Berlin Town/School Budgets Crash At The Polls Again

BERLIN, CT — For the second time this spring, voters shot down both town and school budgets for 2023-24, letting municipal leaders know they're dissatisfied with how their tax dollars are being spent.

Voters at Tuesday's referendum resoundingly said "no" to a town general government budget of $48.76 million, with 383 "yes" votes and 721 "no" votes, according to the Berlin Town Clerk's office Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, they also shot down the proposed Berlin school budget, which was $50.86 million, with only 262 "yes" votes and 846 "no" votes.

Based on two advisory questions, however, the reasons for the budget rejections differ, as voters thought the town budget was too high and the school budget too low.

According to those numbers, 408 voters said general government spending was "too high," while 339 thought it was "too low."

Those figures, however, were reversed when it came to school spending, with 352 saying it was "too high" while 519 claimed the town wasn't spending enough on education.

Both budgets were shot down by similar margins and reasons last month at the first referendum April 25.

In preparation for the second referendum, the Berlin Town Council tweaked the spending plans in an attempt to make them more voter-friendly, with lessening the tax impact the goal.

As a result, the school budget was 3.6 percent larger than current spending, while the town budget was unchanged.

How the town budget was to be funded was modified, with leaders opting to use surplus dollars instead of taxpayer dollars to fund some items in the spending plan.

On May 2, the Berlin council — upon advice from the town's finance board — opted to fund $1.3 million in capital improvement projects via town surplus funds instead of using taxpayer funds in the 2023-24 budget.

Meanwhile, it added about $300,000 in school spending, utilizing the town's surplus fund balance as well.

All of the budget tweaking helped lead to a smaller proposed mill rate from the current tax rate, to 29.56, but it doesn't mean taxes will decrease.

That's because the recently completed revaluation has many looking at increased property values, which often means large tax hikes depending on new assessments, even if the mill rate is smaller.

Sticker shock might be fueling some of the "no" votes.

With the new fiscal year starting July 1, there's likely time for one more budget referendum before the new fiscal year starts.

The Berlin Board of Finance has a special, virtual meeting slated for Thursday, May 25, to discuss the next steps of the budget.

For the Berlin Board of Finance meeting agenda and log-in information, click on this link.

From May 19: 'Berlin Taxes Will Rise For Many As Budget Voters Go To Polls Again