Greenwich holds the line on property taxes

Trying to hold the line on taxes is not an easy task. This week the Town Finance Board (BET) unanimously approved an increase in property taxes (mill rate) of +2.81% for this upcoming year, a very slight increase from last year's increase of +2.80%. This increase is above the rate of inflation and it is the highest increase in over ten years.

The BET survived withering pressure from public school advocates and parents who were not happy with any of the budget constraints requested by the BET. They disrupted meetings shouting, "Shame on You", when they should be shouting "Thank You" to these hardworking volunteers. The Republican members of the BET also survived intense pressure from their Democrat colleagues aiming to use the public school budget as a cudgel to gain power in the upcoming local elections.

It's amazing how quickly the Board of Education (BOE) identified almost $2 million of transportation efficiencies by simply adjusting the school start time to what it was before the pandemic. The new start time of 7:45am (was 8:30am) will now be in line with most of the other high schools in the area. If that was so easy, it makes you wonder what other efficiencies might be found.

Between the Lines: After all is said and done, the public schools were well taken care of. Their budget grew over 3% and funding was approved for an unprecedented number of school building projects - Central Middle, Old Greenwich and Riverside.

Note: this story was updated to correct mill rate rounding errors.

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