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Westport Referendum20250618

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Here is the answer to many questions I am getting these days – incoming questions without once having publicized the matter.

IS THERE A REFERENDUM FOR THAT LARGE TAX INCREASE the RTM JUST APPROVED?

Why yes, I have a referendum you can sign regarding the $103 million appropriation to build an elementary school. You can sign it. You can gather signatures. All signatures must be turned into the Town Clerk no later than 4:30 p.m. June 26, 2025. A copy of the petition is attached in this posting below (be sure to print it double-sided).

Or, you can ignore it and wait before screaming when you open your tax bill one year from now and the 4 percent tax increase registers, in black and white.

Four percent? Translation: If you own a $1.4 million home, you will pay $800 more per year; if you own the “average” $2.1 million Westport home, you will pay $1,200 more per year than you did this year. Your personal property and motor vehicle taxes will rise 4 percent as well.

My referendum petition asks voters to REDUCE the size of the appropriation to $90 million. That’s because I want a new school built to replace the rotting, moldy, unhealthy and shabby Long Lots school to which hundreds of parents are currently and willingly sending their children.

Still, I think $129 million is too much for a safe, well-functioning elementary school. How did I get to $129 million?

· $103 million in the latest appropriation

· $6.7 million previously appropriated

· $20 million in debt service interest

= $129 million total cost

Actually, I think $90 million is too much because $26.7 million are already sunk costs. But I can’t delve more into the appropriation because the town has refused to provide specific financial details. For example, how much is being spent on building two state-of-the-art “multipurpose” fields? The preliminary state grant documents show that out of the original $98 million requested, zero is allocated to fields. But just FYI the town has confirmed they are running electrical conduit pipes out to said fields. And Planning and Zoning Members are stomping their feet for artificial turf fields (which the town says will not be reimbursed by the state).

Instead of sharing these details, town officials and your elected representatives contrived two secret meetings to deliberate the financial details under the cover of phantom RFP contracts (which WAS NOT the topic of the meetings). In fact, the Representative Town Meeting moderator went out of his way to contrive a secret meeting at which all RTM members could attend without being FOIA’d. (I have the receipts on this if you want to see them.). The final RTM vote, 35 members of the RTM voted in favor of this tax increase, yet 12 of them voted blindly – they did not deliberate the financial details because they did not attend the secret meeting and were not given the secret numbers. If your rep is among those 12, that is taxation without representation.

So I compromised by asking for a reduction of $90 million. In order to get this question on the ballot, 10 percent of the voters registered in the town of Westport – that’s 1,860 -- need to sign the referendum by June 26. That is an extraordinarily ambitious and humbling challenge. Andrew Collabella nevertheless declared to his elected colleagues not to worry, “She’ll never get the signatures.” Duh.

It is indeed a longshot. I knew this going in.

I also knew that none of this was enough to keep me from going to Michigan this week to celebrate my Dad’s 96^th birthday.

KNOW WHAT VICTORY LOOKS LIKE

There are still many victories to celebrate through this daunting challenge.

I hope that my efforts on this help to bring awareness to the public’s right to know why and how we are being taxed. Specific details of the $103M appropriation have not been disclosed to the public but have been available to a handful through secret meetings. I continue to fight for this information. We have a right to know.

Appropriation deliberations are NOT exempt from the Open Meetings Act; these executive sessions of the RTM and Board of Finance were not deliberations about an RFP or contract negotiations but about how much tax to appropriate to the citizens of Westport. In this case, it will be a 4% hike.

Additionally, I hope my actions are enlightening in another way:.

Every Westport citizen should be familiar with the Town Charter provisions for referendum, on either ordinances or appropriations. This is a right of every citizen.

I am proud that I:

• Know my rights;

• Exercise my rights; and

• Have the courage and ability to publicly engage and ask questions about the taxes that are or will be bestowed upon me.

Here’s the tax increase background

Taxes will go up 4% over the current year 2024/25 tax rates; Westport is on a fiscal year July 1-June 30. The current tax rate in effect is $18.62 mills on a Grand List (total assessed property value) of $11,616,471,195.

Here are tax-effect numbers on homeowners from the town’s finance director reflecting the 2024/25 mill rate of $18.62 per $1,000 of assessed value. Mr. Conrad said at the RTM meeting that the average home market value is about $2 million today (the chart shows an assessed value of $1.5M for said home), therefore expect a $1,200 increase per year … all other things being equal.

Mr. Conrad later reconfigured his original chart at the request of Seth Braunstein to show the tax rate in comparison to the upcoming new higher tax rate for 2025/26, thereby reducing in appearance only the increase.

The mill rate for the new fiscal year starting July 1 is up $1.3% at $18.86 per $1,000. So this allowed the RTM to declare an increase of 3% -- but this math play obfuscates the real effect of the appropriation.

Further, Lee Caney chair of the BOF said at the public portion of his meeting that this new 2025/26 mill rate of $18.86 includes some padding for Long Lots, to ease the Long Lots tax burden over time.

So we will start paying for Long Lots in this coming tax year starting July 1, 2025. Tax bills are going out next week.

Property taxes will go up 4% just for this one school appropriation, not including increases from other areas in the town budget. Additionally, the mill rate also applies to motor vehicle and personal property taxes levied by the town, so those taxes are also subject to this school tax increase.

You can get more information by emailing Westport.tax2high@gmail.com, or by commenting here.

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