Voters Heading To The Polls Again On Berlin Budgets

BERLIN, CT — Town and school officials in Berlin rushed to the meeting room after the failed April 30 government/education budget referendum and started crunching numbers again.

When voters decide on a new proposed 2024-25 town/education budget at a second vote on Tuesday, May 28, they will determine one bringing only a small tax savings compared to the prior plan.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, at the following sites:

• District 1: Willard School at 1088 Norton Road, Berlin.

• District 2: Griswold School at 133 Heather Lane, Kensington.

• District 3: Hubbard School at 139 Grove Street, East Berlin.

The spending plans will be decided via two, separate questions — one on the general government budget and one on the education budget.

Those questions will also have advisory questions asking "no" voters if they rejected the budget because it was too high or too low.

During the first vote on April 28, voters resoundingly shot down both spending plans, with a majority claiming the town budget was too high and the school budget too low.

According to the most recently revised budget figures, the town/school spending plan is a now a combined $102.7 million, a $3.09 million increase or 3.1 percent.

While that overall spending package is only nominally smaller than the one rejected at the polls, added revenue streams totaling $634,000 helped reduce the mill rate impact slightly.

As a result, according to the latest numbers, Berlin taxpayers are looking at a 0.61-mill increase in the tax rate or a 2.06 percent hike.

The proposed mill rate from this latest budget is 30.17 compared to the current 29.56 mills.

These latest numbers mean the town has trimmed a prior mill rate hike of 0.65 to 0.61 in the days after the first referendum.

For a home assessed at $300,000, the new mill rate means a tax bill this year that is $183 larger than a year ago.

Under the prior mill rate hike in the April 30 budget, that same tax increase would have been $195, meaning the budget revisions since the first vote would save that same taxpayer $12.

The current proposed 2024-25 spending breakdown is as follows:

• The school budget is $52.38 million, $1.724 million less than what was rejected on April 30.

Those cuts came despite the advisory question indicating "no" voters thought the school budget was too low.

• The general government budget is $50.32 million, a figure $2.34 million smaller than the budget rejected on April 30.

The advisory question showed "no" voters thought the general government budget was too high.

For the latest information on the 2024-25 Berlin town/school budget, click on this link.

From May 1: 'Berlin Voters Blast Budgets'