Dozens of Norwich residents, young and old, newer and longtime, came to Norwich City Hall and urged the Norwich City Council to not raise taxes.
The City Council started the first public hearing on the city’s budget for FY 2025-2026 on Wednesday night. The hearing was continued to Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Norwich City Hall. The City Council adopts a preliminary budget on May 5, and the next public hearing on the budget is May 12. A final budget must be approved by June 9.
The proposed general fund budget is from City Manager John Salomone is $154.9 million, which is a $1.27 million increase from the current year’s budget of $153.6 million. The FY 2025-2026 budget includes a 1% decrease in the general operations budget from $50.5 million to $49.96 million, a 1% increase to education from $95.68 million to $96.64 million, and a $178,410 increase to capital improvements from $2.89 million to $3.07 million.
The proposed general fund mill rate is 35.23 mills. The mill rate in the current year is 32.99, which means a 2.24 mill rate increase. In the town consolidated district, the combined mill rate would be 35.53. In the city consolidated district, the combined mill rate would be 41.19.
Residents attend the first night of the first public hearing for the FY 2025-2026 Norwich budget on Wednesday.
Burden on seniors
Luigi Chiacchietta has lived in Norwich for decades. While tax increases were something he could put up with while he was still working, a back injury six years ago means he’s on a limited income now. He’s thankful he saved up money, but he’s now considering leaving Norwich, he said.
“You’ve done nothing to help the seniors in town,” Chiacchietta said.
“We can’t make up for your shortcomings”
Not only are seniors stressed by the tax burden, but even people who are middle aged or younger.
David Smith is a lifelong Norwich resident of 50 years. He believes Norwich is going backwards. When he built his house in 2004, the taxes were $4,200. Now the taxes are $10,000, he said.
Smith wants the City of Norwich to start living within its means by saving up money, not raising taxes, he said.
“We can’t make up for your shortcomings,” he said.
Victoria Obrotsa moved to Norwich two and a half years ago. She and her boyfriend moved to the city to restore homes as an investment. While they moved out of the first house and are working on the second, the taxes seem to punish them for their hard work, she said.
Victoria Obrotsa first came to Norwich two and a half years ago. She’s lived in many major cities across the US, but was drawn to Norwich by its beauty, charm and possibilities. She wants her parents to move from Florida to the city, but their fixed income of $1,800 a month makes that unrealistic, she said.
Norwich needs to put more effort into attracting young people and businesses to the city, or else people will leave, she said.
“The Rose City of New England is special, and you have the opportunity to make something really beautiful here,” Obrotsa said.
Obrotsa would like to see a third-party audit done on the budget, she said.
Jobs at stake
With the current proposed budget, four jobs are expected to be cut, including Sally Masse’s, the Rose City Senior Center’s receptionist. While she answers almost 150 phone calls a day, she also coordinates other resources for Norwich seniors. This ranges from 550 AARP tax appointments since January to booking medical transportation, she said.
The senior center is busy as is, but becomes even busier when one person is off. With a growing senior population in Norwich, it makes more sense to add Senior Center positions, rather than taking any away, Masse said.
“The amount of money saved by cutting the position would not be worth the number of seniors affected,” she said.
Though Norwich needs to stop overspending, cutting Masse’s job, which only pays around $40,000 a year, isn’t the way to do it. Cutting her job would just be another way for the city to take from the senior citizen population, Norwich resident Joanne Philbrick said.
City Council reaction
After the first night of the hearing ended, Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom (R) remined that only the Democrats on the council approved the FY 2024 -2025 budget. He wants the City Council to name a percentage for Salomone to further cut by. Nystrom trusts Salomone to decide on the right cuts, he said.
Due to revenue shortfalls from the state, the budget Salomone created is already a 0-increase budget in spirit. Cutting more would lead to more city employee layoffs, City Councilmember Mark Bettencourt (D) said.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Norwich residents want no tax increases: what City Council says