Politics & Government

Last Step in Town Budget Process Happens Wednesday

Calculate your estimated property tax and review a copy of the town budget before Wednesday night's town meeting on the town budget.

For Suffield residents wondering about specifics of the town budget before Wednesday night's town meeting on the subject, two valuable resources are available.

Property owners in town will see a slight increase in their tax payments if the proposed budget is passed. The budget currently under consideration has a mill rate of 24.84 mills. That figure is .67 mills, or 2.79 percent, higher than last year's mill rate (24.17).

The mill rate is used in calculating property tax by multiplying the property’s assessed value by the mill rate, then dividing that product by 1,000. For example, a person owning a home with an assessed value of $210,000 will pay $5,217 in property taxes under the proposed budget. That same person would have paid $5,076 in taxes this year, an increase of $141.

Find out what's happening in Suffieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Want to know how much you'd pay in property taxes if the proposed budget passes? The town website offers an estimated property tax calculator. The calculator includes an assessment lookup tool, allowing residents to find the assessed value of their property and plug the value into the calculator.

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Find out what's happening in Suffieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While changes to the mill rate and property tax payments are often the most direct impact a new budget has on town residents, the actual components of the budget – fund allocations for town departments and organizations, revenue streams, credits from the state and other components – are presented in a PDF document available from the town website.

Some of the major figures include total estimated expenses, at $54,062,095, revenues, at $17,035,306, and the total amount of taxes the town needs to collect, $34,271,735. The Suffield Board of Education’s budget is $30,761,551 and the town’s general government operations budget is $13,253,210. The largest single cost to taxpayers is for the town’s pavement management plan, totaling $785,902.

To view the entire budget, follow this link.

The town meeting takes place Wednesday at at 7 p.m. All qualified town residents are encouraged to attend and vote to approve or reject the budget.


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