Taxes rise under Warren budget plan; more hours for town hall workers

The owner of a $300,000 home in Warren would likely pay an additional $210 in taxes this coming year, under a preliminary budget plan approved by the Warren Town Council this week.

The council’s $24.6 million operating and school budget still faces final approval, and a public hearing at which citizen budget petitions can presented looms in three weeks.

But if passed as proposed, the budget would see a $597,307 hike in local spending with a $432,559 increase in school spending.

The expected tax hike does not include one ‘X’ factor: The impact of the town’s recent revaluation. Town officials still have not computed a new tax base and until then cannot compute a resulting tax rate.

However, the average assessment went up 9 percent, meaning that the owner of a home that saw a 9 percent rise in value will likely pay the $175 tax hike mentioned above. Those residents whose homes rose in value more than 9 percent will see a larger tax bill this year, while those whose properties rose less than 9 percent, or not at all, will see a lesser increase.

Town hall hours

One big change in this year’s budget is the extension of working hours at Warren Town Hall. Town hall unionized employees, who will be receiving a 2.5 percent pay raise per their contract, will also be paid for more hours, as they are scheduled under contract to work one additional hour per day as of July 1.

Last week, members of the Warren Town Council also decided to require non-unionized supervisory personnel at town hall to also work an additional five hours per week.

While council members agreed to give those non-union officials a 16.7 percent pay raise, they were quick to note that that is not a pay increase.

That 16.7 percent increase represents the difference in hourly pay they will receive by working 16.7 more hours per week (jumping from a 30 to 35-hour work week). The hourly rate of pay remains the same.

The next step

Any resident who wants to file a petition to change any portion of the budget must gather 50 signatures by Monday, April 10, at 4 p.m. If a petition is filed the council will hold a third public budget workshop at 7 p.m. Monday, April 17.

After that,the council has until May 1 to give final approval to the budget plan. Once that final plan is advertised, voters have an additional 10 days to file an all-day budget referendum, if they choose. If not, the budget passes as is.