Waterford ― The Board of Finance approved a tax rate of 21.20 mills Wednesday night, a decrease of 6.36 mils.

The new tax rate comes after the Representative Town Meeting approved a $102 million budget last week. The decrease in the tax rate is the result of the town’s revaluation of all real estate, automobiles and personal property such as business equipment and the corresponding increase in the grand list.

To determine their new tax bills, property owners can take their new assessment, divide it by 1,000 and multiply that number by 21.20. They can then compare that to their current tax bill.

The board debated using $1,033,598 of the unassigned fund balance, money that had been returned by town department heads at the end of the 2022 fiscal year, to further decrease the tax rate, but decided to approve the initial tax rate proposed by Finance Director Kim Allen.

Board member John Sheehan explained the board previously used the general fund balance to offset the tax rate in 2010, which increased 3% that year. The town did not use the funds the following year and saw a 6% increase.

Sheehan said the town currently has more than $23 million in its unassigned fund balance. First Selectman Rob Brule has plans to potentially use about $10 million for his capital improvement plan.

About $1 million of the unassigned fund will be used if and when the Board of Education requests additional funding that had been cut from its proposed budget by the RTM.

The finance board has a policy that there should not be more than $13 million, or about 13% of the town budget, in the fund.

Sheehan said $10 million to $13 million is reasonable to have in the general fund.

k.arnold@theday.com

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the use of the unassigned fund balance in 2011 and in the first selectman’s capital improvement plan.