Westport’s mill rate is set.
It’s exactly the same as last year.
The Board of Finance voted unanimously last night to keep the town’s mill rate at 16.86, for fiscal year 2017-18. The board did express concern about the possibility of a mid-year “supplemental assessment,” depending upon state finances.
The total town budget is $204,240,189.
First Selectman Jim Marpe said:
I am proud of our department heads for working diligently to control costs and improve efficiencies, while at the same time maintaining and enhancing our infrastructure. We have been able to absorb the fully restored school budget through the efforts of all town departments. We continue to reform our pension and health programs as we continue to fully fund our obligations and aggressively pay down debt.
Our community is united to ensure that Westport continues to be a highly desirable place to live – for our youth, young families, and seniors. In addition to fully supporting our world-class schools, this year’s budget includes enhancements to downtown, the beaches, and the senior center. Our grand list continues to grow and enables us to mitigate property tax increases, reflecting the confidence residents and businesses have in investing in Westport.
Board of Finance chairman Brian Stern commended “the hard work and commitment of the town’s department heads and professionals. While not raising property taxes, we will also be able to retain reserves at 11%, at the high end of our policy range and consistent with the town’s Aaa rating.”
Yea🎉
Sent from my private island
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Jim Marpe is to be commended for his careful and enterprising stewardship of our town. Stable mill rate is an outstanding example of that. Gratefully, Bob Fatherley >
Dear First Selectman / Jim Marpe,
This is good news for the residents of Westport
I would like to recommend that you:
1) Speak to Governor Malloy
2) Speak to all the elected politicians in Connecticut
3) Step out and run for the GOVERNOR of Connecticut !!!
Thank you,
Gerald F. Romano, Jr.
As a 25 year resident — a newcomer, I know — I waited for years for a professional manager to run the town. Happy we have Jim Marpe. With the many different opinions, viewpoints, needs and wishes of VERY VOCAL Westporters, it’s a terrific that we haven’t scared him away.
Damn, I should move back to Westport! LOL!
I believe (off the top of my head) that my current town of Trumbull has a higher mill rate.
But, we do get a ton of extra services and amenities here.
All included in our taxes:
Many large, wooded and landscaped, parks.
Walking trails.
Free tennis courts and swimming pool access in several locations.
Rails to Trails hiking and biking.
Free bulky-items curbside pickup once a year.
Free X-mas tree pickup once a year.
Free fall-leaf pickup/curbside cleanup each season.
… and other stuff I can’t recall right now.
(Oh wait … one year, we had excessive flooding from a side street into our driveway, causing runoff to flood our garage and basement. We called the town to see if they could repair the roadside curbing. They fixed it within a week of the call. Not too shabby!)
It’s exceptional, and I didn’t know we had all those things available when hubby and I initially bought our home here.
And this place is just beautiful.
But I miss my hometown very much. Especially Compo!!
😉
Our Bd. of Fin. under Chair Brian Stern does a fine job, as does our First Selectman Jim Marpe. I continue to hope that our Bd. of Ed. will at some point be able to address in its operating budget our per pupil cost of $20,500.
Don Bergmann
Thank you Jim Marpe!! You are managing Westport through the Financial Death Spiral in CT.
And maybe, just maybe, Westport will stop electing Steinberg whose votes helped cause the fiscal crisis in CT.