A status quo budget has been presented to the Danbury City Council. The school budget is $2.6 million more than last fiscal year. City spending is up 2.6 percent. That's statutorily under the new state spending cap of 2.5 percent because some state spending doesn’t count toward the cap. The mill rate is going up .24, a less than one percent increase. The average household’s property tax bill will go up about $50 for the entire year.

Boughton is proposing the creation of two new basketball courts, and the expansion of the Library parking lot.

There will be no increase in sewer and water rates because the City is waiting to see if the new EPA reduces phosphorus removal mandates.

Spending is going up, because a new wing of the high school, the Freshman Academy, is opening up this fall. Staffing the new academy is the biggest driver in the budget. 12 vacant municipal positions will be filled at a later date saving the city $500,000.

None of the new revenue from the state was included in the budget so that the City can be in the best possible position when the state finally adopts a budget, for example Boughton didn’t assume that the City could start taxing Danbury Hospital. He says he didn’t want to be put in a position of having to send out supplemental tax bills based on what the state does, nor be in the position of operating with a huge surplus.

After 14 years, Boughton says City officials have been able to wean Danbury off using the savings account to help offset tax increases. No money from the savings account is being spent this year. There's no one-shot sources of revenue, selling off properties and the like.

With the exception of $3 million in notes, all capital spending—roads, bridges, roof repairs—is pay as you go. Boughton says that way taxpayers can know that the City is not racking up a long term debt for future generations.