‘Largest Tax Increase’ In 20 Years Approved By Wallingford Town Council

WALLINGFORD, CT — The Wallingford Town Council on Tuesday night approved an amended town budget that adds $2.3 million to the Board of Education’s allocation than was originally proposed by Mayor Vincent Cervoni.

The school board originally requested $120.2 million, with at least $119.5 million for its sustained services budget. Cervoni’s proposed budget reduced the schools’ allocation to $116.9 million, and the council voted last week, by a 6-3, vote to restore $2.3 million to the school spending.

The council approved the amended budget by a 6-3 vote, with Republicans Autumn Allinson, Tom Laffin and Christopher Regan in favor, along with Democrats Sam Carmody, Jesse Reynolds, and Vincent Testa.

Republicans Craig Fishbein, Joe Marrone, and Christina Tatta voted against the amended budget.

With the amended budget, the council also set the tax rate at 30.93 mills. Cervoni’s proposed budget carried a tax rate of 30.41 mills, which represented a 3.65 percent increase over the current mill rate of 29.34. A mill is equal to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessment.

Tatta said she couldn’t support a budget that represented “the largest tax increase in the past 20 years, possibly in the history of Wallingford.”

“It’s unfortunate that we find ourselves in this situation,” Fishbein said. “I have to harken back to the last term. Choices were made as far as where ARPA dollars were spent, and now we’re forced with what looks like the largest tax increase, certainly in most of our lifetimes.”

Fishbein also said that he was disappointed that the budget doesn’t move the town forward, and cited a need for more pickleball courts in Wallingford.

“We still don’t have a pool,” he said. “We’re regressing while we’re having the largest tax increase in our lifetimes. That’s not something I can support.”

Reynolds said that the mill rate increase proposed by the council “isn’t in line with the increase in what we’re spending.”

“And historically, if the mill rate had been lower or under 30, part of that is because of what Councilor Fishbein pointed out, that we didn’t invest in fixing stuff so we could keep taxes low,” he said.

Reynolds also cited built-in costs with contracts as the driving factors of the budget.

“Yes, this is a tax increase, and no, I did not want to increase taxes on anybody,” Reynolds said. “But you know what, I didn’t want to also get up here and fund a budget with what’s been called gimmicks.”

Reynolds said he views his job as to do “what we are obligated to do, which is to tell people what things really cost.”

“Which is to responsibly allocate the money to what those things really cost and to get out of the habit of taking money that we have in accounts and paying for things to artificially deflate our mill rate,” he said. “It’s a Trojan Horse.”

It remains to be seen if Cervoni will veto the council’s amended budget. A mayor vetoing the council’s approved budget has become a common occurrence in Wallingford, with former Mayor William Dickinson Jr. doing it for the past four years in a row.

The council could override any potential veto with seven votes, as it did last year.

Watch Tuesday night’s full council meeting below: