Town Budget & Your Taxes

Although the Boards of Finance and Education have kept spending down, an increase in Orange's student population at Amity has resulted in an additional cost to us of approximately $1 million.  Amity represents 37 percent of the overall Orange budget. Despite this student population infusion, the total town of Orange budget will increase only 0.7%.

"Over the past three years, our Boards of Finance and Education have worked to minimize the impact on taxpayers by seeking out and implementing management strategies that have the common objective of doing more with less. We have accomplished this through a close examination of spending." Jim Zeoli said.

BOND RATING REAFFIRMED - Why is this Important?
First Selectman Jim Zeoli is pleased to announce that Moody's has reaffirmed the Aa2 rating for the town of Orange. "This positive outlook is huge for us during the poor economy. Our financial strength is a result of the strong undesignated fund balance."

Moody's also credits town officials for implementing new financial management policies requiring that at least 12.5 percent of the general budget be maintained in the fund balance.

The report notes that the town's fund balance dropped to a low of $2.3 million in 2001, or just 6.3 percent of revenues, but since then it's been built up substantially.  This low fund balance occurred during prior Democratic administrations.



 

Economic Development

Building for the Future

Construction of The United Illuminating Co.’s $90 million headquarters and operations center complex is already showing benefeits for the Town of Orange. The headquarters building will open in March 2012 and the operations center is slated to open three months later. Customers of the New Haven-based utility will also benefit because Orange is a more centralized location for an operations center and has direct access to Interstate 95, he said. UI’s current operations center is in Shelton. Orange First Selectman James Zeoli called UI’s decision to develop its corporate complex in town “the pinnacle of my (political) career.”

According to the New Haven Register," United Illuminating has cemented its long-term relationship with the town" through a 40-year lease agreement with the Foyer family to build a 140,000-square-foot corporate office building. The 22-acre site, in close proximity to the future operations center, will house the approximately 400 employees who currently work in New Haven. In addition to the real estate property tax revenue, the town will also benefit from property taxes on vehicles used for the operations center. The addition of over 1000 United Illuminating jobs in Orange will certainly be a welcome stimulus for our local businesses.

Zeoli acknowledges,"UI is a strong sound company that will be here for the long-term and help keep the tax base stable."