No Tax Increase Budget Approved In Vernon

VERNON, CT — It took exactly half a hockey period for residents at a town meeting to endorse a zero-tax increase $93 million budget in Vernon on Tuesday.

The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. and adjourned at 7:10 p.m. The Vernon Town Countil then adopted a tax rate of 39.63 mills for the 2019-20 fiscal year, exactly what it is in the current fiscal year.

Here are the numbers:

• Crrent fiscal year budget - $92,171,450
• 2019-20 approved budget - $93,420,910.
• Increase - $1,249,460
• 2019-20 General Government - $30,930,304
• 2019-20 Capital Expenses and Debt Service - $8,620,012
• 2019-20 Education - $53,870,594

So how did Vernon increase services and not taxes? According to town officials, key factors were:

• A "history of exceptional financial steweardship." Town Administrator Michael Purcaro defined it, in part, as "strong management" of cash reserves and fixed costs like debt service and pensions, coupled with "spending controls to address potential shortfalls caused locally or by the state."
• An AA2 credit rating from Moody's Investor Services that saves "hundreds of thousands in interest."
• "Strong towwide economic growth and development" that allowed the town to increase the anticipated tax collection rate from 98.40 percent to 98.6 percent for real estate and from 92 percent to 93 percent for motor vehicles.
• A zero-based budget goal for each account and a process that began three months earlier.
• $109,000-plus in cuts.
• "Expanded oppportunities for shared services" between the town and school system like data processing, facilities, finance and human resources.
• An extra $45,000 in revenue from cash portfolio management.
• Several "new and inovative policies" like "a new cloud based multi-patform parcel management system" and a pool system for vehicle use.
• Negotiations that led to 1 percent less for health insurance, 5 percent less on premiums for general liability and 1 percent decrease on some other premiums (on top of a 7 percent decrease last year).