18-Year Budget Trends Analysis — FY 2007-08 through FY 2024-25
The homeowner-side picture (per src/income-vs-spending.html): Per-capita and per-homeowner tell different stories. The tax bill on a median-priced Colchester home grew from ~$4,051 (FY 07-08) to ~$8,103 (FY 24-25) — about +1.84 pp as a share of CT median income, +2.18 pp against locally-sourced ACS5 Colchester median income. Per-capita budget eased; the bill on a typical home rose. Both are correct; the answer depends on what you own. Companion deep-dive: Income vs. Spending Trends.
A note on comparisons: This analysis uses more than one comparison group, and they are not interchangeable. DRG D is Colchester's District Reference Group — the CT State Department of Education's classification of school districts with similar family demographics (24 towns; the growth charts below use all of them). "Neighbors" are the towns bordering Colchester: East Hampton, Hebron, Marlborough, Lebanon, Salem, Bozrah, and East Haddam. Two scatter charts further down also show a four-town set — Ellington, Tolland, Ledyard, and Montville — labelled "often-compared towns" because they are the towns Colchester is most frequently measured against locally; of the four, only Ledyard is actually in DRG D (Ellington and Tolland are DRG C, Montville DRG F). How towns are compared → explains each group, what it is good and bad at, and a rule-based alternative.
What's NOT in this analysis (and what the audited numbers say): The figures here cover Colchester's general-fund adopted operating budget on the same line-item basis as the published budget book. They exclude federal/state grant pass-throughs, bonded long-term debt detail, pension/OPEB liabilities, capital projects, and special revenue funds. The "+33.5% over 18 years" headline describes the operating budget specifically — it does not describe total town-government financial obligations. For context, the most recent CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators figures (audited fiscal-year-ending 2023) show: bonded long-term debt $19.6M, net OPEB liability $5.6M, net pension liability $1.35M (Colchester's pension exposure is small because most obligations are in the state-administered MERS and teacher retirement systems, not on the town's books), annual debt service $2.3M (already in the operating budget's "Debt" line), total fund balance $11.4M (about 18% of operating budget — a healthy reserve), unassigned fund balance $8.3M. Total long-term obligations of about $26.5M against a $62.7M annual budget is moderate. For long-run fiscal health, see Colchester's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) — these summary numbers came from CT OPM dataset ej6f-y2wf, pulled 2026-05-10.
Colchester's adopted budget grew +33.5% over the 18 years (a compound rate of about 1.7% per year). The charts below compare that growth against several independent yardsticks. Each one is measured the same way — cumulative growth from FY 2007-08 to FY 2024-25 — and the budget came in below all of them. The "gap" column is how many percentage points the budget trailed each benchmark.
| Benchmark | What it measures | Cumulative growth | Budget trailed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inflation measures (deflators) | |||
| CPI-U | Prices of the household consumer basket | +51.3% | 17.8 pp |
| BLS ECI — K-12 schools | Wages + benefits paid to state/local school staff | +54.7% | 21.2 pp |
| BLS ECI — S&L gov (all functions) | Wages + benefits across all state/local government | +57.5% | 24.0 pp |
| BEA S&L government deflator | Prices of everything state/local governments buy | +59.6% | 26.1 pp |
| Reference series (what residents earn / receive) | |||
| Social Security benefit (cumulative COLA) | What a fixed retiree benefit grew to, by COLA | +51.4% | 17.9 pp |
| CT median household income | What a typical Connecticut household earns | +54.7% | 21.2 pp |
| Counterfactual baseline | |||
| "Do nothing" budget | Cost of keeping every employee and paying normal raises (no new programs, no cuts), FY 14-15 → FY 24-25 | +2.1% to +2.85%/yr | $2.5M–$7.5M |
| Colchester adopted budget | What the town actually decided to spend | +33.5% | — |
How to read this: The budget grew slower than every line in the table. Against ordinary consumer inflation (CPI-U) the gap is smallest, at 17.8 pp; against the benchmarks built to measure what towns and schools actually buy — wages, benefits, contracted services — the gap is larger, 21–26 pp. Income and Social Security are reference series, not inflation measures, but point the same way: the budget rose slower than both. And the "do nothing" baseline shows the budget grew slower than the cost of simply standing still. The detailed charts for each row appear below; the homeowner-side picture, where the tax bill on a typical home tells a different story, is on the Income vs. Spending page. Sources for every figure are cited under the relevant chart and in data-dictionary.md.
