Winsted, CT: Tax increase "driven primarily by increases in special education"

May 11, 2025, Register Citizen, New Haven, CT: Winsted taxes rise due to higher education costs and shrinking grand list, officials say

WINSTED — The town is proposing a nearly 2 mill increase in taxes for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Taxes would go up from 27.24 mills to 29.17 mills, a 7.1% increase. A home assessed at $250,000 would pay $483 more, from $6,810 to $7,293. One mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

Town spending would rise 0.5%, or $210,769, from $40,806,370 to $41,017,139. The majority of the money goes to the Board of Education, which is seeking 6.9% more, or $1,544,400, from $22,449,465 to $23,993,865.

Public School Superintendent Julie Luby said the proposed school budget is $250,000 less than what she originally proposed. The reduction forced Luby to eliminate four positions, because she is also adding three additional ones: two school safety officers and a kindergarten teacher.

Luby said the school budget increase is driven primarily by increases in special education, up roughly $360,000, health benefits, up $400,000, and a 30% increase in inflation over the last dozen years, while the budget has only increased by 12%.

“The increase in our budget is completely a function of rising costs, expiring grants, and years of no increases,” Luby said. “It isn’t about growing anything. We didn’t do more good stuff. This represents a minimum-needs-based budget.” . . .

Harrington told the selectmen last month that they need to support the budget to garner public support.

“Businesses will not come to a town that does not invest in itself,” he said. “Families will not settle in a place that is falling apart. If we want economic development, if we want community growth, if we want the easier budgets that come with a thriving tax base, we must create an atmosphere that invites it.”

Property owners can hear more about the proposed budget at a town meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Gilbert School auditorium. They can make motions to decrease the budget, but cannot ask to increase it. They will also vote to set the date for the budget referendum.