By Sarah Opdahl

At a Town Meeting led by New Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen on Wednesday, April 16, voters in attendance unanimously approved setting a date for the upcoming budget referendum, which will be on Saturday, April 26, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Town Clerk Ms. Holly Smith read the call for the vote:

To consider and act upon the appropriation of Town Government Expenditures totaling $14,814,751 from the General Fund, and $763,890 from the Capital and Non-Recurring Fund, and $1,206,216 from other Governmental Funds, as recommended by the Board of Finance, for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026.

2. To consider and act upon the appropriation of Education Expenditures totaling $59,153,707 from the General Fund, and $510,000 from the Capital and Non-Recurring Fund, as recommended by the Board of Finance, for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026.

3. To consider and act upon the advisory questions “do you feel the Town Budget is too high or too low” and “do you feel the Education Budget is too high or too low.”

Registrar Ms. Elisa Beckett-Flores proposed the date and Board of F inance member Ms. Peggy Katkocin served as moderator for the vote.

The proposed 7.56% budget increase is lower than what was o riginally thought might be put forward to voters, but still quite high in comparison to all increases in the past decade, save for a spike in the FY 23-24 budget.

 In addition, residents head to the polls with five-year revaluations in hand which, on average, raised home values in New Fairfield by over 50%. The message was conveyed throughout the budget process that, since everything has gone up very significantly, the mill rate will accordingly come down. At the BOF’s March 5 meeting, member Mr. Wes Marsh explained that resident tax implications will vary greatly, depending on their assessment, “we just cannot say, your tax increase is going to be 6%” because “some could be 6%, some could be 8%, some could be 4%, some could be over 10%. So it is going to be tough,” M arsh said. He suggested that residents review the assessment that they received this year and compare it to the assessment they paid for the past four years, and they can deduce the percentage increase.

Given all of the above, BOF members—all Town officials really—and close followers of the budget process are extraordinarily eager to see how residents respond to the vote.