Has the budget grown faster than prices?
Colchester’s total budget grew 17.8 percentage points slower than inflation over the 18 years FY 2007-08 → FY 2024-25 (nominal against CPI-U).
Choice of inflation index. CPI-U measures the consumer basket; towns actually buy salaries, benefits, paving, special-ed services and the like, which inflate faster. Recomputed against the BEA State & Local Government Consumption Expenditures Implicit Price Deflator (FRED A829RD3A086NBEA, +59.6% cumulative), Colchester's budget ran 26.1 pp slower; against the BLS Employment Cost Index for state/local K-12 schools (FRED CIS3016110000000I, +54.7%), 21.2 pp slower. The budget's gap below these more municipal-relevant deflators is wider than its gap below CPI-U. Per-FY factors and citations are in `data-dictionary.md` under "Alternative inflation indices."
And against the price measures closer to what a town buys?
The gap to CPI-U is +17.8 pp, the smallest of the four measures; against the BEA State & Local Government deflator (the standard “municipal cost inflation” benchmark) it is +26.1 pp.
Sources (all pulled 2026-05-10 via FRED): CPI-U = BLS annual averages. BEA S&L Gov Deflator = A829RD3A086NBEA (NIPA Table 3.10.4, +59.6%). BLS ECI K-12 Schools = CIS3016110000000I (total compensation, state/local K-12, +54.7%). BLS ECI S&L Gov (all functions) = ECIGVTCOM (total compensation, +57.5%). Per-FY factors and methodology in `data-dictionary.md` under "Alternative inflation indices."
What would the budget be under each of those measures?
Colchester’s actual FY 24-25 budget is $62.7M, against $71.0M had it tracked CPI-U (−$8.3M) and $74.9M had it tracked the BEA S&L Gov deflator (−$12.2M).
How large is the gap, added up over the whole period?
The gap is 17.8 pp against CPI-U, 24.0 pp against the BLS Employment Cost Index (S&L Gov, all functions), and 26.1 pp against the BEA S&L Gov deflator.
How does each year’s increase compare with that year’s inflation?
In 10 of 17 years the budget increase was at or below the inflation rate, and the budget’s compound annual growth rate is 1.7% against an average annual CPI of 2.5%.
Adopted vs. actual: The +33.5% headline uses adopted budgets. Actual year-end expenditures (audited; FY 10-11 onward) tracked adopted closely — mean absolute variance 0.64% across 12 audited years; only one audited year exceeded a 1% gap (FY 17-18 came in 2.98% / $1.65M under adopted). See Chart 2b below for the full year-by-year comparison.
How does year-end spending compare with the adopted budget?
Mean absolute variance is 0.64% across the 12 years compared — eleven audited and FY 2022-23 unaudited — and in 9 of those 12 actual spending came in below adopted.
Source: "BUDGET SUMMARY BY FUNCTION" five-column tables in each year's Colchester adopted budget book — every book reports the prior two years' audited actuals plus a projected actual for the current year, on the same line-item basis as the adopted column. Pre-FY 10-11 actuals are not in the source folder. FY 22-23 is unaudited; FY 23-24 is projected with BOE held flat at adopted in the FY 24-25 book's projection column. These figures are general-fund expenditures excluding grant pass-throughs and special-revenue funds — different from CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (`ej6f-y2wf`), which reports gross totals including grant flows ~$3-7M higher every year.
What would it cost to change nothing and just pay the raises?
A do-nothing baseline puts FY 2024-25 at $65.2M–$70.2M (central estimate $69.0M); the adopted budget was $62.7M.
