Bethel Finance Board Approves $79.8 Million Budget

BETHEL, CT — In a virtual meeting Thursday, the Board of Finance voted to approve the combined 2020-21 school and town budget, totaling $79,765,010, the News-Times has reported.

The final approval follows a contentious online public hearing Tuesday evening, which was residents' last chance to have a say on the town spending during the current budget cycle. There will be no public referendum on the budget this year, following Gov. Ned Lamont's executive order forbidding them for the safety of poll workers and residents in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The budget represents an increase of 0.33 in the mill rate, which translates to a tax hike of 0.98 percent.

The school budget is $47,969,807, a 3.35 increase over last year. The total for town operations, school maintenance and debt service is $31,795,203, a bump of 0.69 percent over fiscal 2019-20.