Ordinance committee unanimously forwards Stratford’s FY2025–26 budget and two tax-rate ordinances to town council

The Ordinance Committee of the Town of Stratford voted unanimously to recommend that the Town Council consider an ordinance adopting the town’s fiscal year 2025–26 operating budget and two tax-rate ordinances, the committee agreed.

The committee recommended forwarding: an ordinance appropriating funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026; an ordinance setting a 40.2-mill tax on the grand list (real property) as of Oct. 1, 2024, payable in two equal installments on July 1, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026; and an ordinance setting a 32.46-mill rate on the motor vehicle grand list as of Oct. 1, 2024, with the same installment schedule. The committee’s recommendations send those measures to the Town Council for final consideration and any amendments.

Why it matters: the budget and tax-rate ordinances determine the town’s spending authority and the levies that supporters and taxpayers will face next fiscal year. The committee’s action moves the substantive review and any amendments to the Town Council, where a final vote will occur.

Most of the committee’s discussion focused on process and next steps rather than changes to the measures themselves. "We're forwarding this onto the council without recommendation. And at the council level, that's where we will discuss any amendments if necessary and have a final vote," said Mr. Green, an ordinance committee member. The committee chair added that the committee was "removing the remaining budget responsibilities from the ordinance committee, having them sit with the town council," and that he expected the council-level consideration to occur in about "two plus or minus two weeks," absent a different schedule.

The transcript of the committee motion for the appropriation contains an unclear dollar figure when read into the record; the motion as presented on the record is not a precise, unambiguous dollar amount in the available transcript. The tax-rate motions, by contrast, specify rates and payment schedules: 40.2 mills on the grand list (real property) and 32.46 mills on the motor vehicle grand list, both referenced to the Oct. 1, 2024 grand lists and payable in two equal installments (with small-balance exceptions paid in a single installment on July 1, 2025).

Formal actions taken by the committee were procedural recommendations to the Town Council; none of the measures were adopted as town law at the committee meeting. The committee recorded its recommendations by voice votes that were described on the record as unanimous for each item.

Next steps: the Town Council will receive the ordinance committee's recommendations, consider any amendments, and hold a final vote on the budget and the tax-rate ordinances. The committee indicated it expects to continue internal review and to forward assembled amendments to the council prior to that vote.