Method. Window FY 2014-15 → FY 2024-25 (the years with directly extracted town + BOE compensation detail). The FY 2014-15 actual adopted budget is split into a compensation portion and a non-compensation portion using that year's combined comp share (71.5%); each subsequent year the compensation portion grows at the chosen per-employee raise rate (FTE held flat — no new hires) and the non-compensation portion grows at that year's actual CPI-U. The three raise rates: 2.61%/yr = BLS Employment Cost Index, state/local K-12 schools, total compensation (FRED CIS3016110000000I) — the central/clean external proxy; 2.85%/yr = a blended Connecticut teacher-CBA escalator (general wage increase + step movement); 1.78%/yr = Colchester's own FY 08-09→FY 24-25 average-teacher-salary CAGR (a low bound, depressed by mix-shift as senior staff retired). Compensation share = (town salary+benefit lines, account codes 40xxx/41xxx, summed from the adopted budget PDFs) + (BOE salary+benefit object lines) ÷ total adopted budget; it held in a tight 70.5%–72.7% range across the window (avg 71.5%). Comp-share gaps (BOE FY 20-21; town FY 22-23 and FY 23-24, whose budget books are not in the source folder) are linearly interpolated and do not affect the endpoints. CPI-U per-year rates from the yoyCpi series. See data-dictionary.md ("Do-Nothing Baseline") and METHODOLOGY.md for the full derivation and the comp-extraction regex.
What does that come to per resident, after inflation?
After adjusting for inflation, Colchester spends 13.1% less per resident today than it did in FY 2007-08.
Population denominator note: The 18-year per-capita series uses 4 years of CT DPH direct estimates (2007, 2008, 2021, 2024), 2 years of U.S. Census decennial counts (2010, 2020), 1 ACS 5-year estimate (2019), and 11 linearly interpolated years. Recomputing with all 11 interpolated years replaced by their authoritative DPH/Census values produces the same −13.2% real per-capita decline; the headline is robust because both endpoints (FY 07-08 = 15,495 and FY 24-25 = 15,752) are already DPH-sourced. See data-dictionary.md for the per-year flag table.
How does that split between town services and schools?
Roughly $2,900 per resident goes to schools, against about $1,080 to town services.
How does income line up with the levy across Connecticut towns?
Colchester’s total tax levy is $2,942 per capita against a statewide median of $3,776, on a median household income of $118,839.
Sources: Net Grand List from CT OPM 2024 Grand List by town. Mill rates FY 2024-25 from CT OPM. Population from ACS 2024. Median household income from CTData.org / ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates. Levy = Net Grand List × mill rate. All 169 CT towns plotted.
Where does Colchester sit on levy as a share of income?
Colchester’s tax levy is 2.48% of median household income; 11 of the 169 CT towns take a smaller share.
Caveat — top-coded incomes: ACS publishes median household income with a top code at $250,001, so four ultra-wealthy towns (Darien, Weston, New Canaan, Westport) show artificially low ratios because their true median is higher than $250K. Their real burden is even lower than displayed. Sources: same as Chart 23 — CT OPM 2024 Grand List, FY 2024-25 mill rates, ACS 2023 income and population. Ratio = (Net Grand List × mill rate ÷ population) ÷ median household income.
How do budget, population and prices move against each other?
Population is up 1.7% and inflation 51.3% over the period; the budget grew 33.5%.
What has the total budget been, year by year?
Which side of the budget grew faster?
Town operating grew 25.4% over 18 years (1.3% a year) and education 36.8% (1.9% a year).
How does the mill rate compare with nearby towns?
Colchester’s nominal mill rate of 28.67 ranks 3rd-lowest among 7 neighboring towns.
And spending per resident against those neighbors?
Colchester’s per capita budget of about $3,979 sits in the middle of its neighbors.
Sources: FY 2024-25 adopted town budgets; 2024 town population from CT Department of Public Health. See the full source list below.
How does it compare with the state’s demographic peer towns?
Among the 4 demographic peer towns whose FY 24-25 adopted budgets were available for direct comparison, Colchester has the lowest per-capita spending.
F5 review (apples-to-apples expanded comparison). CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (`ej6f-y2wf`, FY 22-23 audited Total Expenditures, pulled 2026-05-10) covers all 15 originally considered towns uniformly. Per-capita: Plainfield $3,543, Salem $4,050, Wolcott $4,064, **Colchester $4,163**, Ellington $4,228, Bozrah $4,236, Hebron $4,274, East Haddam $4,339, Lebanon $4,343, Suffield $4,409, East Hampton $4,493, Ledyard $4,514, Tolland $4,618, Marlborough $4,633, South Windsor $5,496. OPM totals are gross of grant pass-throughs (~$3-7M for Colchester) — see Chart 2b — so absolute levels are higher than adopted; the *ranking* is the apples-to-apples question. Full table in `data-dictionary.md`.
