Vote Yes For A Charlestown Budget That Pays Down Debt
Charlestown’s town government has been fiscally conservative for many years, and this has made Charlestown one of Rhode Island’s most solvent towns and resulted in ours being one of the lowest tax rates in the state.
We base the tax payment to Chariho on an estimate of school population, but students move away without notice. Unexpected drops in enrollment, along with road projects coming in under bid, has resulted in the recent unexpected budget surpluses.
The maximum surplus recommended by the town’s auditors is 25% of the town’s operating budget. Charlestown currently has an additional $3 million over that 25% maximum. That money should be put to work for our taxpayers.
If this year’s budget passes, Charlestown will be able to maintain the good quality of life we have come to cherish, to invest in our town’s future stability, and to reduce our tax rate from $9.23 to $8.20 per thousand of assessed value (while Hopkinton’s tax rate is $20.68 and Richmond’s is $21.88).
To reduce the tax rate and work to maintain its stability, the following are transferred from the surplus:
- $1.3 million to be used for some of the town’s operating expenses, which will reduce the tax rate for a second year.
- $1 million payment for Charlestown Police Pensions, which will more adequately fund their pension plan and which will also lower our future payments.
- $344,000 for payment of Open Space bonding.
- $275,000 to pay other debt, such as leases, and payments to the retirement trust for town staff and workers in the Department of Public Works.
The nearly $3 million are debts or obligations that the town owes or will owe. Although this shows as “spending,” it is not new or unnecessary spending! It is paying our bills and protects taxpayers now and in the future and still leaves the surplus at the maximum level of 25% with room to weather the pandemic, hurricanes, and support future spending that the community might desire.
May 16, 2020 @ 9:06 am
In this budget, the total tax revenue collected by the town is almost exactly the same as last year. Last year this amount was $22.9 Million. In this year’s budget it is proposed to be about $23 Million. That works out to an increase of $70,000.00 or a 0.31% change, which is much lower than the 2019 inflation rate of 2.3%.
After the state mandated revaluation, the grand list (the total value of all property in town) was about $2.84 Billion. Last year’s figure was $2.57 Billion. The increase in property value for the whole town is about $271 Million. This increase in Grand List value is up about 11% over last year.
Because the Grand List has increased while the Tax Revenue Collected is proposed to stay the same, the tax rate will go down. The tax rate will go from $9.23 to $8.20 per thousand of assessed value. This represents a reduction of 11.6% in the tax rate. The tax rate has also been reduced by paying $1.3 million of the town’s operating expenses with the surplus account. That was also done last year.
The state mandates that towns have a property tax revaluation every three years. Charlestown hired a consultant company that concluded a statistical revaluation in December of 2019. The valuations are based on nearby property sales and other data to adjust existing assessed values to reflect market trends since the last revaluation. The grand list went up about 11%, and the tax rate went down about 11%. People who had an assessment that went up over 11% will see a tax increase. People whose assessments went up less than 11% will see a smaller tax bill. Half of the assessment change is below 11% and half is above. So some people pay less and some more, but the total amount collected is staying the same.
May 15, 2020 @ 2:16 pm
No question the town has been conservative in its spending, but you are being completely dishonest when you talk about the tax rate. Yes you are reducing the tax rate to 8.20 which is about a 10% decrease however the town recently went through a re-evaluation and nearly everyone’s property value has increased dramatically. So the rate may be down but most people will pay more. I know my own property valuation increased 31% and my taxes will increase by 1800.00. Let’s be honest with the taxpayers for a change.
May 16, 2020 @ 9:18 am
As explained in my comment above the revaluation for the entire town went up 11% and the tax rate went down 11% and there is also $1.3 million transfer from surplus that was added this year and last to also reduce the tax rate. Meaning it would have been higher this year and last without that boost from surplus. My own assessment went up over 20%, but that was not a surprise because my neighbor sold his house for 40% more than the assessment in the fall 2019. My neighbor was happy, me not so much 🙂 . But for each of us with a higher valuation, there are others whose values went up much less. The pandemic has made it hard to sell houses because you can’t show them, but it is also causing people to flee cities and their jobs are allowing them to work from home permanently so we may soon see more buyers.