Middletown council hears budget that would raise tax rates and sewer, refuse fees; school seeks 4% increase

The Town Council of the Town of Middletown on May 21 held the first public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2025–26 budget, in which finance staff laid out a package that would increase several property tax rates and raise sewer and refuse fees while asking the council to consider a 4% appropriation for the school department.

The proposed real estate tax rate for full-time resident properties would rise from $8.866 to $9.12 per $1,000 of assessed value, the finance director said; the proposed nonresident rate would rise from $11.26 to $11.85 per $1,000, and the commercial rate from $12.98 to $13.66 per $1,000. The town’s assessed levy would increase by $2,006,255, which finance staff said equates to about a 3.57% increase in budgeted property tax revenue.

Why it matters: The increases would translate into several hundred dollars of additional cost for the typical property owner if approved. Councilors and community groups pressed the council to weigh those increases against service needs such as school funding, library staffing, and prevention programs that rely in part on federal grants.

Finance director Mark Tanguay told the council the general fund proposed budget shows modest overall growth and detailed where costs rose and fell. “Debt service increased $4,518,058, or 62 percent; that is part of the school bond, but, also, we have a refinancing for the purchase of the library that’s included in that,” Tanguay said during his presentation.

Tanguay summarized department-level changes: a proposed $1,003,979 increase to the general fund (about 1.1%), a $2.0 million increase in the levy, a rise in debt service tied to school bond payments and library financing, personnel-related increases in fire protection, and reductions in public works and grant…