How 10 Northern CT Town Budgets Stack Up For 2026-27

NORTHERN CONNECTICUT — It took 26 referendums, 20 failed proposals and, in the end, a single vote to close out budget season across seven northern Connecticut towns.

Windsor Locks finished the voting Tuesday night when its seventh proposal passed 705-704. Across the 10 towns covered by Patch, local governments ultimately adopted about $882.3 million in spending for 2026-27.

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The final plans range from a 0.42 percent spending cut in Somers to a 5.68 percent increase in South Windsor. The midpoint among the 10 towns was about 3.18 percent.

But the headline total and mill rate do not tell the whole story. Towns account for capital, special funds and education costs differently. Revaluations in Ellington, Somers and Windsor Locks also changed the value against which taxes are applied, making a raw mill-rate comparison especially easy to misread.

The town-by-town comparison

Spending and tax rates

Education and approval

* South Windsor's adopted document lists $169.98 million in gross spending. Its official comparable total is $167.27 million, up 5.68 percent from $158.28 million. The school share is calculated against that comparable total.

† The Windsor Locks comparison uses the town's $61.17 million fiscal 2026 operating budget after its TIF reallocation. The unadjusted adopted operating figure was $60.75 million. Voters separately approved a $455,623 TIF budget Tuesday.

‡ The final Somers voter plan recommended 23.09 mills. The town tax collector lists 23.46 mills as the rate actually applied to the 2025 Grand List after the Board of Selectmen set it while referendums continued.

§ Enfield's 5.42 percent figure compares the fiscal 2027 adopted budget with the fiscal 2026 adopted budget. The town's budget message describes a roughly 2.9 percent increase against the higher, revised fiscal 2026 budget.

Where spending grew fastest

South Windsor had the largest comparable increase at 5.68 percent. Its $106.3 million school appropriation rose 7.53 percent, the largest education increase in the group. The Town Council set the real estate and personal property rate at 37.01 mills, up 3.94 percent.

Enfield and East Granby followed at 5.42 percent and 5.35 percent, respectively. Both raised school appropriations by about 5 percent. East Granby's $29.8 million plan, the smallest of the 10 by total dollars, passed on the second referendum after officials removed $50,000 from the capital reserve contribution.

Windsor Locks' increase was about 4.77 percent against its TIF-adjusted prior operating budget. The town cut roughly $2.17 million from the $66.26 million plan rejected at the first referendum. The adopted school appropriation is $34.58 million, only 1.55 percent above the prior year, while town-side costs including employee benefits and debt service account for more of the increase.

The middle of the pack

Ellington's final $75.7 million plan rose 3.35 percent and passed on the third referendum. Windsor also needed three votes before approving $156.6 million, a 3 percent increase. Its final total was $2.77 million below the town manager's original proposal, and the school appropriation finished 3.46 percent above the prior year.

Granby's $59.4 million budget increased 2.68 percent. Voters approved it on the third referendum, 1,425-1,026, after two defeats. Its current property tax levy rose 2.26 percent, less than the spending increase because the town added state aid and used $1.93 million from the general fund.

The smallest increases — and the only cut

East Windsor ended with the exact 2 percent spending increase required by its charter after voters rejected three versions. The result was a $48.7 million budget, including $29.44 million for schools. Its mill rate climbed 7.03 percent, from 24.89 to 26.64, showing that the spending change alone did not determine the tax rate.

Suffield's total rose just 1.45 percent, but its school appropriation increased 3.96 percent and the property taxes required to support the budget rose 4.04 percent. The gap largely reflects a reduction in one-time transfers from other funds. The plan was approved at the May 6 town meeting.

Somers was the only town in the group to spend less than the prior year. Its $41.64 million plan was down $176,115, or 0.42 percent, even as the school appropriation rose 0.75 percent. It still took five referendums to win approval.

Why the mill rate needs context

The current real estate and personal property rates range from 22.25 mills in Windsor Locks to 37.01 mills in South Windsor. On the same $250,000 assessed value, that is a municipal tax of $5,562.50 in Windsor Locks and $9,252.50 in South Windsor, a $3,690 difference before exemptions or any special taxing-district levy.

That example holds the assessment constant. Actual homeowners do not get that clean comparison. Ellington's rate fell from 37.10 to 25.42 mills after revaluation, yet the budgeted property tax revenue still rose about 1.6 percent. Somers also completed a revaluation, and the 23.46-mill rate used on tax bills was set while voters were still rejecting spending plans. Windsor Locks is using a two-year revaluation phase-in.

In other words, a lower mill rate can accompany a higher tax bill when an assessment rises, and a modest spending increase can require a larger tax increase when one-time revenue disappears or the taxable Grand List weakens.

The political number: 20 no votes

The most striking comparison may be the path to adoption. Granby, Ellington and Windsor each needed three referendums. East Granby needed two. Somers needed five. Windsor Locks needed seven. East Windsor voters rejected three plans, triggering the charter formula instead of approving one.

That adds up to 26 referendums in seven towns and 20 defeated proposals. The rejections were not limited to the largest increases: Somers cut total spending and still needed five votes, while East Windsor's final charter budget grew exactly 2 percent.

Windsor Locks supplied the final exclamation point. After six failures and nearly three months of voting, one ballot separated passage from another defeat.

Methodology: Figures are drawn from final town budget documents and are rounded. The comparison uses each town's adopted general fund or annual operating measure; enterprise funds, fire districts and other separately approved funds are excluded unless a town includes them in its reported total. Percent changes use adopted-to-adopted or the town's stated comparable baseline, as noted above. BOE share means the Board of Education appropriation divided by the spending measure shown and does not include every education-related cost carried elsewhere in a town budget.

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