And the mill rate against those same peers?
Colchester’s nominal mill rate is below the average of the charted demographic peers; only Suffield and Tolland are lower.
F6 reval-adjusted comparison. CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (`ej6f-y2wf`), `equalized_mill_rate` field for fiscal year ending 2023, pulled 2026-05-10. Full per-town equalized-rate table in `data-dictionary.md`.
Why can two towns’ posted rates not be compared directly?
Colchester ranks 2nd lowest of 15 on the nominal mill rate (26.82) and 9th of 15 — the middle of the pack — on the equalized rate (19.11).
Source: CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf), nominal_mill_rate and equalized_mill_rate fields for fiscal year ending 2023, pulled 2026-05-10 from data.ct.gov. Full per-town table in data-dictionary.md under "Equalized Mill Rates — Full peer set." The chart values are embedded inline in this page's JavaScript; the downloadable peer JSONs (see footer) do not currently include the mill-rate columns.
A town's nominal mill rate is simply levy ÷ grand list × 1,000. The catch: CT towns revalue every 5 years, and between revaluations the grand list stays frozen while home values keep rising. A town fresh off a reval has an updated grand list and a lower mill rate; a town four years into its cycle has a stale grand list and a "higher" mill rate that's mostly catching up to inflation in home values.
CT OPM publishes an equalized mill rate that fixes this. They estimate what the grand list would be at full fair market value (using sales-ratio studies), then recompute the effective rate. The result is tax cost per $1,000 of actual home value — comparable across towns regardless of where each one sits in its revaluation cycle.
Colchester's reval factor (equalized ÷ nominal) of 0.71 is high because the grand list is current (post FY 22-23 reval). Peers near 0.55 have grand lists at roughly half of fair market value. That's why Colchester's nominal rate looks low — not because we tax less per dollar of home value, but because our assessment base is closer to reality.
How Colchester's spending growth compares to surrounding towns and its official demographic peer group, on a single uniform source.
The charts below use one source for every town so the comparison is apples-to-apples: CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (audited year-end actual expenditures), which is the only dataset that reports the same line items the same way for all 169 CT towns. This differs from the adopted-budget series used elsewhere on this page in two ways: it is audited actuals (not adopted budgets), and it currently runs only through FY 2022-23 — OPM has not yet released FY 23-24 or FY 24-25. OPM totals are also gross of grant pass-throughs, so absolute dollar levels run higher than the adopted budget. Two peer groups are shown: surrounding towns (the eight towns bordering Colchester) and DRG D (the official 2006 CT SDE District Reference Group Colchester belongs to). Each peer group's median is drawn as a thick line; individual towns are thin.
Has Colchester’s budget grown faster than its neighbors’?
Over the nine years OPM reports uniformly, Colchester’s total audited spending rose 11.2%, against a median surrounding town of 21.7%.
And against the demographic peer group?
Among the 24 towns in Colchester’s official DRG D group, the median town’s total spending grew 27.2% over the period, against Colchester’s 11.2%.
DRG D members: Berlin, Bethel, Branford, Clinton, Colchester, Cromwell, East Granby, East Hampton, East Lyme, Ledyard, Milford, New Milford, Newington, North Haven, Old Saybrook, Rocky Hill, Shelton, Southington, Stonington, Wallingford, Waterford, Watertown, Wethersfield, Windsor. Source: CT SDE 2006 District Reference Groups, Appendix A.
How did the town-government side grow against those peers?
On the town/municipal side, Colchester’s operating spending rose 12.7%, against a surrounding-town median of 33.0% and a DRG D median of 30.7%.
And the school side?
On the education side, Colchester’s spending rose 10.8%, against a surrounding-town median of 20.7% and a DRG D median of 24.8%.
What is the level per resident, rather than the growth?
Measured per resident, Colchester rose from $3,509 to $4,076 (+16.2% nominal; population dipped slightly over the period).
Source: CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf), total_expenditures, operating_expenditures, education_expenditures, and population, fiscal years ending 2014–2023, pulled 2026-06-28 from data.ct.gov. Full series in src/data/town_budget_growth_comparison.json. Medians exclude Colchester. OPM's fiscal_year_end Y corresponds to the fiscal year ending June 30 of year Y (e.g. 2023 = FY 2022-23).
