Third East Granby Town Meeting, Budget Referendum Scheduled

The East Granby Board of Selectmen at a special meeting on Tuesday scheduled a third Town Meeting to take place on June 5 and an accompanying budget referendum on June 12.

The Town Meeting will take place at the at 7:30 p.m., after which the meeting will be adjourned to the referendum at the same location; the polls on June 12 will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

At the Town Meeting, the East Granby Board of Selectmen and Board of Education will present the revised budget of $18.84 million, which will include funding of $4.21 million for General Government, $14.04 million for the Board of Education, $174,000 for Debt Service and $416,666 for the Capital Reserve Fund.

The new proposal represents a $60,000 reduction from the proposed budget of $18.91 million that was defeated at the second referendum on May 23 by a vote of 577 against and 547 in favor.

The new budget, if passed, would represent an increase of 1.99 percent over the current year’s spending. If passed, the Board of Finance projects a .3 mill increase in taxes, or an increase of 1.1 percent over current levels. For a house assessed at $170,000, a 1.1 percent tax hike means that the homeowner’s tax bill would increase by approximately $50 next year, according to a town press release. For a house assessed at approximately $350,000, a 1.1 percent increase would mean an increase of $100 on next year’s tax bill, the release states.

This year’s budget process represents an anomaly, at least in recent memory, as town officials said that they could not recall a budget that went to a third referendum.

Voters on May 8 resoundingly rejected the first budget referendum that called for expenditures totaling $19.07 million, an overall increase of 3.2 percent over the current fiscal year. The budget was defeated by a margin of 590 against and 423 in favor.  

Anyone who has questions is encouraged to call the Selectman’s office at 860-653-2576; for information on absentee ballots, please call the Town Clerk’s office at 860-653-6528.