Middlefield's Mill Rate to Increase Under BOF Budget Proposal

The average tax bill in Middlefield will increase by $183 under the 2013-2014 budget proposed by the town's finance board this week.

About 20 people attended Tuesday's public hearing on next year's budget which would increase town spending by 4.8 percent. Middlefield's operating budget would be $4.63 million under the proposal, while taxpayers would pay another $11.96 million to fund Regional School District 13, for a total budget of $16.60 million.

If passed by voters at a town meeting scheduled for May 13, the budget would increase Middlefield's mill rate to 33.24. The current mill rate is 32.15.

"We really went line, by line, by line. We've actually slightly reduced the mill rate from the first selectman's budget," said Lucy Petrella, finance board chairman.

The budget proposal includes a 14 percent increase in health insurance costs, $200,000 to pay for Powder Ridge and $80,000 to pay for preliminary work related to water quality improvement at Lake Beseck.

"We met with many departments and they all came forward with different requests. We had to do some prioritizing obviously to keep the taxpayer in mind," Petrella said.

Durham and Middlefield residents will vote on a $36.61 million school district budget during a referendum on May 7.

The budget can be viewed in the attached PDF.