The state's ECS grant to Colchester has been flat or declining since FY 2013-14, shifting costs to local taxpayers.
How much education aid does the state send, and how has it moved?
Had ECS kept pace with inflation from FY 2007-08, Colchester would receive $19.6M (CPI-U) to $20.7M (S&L government deflator) today instead of $12.0M.
Sources: CPI-U = BLS annual averages. BEA S&L Government deflator = FRED A829RD3A086NBEA (NIPA Table 3.10.4), pulled 2026-05-10. A third option (BLS ECI for state/local K-12 schools, FRED CIS3016110000000I, +54.7% cumulative) gives an FY 24-25 projected ECS of $20.1M and a cumulative gap of $53.0M — between the two lines shown. Per-FY factors are in `data-dictionary.md`.
Enrollment has declined 31.6% since FY 2008-09, but staffing has not declined proportionally. How have class sizes, admin ratios, and salaries changed?
Who are the staff who are not classroom teachers?
School-level administrator FTE (principals, APs, dept chairs from EdSight CSVs) has held steady at 9–10 FTE throughout the 17-year period.
How has the make-up of certified staff changed?
Teachers are about 88% of certified staff in FY 2008-09 and 87% today.
All staffing data is from CT EdSight FTE Staffing CSV reports — official state data covering every year from FY 2008-09 through FY 2024-25.
Teachers
General Education + Special Education classroom teachers & instructors
Administrators
School-level: principals, APs, dept chairs (verified all years). Central office: superintendent, directors (~2.8–4.0 FTE, partly estimated pre-2019)
Instructional Specialists
Literacy coaches, math coaches, curriculum coordinators — positions that support teachers, not students directly
Did staffing fall as enrollment did?
Enrollment fell 31.6%, more than any staffing category: teachers declined 18.2%, school-level admin 10%, and instructional specialists grew slightly.
What has special education cost over time?
Special education staffing grew 21.6% (76.5 → 93.0 FTE) while total enrollment dropped 31.6%.
How have teacher and administrator salaries moved?
Administrator salaries grew 37.9% over the period and teacher salaries 32.6%, against CPI inflation of 45.1%.
Sources: teacher and administrator salary data from GovSalaries.com, Niche.com, and ConnecticutTeach.org; CPI-U from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. See the full source list below.
What does the school budget come to per student?
BOE cost per student rose 83.4%, from $11,116 to $20,392, while the BOE budget grew 25.5% and enrollment fell 31.6%.
Between FY 2010-11 and FY 2022-23, classified personnel salaries (paraprofessionals, custodians, secretaries, and support staff) grew 44.8% — from $4.34M to $6.28M. Over the same period, certified teacher salaries grew only 9.8% ($18.96M to $20.83M), and student enrollment dropped roughly 20%.
| FY | Classified Salaries | Certified Salaries | Classified as % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | $4,337,393 | $18,963,954 | 18.6% |
| 2014-15 | $5,147,340 | $18,772,476 | 21.5% |
| 2018-19 | $5,646,219 | $19,774,702 | 22.2% |
| 2022-23 | $6,280,801 | $20,830,011 | 23.2% |
Classified salaries grew 3–5% nearly every year, regardless of enrollment changes. Their share of total salaries rose from 18.6% to 23.2%. Much of this is driven by special education paraprofessionals — the fastest-growing staff category in the district (see Chart 14b above). Contractual step increases, added support positions, and federal/state mandates for special education services all contribute. This isn't necessarily a problem — these are often legally required positions — but it's the single largest structural cost driver in the BOE budget that is trending in the opposite direction from enrollment.
Sources: All figures from Colchester Public Schools adopted budget documents, "Major Account Groups — Detail Budget Comparison" pages.
Three related BOE line items — pupil services, special education transportation, and private tuition — have shown sharp, unpredictable swings in recent years. Together they represent the cost of placing and serving students in out-of-district programs when in-district options can't meet their needs.
| Line Item | FY 2019-20 | FY 2021-22 | FY 2022-23 | Change (3 yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupil Services | $86,082 | $311,395 | $376,413 | +337% |
| SPED Transportation | $753,967 | $763,362 | $943,548 | +25% |
| Private Tuition | $817,287 | $400,492 | $561,131 | -31%* |
| Combined | $1,657,336 | $1,475,249 | $1,881,092 | +13.5% |
* Private tuition dropped during COVID (fewer placements) then rebounded sharply.
