Groton — The Town Council on Tuesday set the tax rate for fiscal year 2022 at 25.98 mills, an increase of 0.87 mill over the current tax rate of 25.11 mills.

The tax rate increase means that a homeowner with a home assessed at $100,000 who currently pays $2,511 in taxes would pay $87 more in taxes, or $2,598, in fiscal year 2022, according to an analysis provided by the town. A homeowner with a home assessed at $200,000 who currently pays $5,022 in taxes would pay $174 more in taxes, or $5,196, under the new tax rate next year. A homeowner with a home assessed at $300,000 who currently pays $7,533 in taxes would pay $261 more in taxes, or $7,794, next year.

The budget for next year stands at $137,644,367, which is a 5.5% increase over the current year’s budget, following adjustments made by the Representative Town Meeting.

The RTM removed $92,000 from the budget approved by the Town Council. The reductions were $2,000 from the voter registration budget and $90,000 from the capital reserve contribution.

Town Manager John Burt said the $2,000 was intended for proposed raises for the registrars of voters but the town realized that wage increases for elected officials, including voter registrars, need to be handled differently than town employees. The state's rules say the officials must be at least two years into the current term to receive a salary increase, so the town was not able to give them raises at this time.

The $90,000 reduction in capital reserves was for the Sutton Park restroom project, Burt said. The facility being planned had both male and female restrooms, but the RTM decided that one unisex bathroom was sufficient to meet the demand of traffic in Sutton Park, he said.

Burt had said in presenting his initial budget proposal that the increases for next year are mainly due to bonds for the Groton 2020 school plan, along with capital projects, requests from Groton’s subdivisions, benefits, contributions to health and service agencies and new staff positions.

The budget for next year uses $2,851,000 of unassigned fund balance, which would leave the balance at an estimated 19.84% of the fiscal year 2022 budget.

During Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting prior to the Town Council meeting, Councilor Portia Bordelon asked if the town should use more of the fund balance to alleviate the burden on taxpayers. The council ultimately decided to use the proposed amount of fund balance to leave sufficient funding as a buffer against potential expenses the town may be facing soon, such as from pending tax litigation or if the school district comes off of the Alliance District list. Alliance Districts are low-performing districts that receive extra funding each year from the state.

k.drelich@theday.com