Letter to the Editor: Old Lyme Selectman Thanks Board of Finance for ‘a Job Well Done’ at Tuesday’s Budget Meeting

Editor’s Note: This letter was published April 17, after the Board of Finance meeting held April 15.

To the Editor:

I’d like to thank the Old Lyme Board of Finance for a job well done, completing work begun jointly with the Board of Selectmen in December to produce a prudent, fiscally-sound budget.  Through good compromise and the identification of additional savings, the budget for our upcoming fiscal year maintains a healthy surplus while keeping our taxes as low as possible. 

Our new proposed mill rate of 16.2 is among the lowest in the state, and holding taxes to a modest 4.52% increase is quite an accomplishment in this inflationary environment.   

Two voter-approved projects:  renovation of schools and Senior Center expansion, both hit the budget this year, presenting a special challenge.  Over the course of several hours-long, publicly-held budget workshops through January and into early February, the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance met together with the heads of all departments, boards, commissions and committees to discuss, analyze and justify each expenditure.   These joint meetings were conducted with mutual respect and fair-mindedness from all parties.   

The Board of Finance continued their deliberations through April, culminating in a contentious meeting this past Tuesday night.   At the 11^th hour, a compromise was reached:   $800,000 from the surplus would be dedicated to mill rate reduction, which along with over $170,000 in additional savings identified by First Selectwoman Shoemaker, would bring us close to the $1,000,000 in tax relief we were seeking for our townspeople.   The budget now goes to the voters for a public hearing on April 28^th at 6:30pm at Town Hall.   The final vote by town residents will take place at a May 19^th town meeting at the LOL Middle School.  I believe we are presenting a solid budget that meets the needs of our citizens while keeping taxes as low as possible, and I appreciate the effort of all those involved.

Sincerely,

Jim Lampos,
Old Lyme.

Letter to the Editor: Old Lyme Selectman Recommends Transferring $1.3M from Town’s Surplus to Reduce Residents’ Tax Burden

Editor’s Note: This letter was published April 13, prior to the Board of Finance meeting held April 15.

To the Editor:

An Open Letter to the Residents of Old Lyme

On Tuesday, the Board of Finance will meet to set the mill rate which will determine Old Lyme residents’ property tax burden.  Over the past two years, the Board of Selectmen has worked cooperatively with the Board of Finance to craft fiscally-prudent budgets that have resulted in hefty surpluses. Indeed, this year through the concerted efforts of not only these two boards but also all town staff and volunteers, we have a record surplus of nearly $15 million, or 33% of next year’s budget.

This surplus is not an accident. Knowing that the next two fiscal years would present challenges due to expenses incurred by voter-approved projects such as the school renovation and Senior Center expansion, the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance concurred that we would need to have a hefty surplus going into this period in order to have the ability to provide some tax relief when setting the mill rate.

Most towns are expected to have a surplus of 15%. Being a shoreline community with exposure to potential loss of revenue due to hurricanes, Old Lyme has maintained a higher surplus. A 30% surplus is extraordinary and ideal for bond rating agencies to maintain Old Lyme’s AAA rating. With this year’s very healthy surplus, we can afford to move $1.3 million from surplus to tax relief and still maintain a 30% surplus.   

Doing so would also allow the town to set a mill rate of 16.09. This is substantially lower than our current mill rate of 24.4, but due to this year’s state mandated revaluation, many people’s property values have also increased significantly. In real terms, a mill rate of 16.09 would reflect a very modest 3.81% tax increase from last year.   This modest increase fully accounts for all burdens, including the school budget.

Surveying other towns in our regions, this is very good news indeed. We are faring far better than towns that are experiencing 10% tax hikes or more.  While it has been common practice to use surplus to offset tax increases in the past ($600,000-$800,000 was common two or three years ago), at the most recent Board of Finance meeting there were members who were reluctant to approve anything over $600,000.   Settling for this would only allow us to cut the rate to 16.38, and would reflect a 5.65% real increase.  This is still not bad in terms of what we are seeing in neighboring towns, but since revaluation has doubled some homeowner’s property values, we need to provide as much tax relief as we possibly can while maintaining services and fiscal prudence.

It is important to remember that the surplus is excess money that the town has collected from taxpayers.  We need to provide our taxpayers a dividend.   As we speak, numbers are still not completely finalized and we are still working to identify further budget cuts as well.  And while I understand that, even though we would still maintain a very robust 30% surplus, some may find moving $1.3 million to tax relief to be too much.  But I think many would agree that $600,000 is far too little.   I encourage those who are interested in this question to attend this Tuesday’s Board of Finance meeting.

Sincerely,

Jim Lampos,
Old Lyme.

Editor’s Note: The author serves on the Old Lyme Board Selectmen.