Middletown wants to continue to make forward strides while reigning in budget spending a bit.
That was the underlying message of an all-day workshop with the Town Council Saturday from Town Hall, a local tradition that marks the unofficial start of the annual budget preparation process.
As part of this effort, Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown said the proposed municipal budget represented a 2.5 percent increase for Fiscal 2025, with a 4 percent increase reserved for education. These numbers include the cost of the new middle-high school and are in line with current inflation rates.
He noted there were no major reductions planned in the town and school numbers, but more of a tightening of operations and making better use of existing resources.
Before the Fiscal 2025 totals are finalized, the Town Council has to conduct a detailed review of all the numbers. Public hearings are planned for May 22 and 29. Information is always available at https://mdl.town/FY25 and feedback can be submitted at https://mdl.town/Helps online.
“One of the messages we’ve heard from the council, our residents and businesspeople is we need to do better with what we have,” Brown said. “Every dollar matters here, but we understand and more than appreciate what people are saying. At the same time, we don’t want to gut the services that people have grown accustomed to and expect from us, so I believe we’ve struck a compromise with the Fiscal 2025 budget.”
Earlier this month, Brown and his staff released the proposed tax rates for Middletown residents of $8.65 per $1,000 of assessed value compared to $11.25 for nonresidents. For commercial property owners, the preliminary rate was $12.98 per $1,000 of assessed value.
In real dollars, that means a $5,545 tax bill for a median residential home of $641,000, up from $5,445 now, or a $100 hike. For nonresidential property owners, the projected Fiscal 2025 tax bill would be $7,229 for a median home assessed at $642,750, or a $1,430 increase.
Under state law, the town can set a split residential tax rate no greater than 50 percent between Middletown homeowners and nonresidents in a revaluation year.
Known locally as the Tiered Residential Tax Programthe TRTP was enacted in 2022 by the Town Council to help make Middletown more affordable for residents.
Figures from the Tax Assessors office indicate of the 5,138 residential properties in Middletown, 2,978 participate in the TRTP, or about 58 percent.
Opening the budget session at 8 am sharp, council President Paul M. Rodrigues thanked the town and school staff for all their hard work to make the all-day budget session a reality.
He went onto ask for a moment of silence for the passing of Sherry Naso, the wife of Middletown Police Detective Scott Naso. Rodrigues said as a community, every loss hits hard.
“Everyone is part of this Middletown family,” said Rodrigues, extending the town’s thoughts and prayers to the Nasos. “When you lose somebody, especially when this young, it makes you reflect.”
From there, the council moved into the emergency service budgets for police and fire, public works and beyond. All told, more than 20 departments and budgets were covered, some taking minutes, others involving longer conversations.
Time and again, department heads said they’re fully staffed and holding the line on their budgets throughout.
None said they had any significant asks for the budget, but wanted to follow Brown’s directive of holding the line to 2.5 percent.
To see the preliminary town budget from Brown, visit https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/12425/TA-Budget-Package online. For a high-level summary of that document, go to https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/12424/Budget-Workshop-Presentation-FY2025-4_27_24 online.
For the first time, budget ideas and suggestions from the council and staff were tracked in real time to hone and focus the financial conversation. To check out that document, go to https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/12426/Tracker-1 online.
Going into the lunch break, Brown reminded everyone that suggestions and input were always open at https://mdl.town/Helps online.
Following a well received lunch from Pickles on upper Aquidneck Avenue, school officials came in to talk about their proposed 4 percent budget.
Welcoming Superintendent Rosemarie K. Kraeger for her last all-day budget session, Rodrigues and the rest of the council applauded the appointment of Gaudet Middle School Principal William Niemeyer, who is taking over the top Middletown school job on July 1.
Sitting side-by-side, Kraeger and Niemeyer said they believed the district was in good shape, something backed by the numbers and successes of the students and staff.
However, they acknowledged there was more work to be done to improve student achievement across the board as well as the Middletown school experience, things that are within reach.
Everyone in the room agreed that by working together, the schools — particularly the finances — were back on track, something no one said happened easily or should be taken lightly.
The council President Rodrigues said he was proud of all that has been accomplished by collaborating and consensus, with about a $1 million budget surplus in Fiscal 2023 and another surplus expected in the current Fiscal 2024 if everything goes according to plan.
“We’re going in the right direction…” Kraeger said. “We did this together. We are Middletown. We are strong.”
Rodrigues said everyone at the table understood that if there was more money available for education, it would be great, but the council has to consider the taxpayers and find a reasonable balance.
Paraphrasing former New England Patriots football coach Bill Belichick, Rodrigues said “We’re going to make decisions based on what’s best for the team.”
“We’ve come a long way and it was a pleasure to work with the town,” School Committee Chair Theresa Spengler said.
