MONROE, Conn. — First Selectman Terry Rooney proposed an $111.9 million town budget for fiscal year 2026-27 that includes a 3.68 percent tax increase. The municipal side of the ledger will now be reviewed by the Town Council, before the Board of Finance reviews the entire package, which includes funding for Monroe’s public schools.
Voters will decide on a final proposal during a referendum to be held on May 5.
“This budget reflects an increase in our investment in education of $2 million over the current year, which shows Monroe’s commitment to investing in education, understanding of education’s impact on home values, and the overall importance education has in our Monroe Community,” Rooney wrote in a letter on the town website, introducing his proposal.
Rooney reduced the Board of Education’s requested increase of $3.6 million by $1.6 million, so spending for town schools would increase by 2.68 percent. This is after the Board of Education reduced Superintendent Joseph Kobza’s proposal by $250,000. Overall, the Board of Education budget would increase from $74,700,763 to $76,700,763.
“This significant increase to [the] Board of Education is primarily due to medical insurance premiums and salaries as they relate to education operations,” Rooney said.
Municipal expenditures for town services and debt service would increase by $2,070,233 or 6.33 percent, from $32,692,912 to $34,763,145.
“An investment of $2,070,233 shows Monroe’s commitment to investing in infrastructure and service improvements that our Town deserves, while also negotiating fair contracts to retain municipal staff and substantial increases to medical insurance costs for fiscal year 2026/2027,” Rooney said.
The first selectman is proposing a 1.06 mill increase to the mill rate, which is used to calculate individual tax bills, raising the rate from 28.67 to 29.73 mills. Individual tax bills can be calculated by multiplying one’s assessed property value by the mill rate and then dividing by 1,000.
Rooney said this represents an average monthly household tax increase of $30 to $35 based on a median home value of $524,740.
To lessen the impact on taxpayers, the first selectman is asking that $2,706,000 be used from the general fund to offset the increase in property taxes.
“This request is a significant down trend from the current budget, in which $4.6 million of fund balance was used to reduce the impact of the State mandated revaluation,” Rooney said. “This will leave a projected unassigned fund balance of $18,875,531, which will keep the Town of Monroe above the high end of the established range.”
Monroe’s grand list increased by $49.9 million, from $3,269,403,926 to $3,319,313,121.
“This nearly $50 million increase in the grand list proves a consistent trend of healthy investment in Monroe, which will increase tax revenue by approximately $1.5 million,” Rooney said. “There are no commercial tax abatements currently connected to these new additions.”
The first selectman praised the work and leadership of the Economic Development Department for the economic growth.
He said $597,384 has been received in grant funding, while $358,450 in applications are awaiting a decision, “justifying the return on investment of our grant writer.”
“This administration will continue looking for viable grants for the Town and for the Board of Education as this initiative promotes working together and continues to exhaust any and every opportunity available to lower the tax burden to those who live and operate businesses in Monroe,” Rooney wrote.
He said this budget proposal is the “best case scenario to satisfy the lowest level of taxpayer impact, while funding negotiated labor contracts and a 15 percent ($2.2 million) increase in medical insurance from the State Partnership Health Plan for both the Town and Board of Education.”
“When preparing this budget proposal, this administration continued to control the tax burden on our residents, while allocating appropriate funding for goods and services to maintain operations and address expressed community concerns,” Rooney said. “This budget is an ecosystem where all Town citizens have a vested benefit and where our employees are given the tools to perform at the highest level. It is imperative to recognize that this budget was influenced through input from the community, trending cost, property revaluation, and the overall performance of Town services.”
Rooney said his budget proposal:
- Minimizes tax burden to our residential property and business owners
- Lowers reliance on Monroe’s healthy fund balance
- Includes financial support for further enhancements to Senior Tax Relief
- Invests in the future of Education to balance growing needs
- Invests in public safety, municipal employee retention, infrastructure, roads, and park maintenance
- Continues Grant Writer/Special Projects Coordinator for BOE and Town needs
- Continues Online services (OpenGov) for both mobile and PC user interface for permitting in the land use departments
- Continues Homeowner Tax Credit for 100% service-connected permanent and totally disabled veterans
- Allocates funding for one additional custodian for municipal buildings
- Union negotiated agreements for Clerical, Police and Highway Union
- Increased budget for summertime workers in Parks and Recreation
- Supports continued community events and Park activities
- Supports and continues cyber-security initiatives on both Board of Education and Town side
- Continues the Town run paving operations
“In closing, the message to Monroe taxpayers is that the main focus of this budget is to deliver the lowest tax impact possible while continuing initiatives that have proven successful, either by producing a better standard of living or by mitigating taxes in Monroe,” Rooney wrote. “My Administration believes that the budget presented for fiscal year 2026/2027 is the best possible path forward while considering the quality of services and maintaining responsible funding for education.”
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