Guilford Cuts Nearly $1 Million from Several Town Department Budget Requests

Originally written by Jack Kramer, Patch Correspondent

GUILFORD, CT – In an effort to deal with huge anticipated cuts in state aid to the town’s 2017-18 budget, the Board of Selectmen recently voted to cut the town’s four biggest budgets by ½ of 1 percent, saving close to $1 million from original projections.

The board voted to make the cuts to the Police, Fire, Park and Recreation and Public Works departments. The actual dollar cost cut was $986,688.

That left the selectmen proposing an overall town operating budget of $28.738 million, an increase of 2.37 percent over current year expenditures.

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First Selectman Joe Mazza told his fellow selectman that under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget the town of Guilford could actually wind up paying money, not getting funds, from the state.

Currently the town receives $3.7 million in state funding. Under Malloy’s budget, the town would lose $3.9 million, because the town’s education grant would not only be eliminated, but Guilford would be required to pay for one-third the cost of teacher requirement costs – or $2.9 million.

The town would, under the governor’s budget, keeps it special education funding.

The bottom line, Mazza said, is if the governor’s budget went through as proposed, the town would owe the state $200,000.

Malloy is projecting the state is running a $1.7 billion deficit in his two year, $41 billion budget.

The first selectman also reported that Guilford’s Grand List grew by $11.2 million, or .36 percent the past year.

The increase was “slightly smaller” than last year, Mazza said, nothing that last year was when two major projects – Guilford Commons and Tractor Supply were added to the tax rolls.

Mazza also noted this year the Grand List decreased because the Goose Lane medical facility was purchased by Yale-New Haven Hospital, which is a tax exempt property.

Part of Malloy’s budget proposal is to allow town’s that house hospital facilities to tax properties, going forward.

(Editor's Note: This story first ran previously but here it is again in case you missed it.)