Board of Finance Members Walkout to Protest Lack of Transparency

As elected members of the Madison Board of Finance, we are concerned with the impact of the recently concluded property revaluation on Madison taxpayers.  

Over the last three and a half months, we have requested that First Selectman Fillmore McPherson provide either an analysis or raw data that could be used to determine that impact.  

Limited data were provided only recently after a Freedom of Information request was formally filed.  

Based on our analysis of the limited data, it is clear that there will be a significant impact on the taxpayers in Madison that will make the property tax even more regressive: The tax burden will shift to homeowners of the least expensive housing (under $250,000), whose taxes will go up 6.3%, while those whose property is valued at between one and two million dollars will see a decrease of 5.5%.  

Overall, without regard to property value, a majority of residents will see an increase of $1200 while a minority will see a decrease of …..  There are always winners and losers in any revaluation, but this was not any revaluation.  

This revaluation reflected more of the damage caused by the recklessness that brought on the collapse of the housing market, and, again, those least able to afford it are bearing the burden. 

Under State law, the town has an option to phase in the revaluation over a number of years and thus smooth the impact of tax increases in any given year.  Unfortunately, due to the administration’s failure to analyze the data itself or to make it available to us and the taxpayers of Madison,  the full Board of Selectman has not had an opportunity to evaluate that option.  

We attempted to make the case at a special Board of Finance meeting Wednesday night, but we didn’t have enough votes to stop the Board from conducting business as usual and  setting the mill rate for the coming fiscal year.

As a result, we took the drastic step of walking out of the special meeting at which only one member of the public was present, procedurally preventing the vote on the mill rate.  

The Board of Finance will have another special meeting Thursday night to try again. 

We will boycott that meeting and any future meeting on the mill rate until the Board of Selectman has done its duty and considered whether a phase-in of the revaluation is warranted.  

The taxpayers and voters of Madison deserve to know the impact of the revaluation so that they can participate in the decision about how the revaluation and mill rate will be handled. 

If the Board of Selectmen refuse to act, the voters have the option to petition for a town meeting where the phase-in can be approved. 

We take our role on the Board of Finance seriously, and we want to make sure that this critical issue is addressed transparently and thoughtfully, with full knowledge of the facts by town officials, as well as the public.  

This is the public’s business and it needs to be done in public.

Scott Gyllensten and Bennett Pudlin
Democratic members of the Board of Finance