Norwalk Council Will Debate 5% Tax Hike

NORWALK, Conn. – The proposed property tax hike for Norwalk taxpayers is now at 5 percent after a $3 million addition from the leader of the Common Council, says Thomas Hamilton, the city's director of finance.

The Common Council's finance committee met Thursday to recommend a proposed budget cap, which the council will vote on Tuesday. The meeting ended without a dollar amount set. Three proposals were voted on and none gained a majority.

Democrat Carvin Hilliard, president of the council and chairman of the committee, said he would make the recommendation, because the committee wasn't getting anywhere, the hour was late and that was his right in the absence of a consensus.

"Councilman Carvin Hilliard added $3,238,670 to my recommended budget expenditures of $299,340,384," Hamilton said in an email. "Carvin's recommended expenditures, therefore, total $302,579,054, less intergovernmental revenue of $16,396,347, resulting in an appropriations cap of $286,182,707. The resulting average mill rate under this proposal would increase by 5.0 percent over the current mill rate."

The city had recommended a 3.8 percent increase in the mill rate paid by Norwalk property owners. Much of the debate at the meeting centered on privatization of garbage collection and the potential closing of the Norwalk Museum. But Hilliard cited his concerns over Norwalk's schoolchildren when he promised a higher rate.

Few attended the meeting in Concert Hall. The only people who stayed late to watch were those who were concerned with education. As the debate raged and Republicans proposed a much lower increase of 1.9 percent, Superintendent of Schools Susan Marks and Board of Education member Steven Colarossi discussed what measures they might take to deal with a lower budget and what programs they might cut.

Hilliard said the lack of a crowd led to game-playing among councilmen. "Had that been full of people like it normally is, they wouldn't have done that," he said.

During the meeting, he said he was against privatization, closing the museum and cutting education.

"We have to educate our kids, we have to prepare them for the best," he said. "I think we have to make the tough choice to spend the money and fully educate our kids. That's a fundamental thing that governments do."

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