#MiddleburyCT #Southbury #Region15 #GainfieldElementary #PomperaugElementary #Bonding
Region 15 members Middlebury and Southbury will go to the polls Wednesday, May 6, to vote on two Region 15 questions. The first question is on the 2026-2027 Region 15 budget. The second is on bonding $224 million for construction of two new elementary schools in Southbury. The second question concerns us because of current economic conditions and because the actual amount being voted on is an unknown.
As this is written, AAA says the average price of a gallon of gas in Connecticut is $4.283. iExit.com shows diesel fuel prices ranging from $5.45 to $5.95 a gallon. Grocery prices have increased dramatically. For many, this is not the time to go into debt. Is it the right time for Region 15 to add to its existing debt, which according to the amortization schedule will not be paid off until fiscal year 2045-2046?
A last-minute development that may affect this situation is an April 28, 2026, announcement by Governor Ned Lamont that he will provide $170 million in school funding. How that may or may not help Region 15 is not yet clear. The press release says the funding will keep classrooms running and “close critical funding gaps in school budgets.” How much, if any, of the money will come to Region 15 is unknown at press time.
Now, let’s look at voting on an unknown number. The question reads, “Shall Regional School District Number 15 appropriate $224,000,000 for the construction of two new elementary schools to replace Pomperaug Elementary School and Gainfield Elementary School, and authorize the issue of bonds and notes in the same amount to finance the appropriation; such borrowing authorization shall be reduced by grants received (currently estimated to be 64.2% of eligible costs)?” Please note the amount estimated from grants is 64.2%. The actual amount could be more. It could be less. But if voters pass the question, they are handing over to Region 15 control of the amount taxpayers will owe.
Note also that the grant percentage applies only to eligible costs, and we are given no information on how much of the total costs are eligible. While 64.2% of $224 million is $143.8 million, the $224 million includes both eligible and ineligible costs. It’s clear the reduction will be less than $143.8 million; It is not clear how much the reduction will be.
And again, the 64.2% is only an estimated amount. What happens if the actual amount received in grants is half that, or 32.1%? That would mean the reduction would be $71.9 million if all of the $224 million were eligible costs.
Using 64.2% of $224 million, the reduction of $143.8 million would leave the towns with $80.2 million plus interest to pay, likely over a 20-year period. Splitting that amount at the current percentages in whole numbers, that would be 33% for Middlebury and 67% for Southbury. Middlebury’s portion of that would be $26.5 million and Southbury’s portion would be $53.7 million.
However, the region provided three amortization schedules – for 20, 25, and 30 years. The amount amortized is $90 million, so apparently 64.2% of the eligible costs yields an amount $10 million higher than our simple calculation. The total debt before interest would therefore be $29.7 million for Middlebury and $60.3 million for Southbury. The amortization schedules show the total amount with interest to be paid. On the 20-year schedule, that total is $129.5 million. The highest amount, on the 30-year schedule, is $148.6 million
The amortization schedules also show the effect on each town’s mill rate based on their 2025-2026 mill rate. However, the new bonding is not the only thing that will affect mill rates over the next 20 years, so the following numbers may be low. Middlebury’s current rate is 32.52. Southbury’s current rate is 24.2. Using the 20-year schedule, Middlebury’s mill rate would start increasing in the 2027-2028 tax year, rising to 32.76 from 32.52 and would continue increasing each year until 2032-2033, when it would be 34.18. It would then start decreasing, eventually reaching a low of 32.09 in 2050-2051.
Using Middlebury’s proposed 2026-2027 mill rate of 26.55 with the same increases (which may not be the correct way to do it), the 2027-2028 mill rate would be 26.79, and the high in 2032-2033 would be 28.07. For Southbury, the mill rate would rise to 24.41 from 24.2 in 2027-2028 and peak at 25.68 in 2032-2033.
Per the schedule, the 2027-2028 tax increases will be $240 per $100,000 for Middlebury and $214 per $100,000 for Southbury. For a property assessed at $500,000, Middlebury’s increase would be $1,200; the increase for Southbury would be $1,070. In the years with the highest increases, Middlebury would pay $321 per $100,000 ($1,605 on the $500,000 assessment) and Southbury would pay what appears to be $284 (part of the number is cut off), which is $1,420 on $500,000. These amounts reflect only the bonding increases and do not account for increases in town budgets or, as far as we know, educational costs increases.
While many folks worked very hard on this project and likely feel they did their best to inform taxpayers through public meetings and presentations, we feel much more should have been done. For a financial issue of this magnitude, we feel every taxpayer deserved to have a detailed analysis of the proposed projects mailed to their homes.
Editor’s note: This editorial, with minor changes for clarification here, appeared in the May 2026 print version of the Middlebury Bee-Intelligencer.
