08/18/09 The Raw Greenwich News Feed: This Just In ......

Greenwich could face a nearly 8 percent property tax spike unless ... Greenwich Time By Neil Vigdor If a 3.5 percent property tax increase was too much to stomach this year, wait until next year. According to a preliminary forecast by the town's Finance Department, property owners could be facing a 7.67 increase in the tax rate come the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2010. To get back to the 3.5 percent annual rate increase that residents and businesses have grown accustomed to this entire decade, $11.8 million must be shed from the $366 million projected budget, the forecast shows. Architects of the budget emphasized that the forecast, which was developed in mid-July, is subject to dramatic changes that could bode better than expected for the town's finances. "The budget has a lot of moving parts," said Larry Simon, a member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation's Budget Committee. "You never know until February how the parts are going to fit together." First Selectman Peter Tesei downplayed the report's significance ...

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