Pupil services is the standout — it grew 4.4x in three years. The detail shows this covers contracted evaluations, hearing-impaired services from CREC, translation services, and assistive technology assessments. These are largely mandated by federal and state law under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), meaning the district has limited ability to control the cost. When a student's IEP requires an out-of-district placement or specialized evaluation, the district must provide it regardless of budget.
The combined effect of these three lines is significant: together they totaled $1.88M in FY 2022-23, up $406K from three years earlier. These costs are inherently unpredictable — they depend on which students are in the district and what their individual needs are — making them one of the hardest parts of the budget to forecast accurately.
Sources: All figures from Colchester Public Schools adopted budget documents, "Major Account Groups — Detail Budget Comparison" pages. Pupil services detail from MUNIS budget detail reports (object codes 43323, 43326, 43327).
How do the two payrolls compare?
Certified salaries grew 10.1% over 12 years ($18.96M → $20.88M), while classified salaries grew 45.4% ($4.34M → $6.30M).
Which parts of the school budget fell in real terms?
In real terms, between FY 2012-13 and FY 2022-23, textbooks fell 76%, total benefits 31%, and certified salaries — the largest line — 17%.
How does per-pupil spending line up with town income across the state?
Colchester’s median household income of $118,839 is above the statewide median of $106,594, while its per-pupil spending of $22,187 sits at the statewide median of $22,790.
Sources: Per-pupil expenditure from CT State Department of Education, "2024-2025 Net Current Expenditures (NCE) per Pupil (NCEP)" report, October 2025 — all 148 districts plotted with exact NCEP values. Median household income from CTData.org / U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates (Table B19013) — all 169 towns.
Spending side. Colchester's total adopted budget grew from $46.9M (FY 07-08) to $62.7M (FY 24-25) — a nominal increase of 33.5%. CPI-U rose 51.3% over the same period; the BLS Employment Cost Index for state/local K-12 schools rose 54.7%; the BEA State & Local Government Consumption Expenditures Implicit Price Deflator (the standard "what state and local governments actually pay for inputs" benchmark) rose 59.6%. The budget-vs-inflation gap is 17.8 pp against CPI-U or 26.1 pp against the BEA municipal-cost deflator. Year-end audited actuals tracked adopted closely (mean variance 0.64% across 12 audited years; max 2.98% in FY 17-18 underspend); the +33.5% adopted-to-adopted headline is robust. Real per-capita spending declined 13.1% (per-household −21.2%, per-owner-occupied-unit −17.7%; households grew faster than population so the per-actual-taxpayer real decline is larger). Annual budget CAGR of 1.7% vs. average annual CPI of 2.5%; budget at or below CPI in 10 of 17 measured years.
Peer comparisons — apples-to-apples on FY 22-23 OPM-actuals data. Colchester's nominal mill rate of 28.67 ranks 3rd-lowest among 7 neighbors. On the equalized mill rate (CT OPM, FY 22-23), Colchester ranks 9th of 15 in the originally considered peer set — middle of the pack. Eight peer towns (Plainfield, Bozrah, Lebanon, Suffield, East Haddam, Ellington, Ledyard, East Hampton) have lower equalized rates; Colchester's nominal rate looks low partly because its grand list was freshly reset post FY 22-23 reval (reval factor 0.71 vs. peers near 0.55). On per-capita expenditure, Colchester ($4,163/capita on OPM totals) ranks 4th-lowest of 15 — Plainfield ($3,543), Salem ($4,050), and Wolcott ($4,064) all spend less. The original "lowest among demographic peers" headline was an artifact of which towns published FY 24-25 adopted budgets in time for the chart; the apples-to-apples expanded set tells a different story.
What this looks like for an actual homeowner. Per-capita spending and the homeowner property-tax bill move differently. The tax bill on a median-priced Colchester home grew from ~$4,051 (FY 07-08) to ~$8,103 (FY 24-25) — a +$4,052 / 100% nominal climb. As a share of CT statewide median household income that's a +1.84 pp increase (6.32% → 8.16%); against locally-sourced ACS5 Colchester median income (which grew slower than statewide), it's +2.18 pp (4.44% → 6.62%). Per-capita and homeowner views are both true; they describe different lived experiences (a renter or first-time buyer vs. a long-term homeowner whose property appreciated 60%).
