First Selectman's Reports
March 11, 2025 (Budget Message)
Mar 11, 2025
A public record published by the Town of Simsbury (simsbury-ct.gov). mySimsbury indexes it and makes it readable; it is not the official copy. View the original file.
Town of Simsbury 933 HOPMEADOW STREET ~ SIMSBURY, CONNECTICUT 06070 Wendy Mackstutis – First Selectman Telephone (860) 543-3770 An Equal Opportunity Employer wmackstutis@simsbury-ct.gov www.simsbury-ct.gov 8:30 am - 7:00 pm Monday 8:30 am - 4:30 pm Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 8:30 am - 1:00 pm Friday March 11, 2025 To: The Board of Finance Simsbury Friends, Neighbors, and Taxpayers I am extremely proud to present the Board of Selectmen budget message for Fiscal Year 2025/2026. Before I move along, I would like to thank our Town Manager, Marc Nelson, for working hard to reduce the cost of town services before passing his budget on to us. His budget resulted in over $350,000 in reductions across all departments and included the elimination of a position that was approved, and not filled, in FY25. All departments were asked to dig deep and find savings to pass on to the residents of our community. Once the budget became ours, we spent 2 nights (one very long!) working to reduce this budget even further. We looked at all expenditures and were not afraid to ask questions and make cuts regardless of size. This resulted in an additional $157,852 in reductions to the Town Manager’s budget. We also looked at revenues and found some opportunities there. The Board felt we could further increase the Town Manager’s proposed building permit fees and have included the additional estimate in the mill rate calculation. We hope that it passes after the required public hearing on March 24, 2025. Proposed Eno rental fees were bumped up a bit, too. The Board voted to take advantage of a newly passed change to the motor vehicle (MV) depreciation schedule that was built to help municipalities recoup some of the lost Grand List due to the new MV taxes now based on the manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP). That helped! On the capital side, we started looking at Capital Non-Recurring (CNR) in late 2024 and Board members participated in ranking the 2026 items. This made the process easier during the budget workshops, as most of the items included had already been discussed and agreed upon. There is still work to do, as we have a list of future year CNR items that will need to be re-prioritized and funded. For the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), Marc presented us with a FY26 plan that came in below the Board of Finance (BOF) guidance, to help reduce debt service. Going forward, we have work to do here, too, prioritizing and planning out Town needs, as many items are still in an ‘UNFUNDED’ category. For now, the current and out years align to the BOF guidance of $10M in bonding over each 2-year period. This budget was voted on unanimously by the 6 members of our Board, and as members of the community, we understand how much each tax increase hurts all of us. We did our best to minimize the impact in this year of minimal grand list growth, cost increases, and state requirements. I want to thank Town staff for working with us to get here, as there was a great amount of collaboration across all teams. As a result of our collective hard work, the Operating Budget stands at $29,737,084, an $852,275 increase (or 2.95%) over last year. This increase is under the current rate of inflation of 3.0%. The projected Mill Rate on the Town side is 33.01 (excluding 1.05 Fire District) which is a 2.32% increase over last year. This is under the current Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) which is at 2.5%. Our tax dollars can be seen working just about everywhere in Town. The Flower Bridge renovation is underway, and we plan to be there having burgers later this year. Latimer Lane School opened in 2024 and is a state-of-the-art place of learning for our K-6 students. New sidewalks have been completed in different parts of Town making it easier for people to get around safely. Our roads are in great shape, and with all the snow this winter, we’ve been able to get out of our driveways. K9 Clifton is a town- and state-wide sensation, with many municipalities now following this trend. We have a fully staffed HR department supporting both current and retired Town employees, and our Police Department records office improvements are well underway. The investments made to Parks & Rec., the Library, and our Senior Center are done so that everyone can take advantage of Town facilities. Simsbury Farms Golf Course just opened the driving range, so I guess Spring is here. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope it provided a good context for the fiscal year 2026 budget. Now it’s in the hands of the Board of Finance for this next round, and then on to Referendum. Please Vote! Feel free to reach out to me, or any member of the Board of Selectmen, with questions. Thanks, Wendy