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Category: Town Government

  • Town Council Update: Highlights from the April 22 Budget Public Hearing and Council Meeting

    Town Council Update: Highlights from the April 22 Budget Public Hearing and Council Meeting

    The Rocky Hill Town Council held its bi-weekly meeting on Tuesday, April 22, following a public hearing on the proposed 2025–2026 municipal budget, delivered by Town Manager Ray Carpentino.

    Budget Public Hearing Overview

    During the public hearing, the Town Manager presented his proposed budget, which has been available for public review on the Town’s website for several weeks. The proposal contains no major surprises or additions since its release.

    Key budget highlights include:

    • A 3.5% increase in funding for the Board of Education.
    • A 3.7% increase for all other municipal expenses.
    • This results in a total expenditure increase of 3.59%, moving from approximately $100 million to $103 million.
    • The proposed mill rate increase is 1.8 mills.

    The primary drivers of the budget increases are salary and insurance costs, while reductions were seen in capital expenditures and a contraction in the grand list.

    No new full-time positions are being added to Town staff, with one part-time role moving to full-time. The Town Manager has proposed eliminating one Public Works position. A request from the Police Department for an additional officer and increased overtime funds was not included in the final proposed budget. The assistant Library director position remains frozen, as it was this past year.

    One notable item: The Board of Education has access to $1.6 million from a health insurance-related fund. Their stated priority is to use this money for roof replacement at West Hill School. During the subsequent Town Council meeting, the Council unanimously approved moving these funds into a non-recurring fund for the Board of Education. A formal vote on the specific allocation is expected in the near future.

    Council Meeting Highlights

    The regular Council meeting began shortly after at 7:30 p.m. and proceeded efficiently. Key subcommittee updates included:

    • Finance Committee: The committee is evaluating how to use $242,000 in special revenue from police forfeitures and seizures. Potential uses include purchasing new vehicles—including the possibility of an electric vehicle. (More details are available in the April 10 Finance Committee meeting recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/KozUCf2wamA?si=Cyf_qS-hT1b7O_VE&t=1074.
    • Government Operations Committee: The committee is exploring solutions for Public Works staff to have a safe space to eat and rest during storm events, as the Fire Marshal has deemed their current garage setup unsafe. A temporary trailer rental is being considered at a cost of $70,000.
    • Senior Liaison Committee: The next quarterly meeting will be held on Monday, April 28 at 5:00 p.m.
    • Capital Improvement Committee: The West Hill roof project has been moved forward to 2026, and the Stevens School HVAC project has been postponed to 2027.

    Finally, the Council unanimously approved a resolution to begin the process of joining the Connecticut Municipal Redevelopment Authority (MRDA). This move would allow Rocky Hill to tap into state funding and resources for redevelopment projects, including those along Silas Deane Highway and potential Town Center areas.

    Get Involved

    The April 22 meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m., making it one of the shortest of the year despite a 25-minute budget presentation prior. With public attendance low and budget workshops continuing this week, now is the perfect time to get engaged in shaping the future of our community. The first budget workshop will be Thursday, April 24th at 5:30 in Council Chambers.

    📌 Want to get more involved?
     Attend upcoming budget meetings, or contact the Democratic Town Committee to learn how you can support responsible, community-focused governance in Rocky Hill.

  • Rocky Hill’s Tight Budget is the Result of Years of Poor GOP Decision-making

    Rocky Hill’s Tight Budget is the Result of Years of Poor GOP Decision-making

    Once again the annual budget season is upon us. In the coming weeks the Town Council will conduct a series of public hearings and workshops to set the mil rate that establishes the taxes for the upcoming fiscal year. 

    The spectre of potential cuts in State and Federal funding hovers over the Council’s efforts to develop a budget this year. The chaos of the Trump administration results in increasing cuts of Federal funding to Connecticut. In turn, state legislators struggle to determine funds to towns amidst shifting federal priorities. Here in Rocky Hill, we must make a budget that takes all this uncertainty into account.

    The Rocky Hill Town Council is responsible for creating a budget that maintains and perhaps enhances existing services while minimizing tax increases. The task this year is especially difficult due to GOP-led Council budget decisions, which have resulted in increased taxes and stagnant services.

    The preamble to the Town Manager’s proposed budget correctly states that a considerable increase in taxes for the 2024-2025 tax period is due to homeowners revaluations. This is, however, only one part of the puzzle. Taxes rose not just because home values increased, but because the town took on significant financial burdens and failed to grow our economic sector.

    For example, Rocky Hill was fortunate enough to receive approximately 5.9 million dollars under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding during the COVID-19 pandemic era. These ARPA funds were supposed to allow the Council to maintain services and add enhancements as needed.  Unfortunately, rather than using the ARPA funding primarily for needed construction or maintenance projects, some ARPA funding was imprudently used for hiring  full-time positions at town hall. The full time Emergency Manager position turned into a fiasco and waste of funds. Others hired with ARPA funds which have been exhausted must now be funded by taxpayer tax money.

    These funds could have been used to avoid a  tax burden. Many years ago the Town Council became aware that Stevens School required a new HVAC system. The HVAC project for Stevens School of approximately 1.6 million dollars could have been partially funded by the Town ARPA funds and partially funded by a State grant.  The GOP majority on the Council opted to not accept the grant, but to fund the Stevens HVAC project with local taxpayer dollars over a 3 year period. That project has now been extended even further due to other more urgent projects with the likelihood of increased costs going forward and little chance of obtaining further grants. This will ultimately cost the taxpayers even more money. 

    Other factors have impacted the tax burden on Rocky Hill’s taxpayers. Reports from the Town Assessor have shown that our business Grand List – a listing of all assessed and taxable properties in town –  has remained mostly flat. This means that the bulk of any tax increases faced by the town falls on the backs of residential taxpayers.  Hopefully the recently hired Economic Development Manager can make a positive impact, after prior budgets had “frozen” that position, leaving no town staff exclusively working to grow Rocky Hill’s Grand List. 

    As Democrats have consistently argued, the GOP majority exacerbates the tax burden for residents by overly favoring developers. Take the Republican decision to offer a  generous 10+ year abatement for the Kelson Row project.  Kelson Row is currently paying approximately $82,000 in taxes as opposed to the pre-revaluation estimated taxes of more than $1 million annually. As multi-family property values have skyrocketed since the pandemic, Kelson Row saw no increase, nor will see any increase, when it could  be contributing significantly more than $1 million per year to our tax base at full valuation. 

    This abatement is not set to expire until 2034. Again, the taxes not paid because of this abatement must be paid by residential tax payers, many of whom are on a fixed income or are struggling families trying to make ends meet.

    This year it is very important for the citizen taxpayers of Rocky Hill to make their voices heard. We the members of the Council represent you. Attend budget hearings and workshops and comment. Send in written letters or emails to be read into the public record, sign petitions, write letters to the editor. What are your priorities overall and what are your priorities should Federal or State funding be reduced? 

     A budget hearing will be held on April 22nd with workshops on April 24th, April 29th and May 1st. Also May 6th and 8th only if necessary. The Council final vote on the budget is on May 19th.  

    Make your voices heard!