Schools. Student enrollment fell 31.6% (3,267 → 2,235); teachers declined 18.2% (231.6 → 189.5 FTE), proportionally less than enrollment, so the student-to-teacher ratio improved from 14.1:1 to 11.8:1. School-level administrators (principals, APs, dept chairs from EdSight) held at 9–10 FTE. Central office has two counts — narrow SDE definition flat at 3.0 FTE, broader named-position list went from 5 to peak 7 in FY 21-22 through FY 23-24 (added Director of IT and Director of HR; "Assistant Superintendent" title from FY 22-23) and back to 5 in FY 24-25 (IT and HR director positions eliminated). Net FY 08-09 → FY 24-25 = 0 named positions; interior expansion was real and reversed. Teacher and administrator salary growth (32.6% and 37.9%) trailed CPI, so real compensation declined. BOE cost per student rose 83.4% driven primarily by enrollment decline and fixed costs that don't scale; Colchester's per-pupil spending of ~$20,400 remains below the CT state median of $25,225.
State aid story. The ECS (Education Cost Sharing) grant peaked at $13.8M in FY 2013-14 and has been frozen at $12.04M since FY 2020-21. CPI-adjusted, ECS would be $19.6M today; against the BEA state-and-local government deflator it would be $20.7M; against the BLS K-12 ECI it would be $20.1M. Annual gap range: $7.6M (CPI-U conservative) to $8.7M (BEA S&L deflator). Cumulative 18-year gap: $45.8M to $58.3M. The state's share of the BOE budget fell from 39.0% to 26.4%. Property tax levy as a share of total budget rose from 60.36% to 72.66% (+12.30 pp); decomposition shows ECS lag accounts for 8.43 pp / 68.5% of the shift, with other non-tax revenue (federal pass-throughs, PILOT, fees) lag accounting for the remaining 3.87 pp / 31.5%. Local taxpayers have been backfilling the state-aid shortfall; Colchester did not do this by growing its own budget aggressively (which trailed CPI and the S&L deflator).
What this analysis does NOT cover. The figures above are general-fund operating budget, on the same line-item basis as the adopted budget book. They exclude: (a) federal and state grant pass-throughs (Title I, IDEA, ESSER, and similar — typically $3-7M annually for Colchester per CT OPM data, gross of which would change the headline but not the trends); (b) bonded long-term debt and annual debt service detail beyond the headline "Debt" line in the BUDGET SUMMARY BY FUNCTION table; (c) net pension liability and net OPEB (other post-employment benefits) liability — these are recorded on the audited balance sheet but not in the adopted operating budget; (d) capital improvement program / non-recurring capital projects funded outside the operating budget; (e) special revenue funds (sewer, water, recreation enterprise funds, etc.). A citizen worried about long-run fiscal health should look at Colchester's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for those items. The "+33.5% over 18 years" headline describes the operating budget specifically; it does not describe total town-government financial obligations.
Two-sentence summary. Colchester's adopted operating budget grew slower than each of the four inflation benchmarks tested, and its peer rankings on equalized / apples-to-apples bases are middle-of-pack rather than "best in class." The cost on a typical homeowner has gone up — meaningfully — because home values rose faster than wages and state aid stalled, even though the budget itself grew more slowly than prices.
Colchester Budget Data
Inflation & Population Data
Mill Rate Data
Peer Town Budget Data
ECS (Education Cost Sharing) Data
Staffing & Salary Data
Demographics & Comparisons
Note: Mill rate comparisons should account for revaluation timing. Connecticut towns undergo property revaluations every 5 years on staggered schedules, which can cause mill rates to drop sharply post-revaluation and gradually rise between revaluations. Per capita budget comparisons use FY 2024-25 adopted budgets and 2024 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. ECS figures extracted directly from each year's adopted budget PDF revenue pages. FY 2010-11 ECS was reduced due to state budget cuts ($1.93M offset by federal ARRA funds). Colchester is classified as "overfunded" under the ECS formula and has been "held harmless" (frozen) since FY 2020-21. FY 2023-24 ECS amount assumed same as FY 2022-23 per hold-harmless provision.
