,634,114 in taxes, an increase of $350,141 over last year, or 6 percent.

“The mill rate’s going to go up,” said Michael Sconyers, chairman of Norfolk’s Board of Finance. The board approved a mill rate of 22.43 mills, an increase of 1.21 mills. If the figures are adopted, Norfolk residents will pay $22.43 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

The rise in the mill rate is due partly to an increase in net spending and partly to a decrease in the grand list. The grand list, the aggregate value of all taxable property in Norfolk, was closed this year at $295,778,687, declining 4.88 percent.

Sconyers announced early and often this year that town spending should stay flat. Two of the three boards that determine Norfolk’s budget complied. The Board of Education’s spending request for the Botelle School showed a zero increase. “They did what we asked them to do,” said Sconyers. The Board of Selectmen also held the line. Their budget for general government was actually $500 below last year’s.

But the Regional School District 7 Board of Education asked for a larger than usual increase. At a meeting in the Botelle cafeteria in March, the regional board pleaded its needs and asked for an additional five percent, pointing to five consecutive years of suppressed spending. Sconyers responded that it was just too much money. The board eventually trimmed its increase to 3.78 percent.
Norfolk’s share, however, will climb by 5.9 percent, as Barkhamsted is projected to lose 11 students and Norfolk to gain three in the coming year. Norfolk’s share of Regional 7’s budget will rise by $102,000.

The town must also raise more taxes because the Board of Finance cannot draw $400,000 from the unassigned fund and apply it to the town’s needs as in previous years. The unassigned fund, which is prudently kept at about 10 percent of the annual $7.5 million budget, will contribute only $125,000 in 2014-2015.

The town will spend slightly over $4 million to educate its 230 school-age children. Northwest Regional, whose middle school and high school are expected to enroll 109 Norfolk students, will receive $1.8 million. Botelle, Norfolk’s primary school, with a projected enrollment of 120 (including 11 pre-K), will receive 2.5 million. The state will contribute $383,000 to the town through its Education Cost Sharing program.

Sconyers reminded the Board of Finance that a number of expensive items appear on the Botelle School’s five-year capital improvement plan. Among them are security and technology upgrades, a new roof and a replacement oil tank. None are being funded this year.
The town will spend about $3.5 million on general government. The single largest component is for the Public Works Department, which maintains and services Norfolk’s roads. It is budgeted at $1.47 million.

A referendum vote for the Regional School District 7 budget will be held at town hall on May 6. The town budget, presented at a hearing on April 28, will be proposed for adoption at the annual town meeting on Monday, May 12 at 7 p.m. at the Botelle Hall of Flags.