Brookfield Approves Budget, Tax Hike

BROOKFIELD — This week the Board of Finance has approved the $71.5 million budget proposed by the Board of Selectmen.

The bottom line represents a 2.09 percent hike over the current spending plan (see below).

The schools' portion of the budget is $45,437,460, a 3.25 percent increase over the current year's budget, but still about $1.6 million less than the Board of Education had requested.

The budget delivers a mill rate of 29.65, or a 1.76 percent hike in taxes.

In simpler, healthier, times, residents would have the final say in a public budget referendum. But Gov. Ned Lamont waived that requirement in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, empowering municipalities' Board of Selectmen to set the spending plans and mill rates.