City eyes single-digit tax increase

NORWICH – The Common Council met Tuesday night to discuss the 2007 city budget. Although the budget is not finalized, the city is discussing a possible 6.5 percent increase in the tax rate.

City Finance Director William Roberts had the floor for the majority of the meeting. He explained that when he initially comprised the numbers, the tax increase looked like it would be much higher.

“When I first began working on the budget, I comprised the numbers from the general fund, and it looked like it would be a 38 percent tax increase, without any significant changes,” Roberts said. The city has worked to make changes to the budget, cutting or reducing some programs and shifting money from one area to another. “With the changes, we could get the tax rate increase down to a single digit,” Roberts said.

The council looked at areas that could potentially be cut or sized back. Cuts to the Youth Bureau budget were discussed at length. City of Norwich Youth Bureau Director Bob Mason discussed the cuts he had to make to his budget. “The youth budget has been decreased every year since 2000,” Mason said, explaining that the youth budget had already been scaled back by $2,000. In addition to those initial changes, Mason explained that he could cut his budget more by decreasing one lifeguard position during swimming lessons, eliminate some bus trips and reduce the hours of the recreation coordinator position, along with other changes. The proposed changes would save the city an additional $7,944.