Read Their Lips, 'No New Taxes,' Guilford's Top Officials Say

GUILFORD, CT — Guilford's top officials released a joint statement saying that no matter what happens with the state budget disaster, local residents won't be hit with a supplemental tax bill. Officials said that local officials would look to make spending cuts and use fund balances to ensure Guilford residents won't pay more in taxes for the remainder of this fiscal year.

As you're well aware, Gov. Malloy is operating the state via an executive order and has begun to move state funds from communities like Guilford to larger cities in Connecticut. Malloy began running the state via executive order on Oct. 1, so if a state budget is approved sooner than later, it will likely mean less funding losses for the town, but if it drags out for months or even longer, Guilford could lose millions of dollars in state funding.

In a statement, First Selectman Joseph Mazza, Board of Finance Chairman Matthew Hoey and Board of Education Chairman William Bloss said:

Re: Governor Malloy's revised executive order 58

"At a meeting on October 3, 2017, which was attended by Guilford First Selectman Joseph Mazza, Board of Finance Chairman Matthew Hoey, Board of Education Chairman William Bloss, Assistant Superintendent for Operations Jason Beaudin, and Finance Director Maryjane Malavasi, it was reaffirmed that any deficiency in State revenue that was in excess of that which was included in the Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget, would be made up from transfers from the Internal Service Fund; reductions in the town and school budgets; and a transfer from Undesignated Fund Balance. This reasserts the pledge made in April 2017 by First Selectman Mazza, Chairman Hoey, and Chairman Bloss, that Guilford taxpayers would not receive any supplemental tax bills for the 2017-18 tax year, despite any further decreases in State revenue."