EdSight data shows that Colchester's General Education Paraprofessional headcount jumped from 33 FTE in FY 2023-24 to 89 FTE in FY 2024-25 — a 170% single-year increase. This jump occurred at every school in the district: Colchester Elementary (14 → 35), Jack Jackter Intermediate (8 → 26), Johnston Middle (4 → 16), and Bacon Academy (5 → 10). Importantly, the "Other Non-Instructional Staff" category did not decline (it went from 66.3 to 73.2 FTE), so this does not appear to be a reclassification; the counts are consistent with additional positions.
This was not unique to Colchester. The Connecticut State Department of Education reported a statewide 12% increase in Gen Ed Paraprofessional Instructional Assistants between 2018-19 and 2021-22 (SDE Press Release PR-102). Nationally, the National Council on Teacher Quality documented consistent growth in paraprofessional roles over the last decade, with nearly 50% of federal ESSER III funds going to labor costs including tutors, paraprofessionals, and support staff (NCTQ analysis).
The most likely explanation is federal ESSER/ARPA COVID relief funding. Connecticut received nearly $1.7 billion in ESSER funds across three rounds, and districts were required to spend ESSER III funds by September 30, 2024 — aligning exactly with the FY 2024-25 staffing spike. These positions are likely temporary. The CT Mirror reported that paraeducators, mental health professionals, and tutors are the positions most likely to be cut as ESSER funding expires. The FY 2025-26 EdSight data already shows these positions holding at 93 FTE (not growing further), and future years will likely see reductions as the federal funding cliff takes effect.
Because this jump is almost certainly driven by temporary federal funding rather than local budget decisions, it should be interpreted with caution when evaluating Colchester's long-term staffing trends. The staffing charts above (Charts 13, 13b, 14, 14b) use data through FY 2024-25 and include these positions.
Colchester’s own series behind the charts on this page, as text. Each table names the dataset it came from and the year of every row. The peer towns and group medians the charts also plot are not repeated here; they are in the same source files, linked in the footer.
| Fiscal year | Total revenues | Total expenditures | Education expenditures | Operating expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2013-14 | $57,442,798 | $56,825,708 | $43,879,506 | $12,946,202 |
| FY 2014-15 | $58,053,271 | $56,554,639 | $43,909,369 | $12,645,270 |
| FY 2015-16 | $58,880,023 | $56,640,623 | $44,296,560 | $12,344,063 |
| FY 2016-17 | $62,116,969 | $59,553,817 | $46,630,541 | $12,923,276 |
| FY 2017-18 | $62,636,786 | $59,632,042 | $47,020,602 | $12,611,440 |
| FY 2018-19 | $58,959,293 | $56,330,458 | $43,249,066 | $13,081,392 |
| FY 2019-20 | $62,500,326 | $60,051,921 | $46,584,807 | $13,467,114 |
| FY 2020-21 | $62,281,793 | $60,047,949 | $46,211,815 | $13,836,134 |
| FY 2021-22 | $63,812,318 | $62,644,785 | $47,681,959 | $14,962,826 |
| FY 2022-23 | $65,878,387 | $63,190,173 | $48,605,251 | $14,584,922 |
Audited actual spending, not the budget adopted for that year. The two answer different questions and are never added together. Source: CT OPM, Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf) - audited actuals as filed by each town.
| Fiscal year | Population | Enrollment (average daily membership) |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2013-14 | 16,192 | 2,847 |
| FY 2014-15 | 16,130 | 2,767 |
| FY 2015-16 | 16,061 | 2,705 |
| FY 2016-17 | 16,029 | 2,624 |
| FY 2017-18 | 15,936 | 2,533 |
| FY 2018-19 | 15,809 | 2,404 |
| FY 2019-20 | 15,548 | 2,373 |
| FY 2020-21 | 15,501 | 2,212 |
| FY 2021-22 | 15,572 | 2,239 |
| FY 2022-23 | 15,504 | 2,202 |
Population is the CT Department of Public Health estimate. Enrollment is average daily membership, which runs below an October headcount because it averages across the year. Source: CT OPM, Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf) - audited actuals as filed by each town.