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Showing posts from February, 2025

Election day outlook for school bond, local races

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A strong turnout — and that seems likely — may bode well for the $89 million school bond. The JFK bond provides some insights. In 2017, the JFK bond failed during a municipal election. The town reduced the project cost, and it returned to the ballot in the 2018 election. But 2018 was a gubernatorial race, with a much stronger turnout. The turnout in the 2017 race was less than half of the 2018 overall election turnout. The rest of the ticket: Without local polling, it’s hard to predict how any local race will turn out. But comparing the races to 2024 does provide some insights. — State Sen. John Kissel won 54% of the vote in 2024. He won in every town but Windsor. He is facing Democrat challenger Davide Kiner. For what it is worth, in my Southwood Acres neighborhood, Kiner signs are abundant. But even if Kiner wins Enfield, the problem will be in more Republican leaning towns that make up this district. Somers, for instance, has 2,100 registered Republicans, 1,218 registered Democrats...

Charter Commission proposes 7% budget cap, a fix that won't solve the problem (With correction)

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Charter Revision Commission meeting CORRECTION FROM ORIGINAL POST:  In my initial analysis, I incorrectly connected two distinct fiscal years when discussing budget increases and tax impacts. This fixes it. Here's what happened: The 4.5% tax increase in 2022 was based on the FY2023 budget ( July 2022 - June 2023 ). Town spending decreased by 1.19% in FY2023 , but taxes still went up because the 2021 revaluation shifted the tax burden to homeowners . When residents opened their tax bills in July 2022, they saw the 4.5% tax increase. Using a sample 1,200 SF single family house Southwood Acres, property taxes went from  $4,265 → $4,457 or a $192 increase. [For context, Social Security recipients received an 8.7% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for their 2023 benefits, reflecting the high inflation of 2022.] 📌 Cause: This tax hike was driven by the 2021 revaluation , which shifted more of the tax burden from commercial to residential properties, not by increased spending ....