Shelton Board of Aldermen adopts $141.6 million budget after debate over school funding and mill rate

The Board of Aldermen of the City of Shelton adopted a $141,625,610 budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and set the mill rate at 18.82 mills after debate over whether to hold the mill rate at 19.18 to cover additional Board of Education contractual costs.

The budget resolution, read into the record by Staff member Eric, amended the mayor’s budget documents and listed line-item revisions including revenue and expenditure changes. The resolution established collection dates for taxes and included an acceptance in principle of the capital improvement program. "Move to approve the following resolution. Be it resolved by the board of aldermen of the city of Shelton in accordance with 7 section 7.6 of the city charter, that the budget documents submitted by the mayor on 03/20/2025 be amended and such budget as amended be adopted as the official budget in Millwright for the city of Shelton for fiscal year 02/2026," Eric read.

Why it matters: The adopted budget sets the city—s revenue and spending priorities for the next fiscal year and fixes the mill rate that determines local property tax bills. A separate proposal to keep the mill rate at 19.18 mills would have generated additional revenue that some members said was needed to cover $2.24 million in school contractual obligations.

Key figures and line-item revisions included in the motion as read: revenue (current levy) listed as $113,263,860 with increases shown in the term sheet; several expenditure adjustments including increases for road maintenance, bus parts and fire apparatus, and an increase in contingency from $175,000 by $500,000 to $675,000. The resolution set the mill rate at 18.82 mills and stated collection dates for real estate, personal property and motor vehicle taxes. The record also included corrections: the assessor revaluation increase to be $339,125 (the numbers on the term sheet were to prevail) and an earlier correction to a revenue/increase figure clarified as $846,063.

Debate and amendment attempt: Board member John proposed an amendment to keep the mill rate at 19.18 mills to generate funds to meet Board of Education contractual obligations, saying the district could "make do, with 2,300,000" and urging the council to avoid "decimat[ing] the school system." John moved to amend and the motion was seconded. After discussion, the amendment failed. The meeting record states: "Motion fails." The assembly then voted on the main budget motion; the minutes reflect one abstention and one no vote, and the motion carried.

Council leadership and staff clarified that the term sheet distributed at the meeting would govern the final numbers: as the presiding officer said, "let the record reflect that the numbers that are on the term sheet in front of you shall be the numbers that prevail." Staff member Bridal identified corrections to a previously circulated financing term sheet for a separate item later in the agenda.

Votes at a glance

- Budget adoption (resolution adopting FY2025-26 budget as amended): outcome: approved; recorded on the record as 1 abstention and 1 no; names not specified in the transcript. The resolution set a total budget of $141,625,610 and a mill rate of 18.82 mills.

- Bus Patrol America LLC agreement (item 2): approved (see below).

- Amendment and adoption of Wester Webster Bank resolution (term sheet incorporated as schedule A): approved (see below).

What’s next: The board accepted the capital improvement program in principle as part of the budget adoption. Staff and aldermen discussed working out details related to school contractual funding and any specific amendments outside the meeting timeframe; no additional binding changes were adopted during the session.