Madison's budget

Thoughts on Madison’s 2013-2014 School and Town Budgets Prepared by: Madison Property Owners Association (MPOA) Did you know? • Our per capita taxes are 21% higher than the average of adjoining towns (Guilford, Durham, Killingworth and Clinton). • Madison’s proposed overall budget-to-budget increase of 3% may be compared to the current and projected consumer price index of 2%. • Our current pattern of running budget surpluses, which could be in the neighborhood of $500K, equates to an effective budget rate increase of 3.6%. • Connecticut’s population has increased 9% over twenty years while state spending has increased 153%. • Madison’s population has increased 2.3% over ten years while town spending has increased 76.8%. • Madison’s school population continues to decline, yet our Education budget continues to rise-and by a large percentage. • Our Capital Budget includes Long Term Capital Maintenance items, which are supposed to be earmarked for maintenance expenditures. -The current Strong Field $800K project is a completely new reconfiguration of the field plus other new construction items, never brought to referendum. • Many capital plans are based on prioritization such as imminent public safety, financial return, etc. The proposed budget lacks any prioritization criteria. MPOA urges all Madison property owners to attend the public hearing at 7:30PM on Monday, April 22nd at the Polson Middle School Auditorium. Also please don’t forget to vote at the Budget referendum scheduled for May 14th! Submitted by: MPOA Board of Directors, April 2013