MY TAKE - Mayor: Wallingford’s finances are ‘solid’

I have an article from the Record Journal posted on my other blog that was published on Friday January 1st regarding the state of Wallingford and the Comprehen­sive Annual Financial Report from fiscal year 2008-09.

The full article can be found at http://bit.ly/4r2fic

The summary points are:

• The town released its Comprehen­sive Annual Financial Report on Thursday December 31, 2009
• It was an audit of the 2008-09 fiscal year
• It showed an increase in overall revenue of more than $300,000 when compared to expenditures
• It showed a decrease in the town’s debt by more than $7 million.
• Our revenue exceeded our expenditures by $335,000
• Wallingford’s reserve accounts or the “budget balance” decreased this fiscal year from $5,880,000 to $5,801,000
• That $80,000 difference was used and not transferred back into the various reserve accounts at the end of the budget year.
• $500,000 was col­lected in delinquent taxes.
• The town’s net assets increased from $322,156,000 to $344,196,000.
• Wallingford’s debt / other financial obligations decreased from $70.71 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year to $63.28 million in 2008-09 because the town paid off sev­eral of its long-term bonds.

As usual, Wallingford is in a great place to start the budget process for 2009-10 and that kudos has to go to the Mayor for keeping a tight lid on increases and the Town departments for doing what they can to keep the costs down.

Where I am personally concerned this upcoming year is the tax collection part.

If the recession has hampered the ability for businesses and homeowners to pay their taxes then this might be a very tricky budget year.

Additionally, with costs rising despite the recession, I would expect to see some increase in taxes in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 percent.

The only way that can be avoided is by cutting services.

But what are your thoughts?

Do you think it will be more difficult this upcoming year for people to pay their tax bills or do you think it will be no worse than any other year?

Do you think the upcoming revaluation is going to cause your taxes to go up more than the increase of the costs of running the town?

Let the readers know – the comment section is open.

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