Michael DiGiovancarlo

Our new two-year balanced and bipartisan state budget is delivering historic tax cuts and funding for Waterbury. Our city is expected to get a $6 million boost in motor vehicle tax reimbursements in Fiscal Year 2024 compared to this year. The budget also continues our 32.4 mill car tax cap, which is significant since Waterbury has one of the highest mill rates in the entire state.

At the same time, schools needed more resources, so the House of Representatives prioritized local educational spending. We are making historic investments in Education Cost Sharing (ECS) funds, which help reduce local property taxes and make it easier for our urban schools to recruit and retain teachers.

Waterbury will receive an increase of nearly $7.8 million in Fiscal Year 2024 and another $17.5 million in Fiscal Year 2025, for a total increase of approximately $25.3 million for the next two years. 

The budget also prioritized higher education by significantly boosting funding to our state colleges and universities and expanding our debt-free community college programs.

We also focused on saving taxpayers’ dollars thanks to historic tax cuts. The bill includes the largest personal income tax cut in our state’s history. Below are some of the highlights:

• Cuts the 3% and 5% marginal income tax rates
• Eliminates even more retirement income taxes by smoothing the benefit cliff of those with pension, annuity, and IRA income
• Eliminates state income taxes on families of four making up to $50,000

I am grateful for your input and for all the hard work my colleagues put into producing a balanced budget that reflects some of state's greatest needs. In the coming weeks, I will further break down provisions in the budget and how it impacts you.

If you have any questions or comments about this or any other legislation, please reach out to my office.