Naugatuck Mayor Pete Hess Addresses Naugatuck Tax Rate

NAUGATUCK, CT — The Naugatuck Board of Mayor and Burgesses finalized a tax rate of 47.75 mills for fiscal 2020-21.

During the meeting Mayor Pete Hess addressed the borough's tax rate.

“The mill rate today is lower than it was in my first budget. My first budget was 48.55. It’s lower today. We have increased spending but we’ve done a very excellent job increasing revenue from a whole variety of sources. We stopped kicking the can down the road. We’ve invested in roads.

"We’ve invested in infrastructure. We’ve bought equipment that hasn’t been bought for years. Property values are rising more dramatically in Naugatuck than any other town in the area. We’re doing well. Now having said that, I don’t want to raise the mill rate. But I’ll tell you this, next year is going to be even worse and we will, we can’t take a big hit on our bond rating. We can take a hit just for what we did last year.

"I’ll note Jack, last year I’ll give you credit, you were the only one who was with me who didn’t want to raid the fund balance further but we did and that was a mistake. And that makes it even harder this year. The fund balance is important because it’s tied to the mill rate. We are going to be doing some bonding and that four hundred, five hundred thousand a year extra every year is going to be expensive. Sort term I agree. Long term I think we made the right choice.”

See related: Naugatuck Budget Raises Tax Rate: Report