During the 2022 Connecticut State legislative session, the Town’s reimbursement rate was changed from 18.93% for new construction and 28.93% for renovation to a new rate of 30% for the entire project. This increase results in an additional $14.7 million of the project cost being reimbursed by the State of Connecticut.
In order to use a portion of the additional funds to increase the project budget to address overages due to inflation, a referendum must be held. This is a procedural vote required by Town law, even though the total cost to the Town will actually decrease.
With the additional reimbursement from the State of Connecticut, the net municipal cost (the amount that the Town of Farmington will pay for the project) will now be less than what was anticipated at the June 2021 referendum. At that time, the net municipal cost was anticipated to be $109.3 million. With an additional appropriation of $9.7 million, the net municipal cost will now be $104.3 million – $5 million less than the original 2021 budget.