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| Joe McGurk, Register Staff | April 28, 2001 |
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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1741745&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=32266&rfi=8
| Suit threat aims to keep taxes low | ||||||||
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| WEST HAVEN — Fire officials in the West Shore District proposed a decrease in taxes Friday, while Center District leaders prepared a budget with an increase and Allingtown officials prepared to defend against a lawsuit residents may file to make sure they don’t get hit in their pocketbooks. |
| Fearing that Allingtown fire officials will incorporate a tax increase into the budget Tuesday because the district lost $13 million in taxable property values after the last revaluation, residents filed an intent to sue notice to possibly block upcoming budget approvals. The Allingtown Taxpayers’ Alliance hired attorney Dawn Westbrook of the New Haven-based firm of Williams and Pattis to ask the courts to review whether residents’ call to dissolve the fire department was properly considered. Alliance secretary Curtis Jordan said that Allingtown alone "can’t support a fire district, not without wheeling and dealing and raising taxes." Jordan said the Alliance doesn’t want taxes increased to support a fire department that some residents want consolidated with the city’s other departments. The intent-to-sue notice says the district Fire Commission broke Connecticut General Statutes when it did not heed residents’ July 2000 petition that called for consolidating the department with the city’s two others. Allingtown commissioners held a hearing on consolidation in February, but no vote has been taken. Fire Commission attorney Robert Arnold said "The process isn’t done, any lawsuit that may come is either premature or too late ... we’ve had the meeting, so what damages have been suffered?" Residents now pay a city tax rate of 34.28 mills. West Shore residents pay an extra 7 mills, Allingtown residents pay 8.35 mills and Center District residents pay 8.15 mills. Each district has a separate Fire Commission. Center District residents will meet Tuesday at the Savin Rock Community School to vote on their department’s proposed budget, which asks for a tax rate increase to 8.79 mills. Fire Chief William Johnson said Friday the increase was needed to maintain the department in light of revaluation. The Center District lost $33 million in taxable property value after the revaluation. The department is proposing a $7.6 million budget, a $2 million increase. Johnson said the increase is to cover the tax loss and employee benefits and payroll increases. "We did the best we could to hold the line, but it’s difficult to provide the same service with less money," Johnson said. The revaluation raised some property values in the West Shore District. Taxable property values increased $38 million, which Fire Chief William Kelly said allowed for a cut in the tax rate from 7 mills to 6.8 mills. Fire officials in West Shore proposed a $4.7 million budget Friday. Last year the budget was approved at $4.5 million. "Commissioners were able to lower (the tax rate) a little bit to keep it on an even keel, so residents aren’t overtaxed," Kelly said. West Shore residents meet May 4 at the Ocean Avenue firehouse to vote on the budget. A group of residents plan to attend and ask voters to back a resolution that calls for including some $113,000 for a paramedic unit in the district, which isn’t provided now, and which commissioners voted to not fund. Resident Rick Fontana, a vocal proponent of hiring paramedics, said, "we are going to let the electors make the decision." The West Shore department calls on paramedics from the Center District and private ambulance companies when needed. |
| İNew Haven Register 2001 |
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