Tax revenue funds the services that cities and towns provide to their citizens. I think we all get that.
Earlier this week, the Courant reported on West Hartford’s town budget proposal. The initial budget proposal is up 7% from the 2007-2008 budget, to $216 million. Click here for the proposed budget. Click here for the Town Manager’s presentation of the proposed budget.
A portion of the article addressed the property tax increases that West Hartford property owners will see in 2008. Unlike 2007, the first year of a 5-year tax phase-in, property owners will not see uniform increases of 4%. According to the article, “About 63 percent of West Hartford homeowners would see a tax increase of 10 percent or less, and 37 percent would see a tax increase greater than 10 percent, under Francis’ proposed budget.”
This morning I finally had time to sit down and see which bucket I would fall in with the property that I own in West Hartford. I pulled out my handy little phase-in tax spreadsheet and plugged in my assessment values.
Well, lo and behold, I fall into the group of tax payers that may see a property tax increase of greater than 10%. My taxes would actually increase 35% from 2007 to 2008 if the budget remains the same and the proposed mill rate of 38.11 holds.
How are people on fixed incomes supposed to deal with these increases? Particularly given the fact that the proposed budget doesn’t even expand town programs, it just maintains the status quo.
I’ve found that there is a lot of confusion about how taxes are calculated. If you’d like help calculating yours, feel free to get in touch. I can send you my spreadsheet, or I can calculate them for you.
Also, the West Hartford Town Council has scheduled public hearings on the proposed budget for March 27 at 2 p.m. and April 3 at 6 p.m. at the West Hartford Town Hall legislative chamber. You might want to stop by if you’re interested in participating in the budget process.