Selectmen said the average taxpayer received a $250 properlty tax increase last year.
LUDLOW - Selectmen met with town department heads and Finance Committee members last week and said they need to come up with at least $800,000 in savings in next year’s budget so taxpayers are not hit with a big tax increase.
The average taxpayer received a $250 property tax increase last year and has received property tax increases in prior years as well, Selectman William Rooney said.
Rooney said he received many calls of complaint about the tax increase.
The taxpayers cannot tolerate a similar increase this year, he said.
The town’s health insurance costs are projected to rise more than $400,000, he said.
Officials in Wilbraham have already voted to inform employees in collective bargaining units that they will negotiate increased co-pays this year.
Wilbraham selectmen said there is a proposal to increase health insurance co-pays from $50 to $100 for emergency room visits, $10 to $20 for doctor’s visits, to $35 for visits to specialists, to $100 for use of an MRI machine and $500 for admission to a hospital.
“We will be looking for savings in health insurance co-pays,” Ludlow Selectman Antonio Dos Santos said.
Rooney said, “We cannot afford health insurance increases.”
He added, “Otherwise, we will have layoffs and service reductions.
Selectmen Chairman Aaron Saunders said selectmen at the annual Town Meeting also will be proposing to increase the restaurant meals tax by .75 percent to offset the property tax rate.
If residents approve the increase, it could generate an additional $200,000 in property tax revenue, Saunders said.
State aid to the town is expected to be level funded next year, Saunders said.