Groton – In the last 15 years Ed Ettinger has lived in his Mystic house on Cedar Road, his taxes have gone up 280 percent, while inflation increased 40 percent during that time, he told the town and school officials during a budget public hearing Monday.

"If we had a budget referendum in this town, this budget wouldn't make it out of this door," he said during the hearing attended by about 50 people at the Groton Senior Center.

The proposed $128.47 million budget would require a tax rate increase of 1.6 mills, from 20.13 mills to 21.73 mills. The spending plan represents a 4.6 percent increase over the current year, but the impact on taxes is greater because revenue is falling.

Groton's grand list, or amount of taxable property in the town, fell by 2.2 percent, largely due to Pfizer Inc.'s decision to demolish its former research headquarters.

At the same time, the school board is seeking a $2 million increase in education spending, and the town manager is proposing an additional $3.23 million be placed in reserve for future building maintenance.

Clare Rogers of Mystic urged the town to support the education spending.

"The 2015-16 budget has been prepared without any layoffs, increased class sizes or cuts to programs," she said, while reading a letter from a Mystic couple who asked that officials support a school budget "that doesn't cut programs, staff or services that are vital to our children to reach their fullest potential."

But Mariellen French said the economic recovery hasn't reached the senior population or most of the working class, and yet the town doesn't seem to get that.

"Although many of the upper level town employees have gotten raises, most of us have not," she said. "Are you really trying to drive us out of town?"

Ron Yuhas, of South Road, said he has seen too much waste. Yuhas said he saw pallets of paper, chairs, computer screens, cabinets and other material purchased for the schools sold at a tiny fraction of its original value.

"I think some of the problems are there's a lack of organization in the way the money's being spent, in the way the product's being ordered," he said. "There was, there's just so much waste."

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim