Community Corner

Council Endorses Budget, Tax Decrease

Budget of $79.29 million heading to the town meeting with a lower tax rate.


In the fiscal party that the review of the proposed 2011-12 spending plain has become, the mayor and Town Council continued to engage in a dance of budgetary limbo.

And on Wednesday, the bar was lowered even more.

The council voted to send a $79,293,749 bottom line to the April 26 Annual Town Meeting, an increase of just .4 percent over this year's $78.7 million budget and a number that would drop the tax rate from its current level of 30.02 mills to 29.9 mills.

When asked if he were happy, Mayor Jason McCoy answered with a resounding "yes." He had proposed a budget of $79,352,355 that would have lowered the tax rate anyway, but adjustments to the revenue stream, including a reduction of about $60,000 in interest payments, allowed the council to trim a little more off the bottom line.

''It's the right amount of revenue and the right among of spending,'' McCoy said.

Council member Marie Herbst was not happy with the proceedings and voted against sending the budget forward. Herbst wanted to re-open the fire department, administration, contingency and public works accounts, but said the rules adopted by the council for deliberations discouraged her from making such a motion.

Council member James Krupienski voted no in support of Herbst.

"If I could walk better, I would get up and leave this meeting,'' Herbst said to McCoy at Tuesday's meeting.

The general government proposal is $25,572,379 for the 2011-12 fiscal year versus $25,670,2521 this year. The capital improvement and debt service total is proposed at $6,259,012 versus $5,492,246 this year and the school system budget is proposed at $47,462,358 versus this year's total of $47,558,959.

The most lively discussions, at least in terms of public comment, have centered around the Rockville Downtown Association. RDA Executive Director Cliff Edwards asked the council to restore a line item in the budget for the organization and the request was supported by many residents and business leaders.

McCoy found $5,000 for the RDA through a strange set of circumstances. The town had been paying for an unnecessary emergency phone line. The budget had been submitted before the line was discovered and the money was then applied to an economic development account available to the RDA. 

The RDA also has funding available for special events.

The annual meeting is scheduled for April 26 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.


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