Town of Colchester, CT

18-Year Budget Trends Analysis — FY 2007-08 through FY 2024-25

AUDITED FY 2013-14 → FY 2022-23
ADOPTED FY 2021-22 → FY 2025-26
PULLED 2026-08-10

Total spending $63,190,173 Audited actual, FY 2022-23 — not the adopted budget for that year. Education $48,605,251 · municipal operating $14,584,922. CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf).

Spending per resident $4,076RANK 72 / 169 3% below the statewide median of $4,217 Surrounding-town median $4,207 · DRG D median $4,460, FY 2022-23. CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf).

Education share of spending 76.9%RANK 152 / 169 9.5 percentage points above the statewide median of 67.5% Education expenditures ÷ total expenditures, FY 2022-23. CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf).

Population 15,504 CT Department of Public Health estimate carried in CT OPM Municipal Fiscal Indicators (ej6f-y2wf), FY 2022-23. −4.2% since FY 2013-14 (16,192).

+33.5%

Total Budget Growth
(18 Years, Adopted)

+51.3%

Cumulative Inflation
(CPI-U, Same Period)

-13.1%

Real Per-Capita
Spending Change

1.7%

Annual Growth Rate
(CAGR)

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.

Overall Budget Trends

The Central Finding, Against Every Benchmark

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?

Budget Growth vs. Inflation

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?

Budget Growth vs. Municipal Inflation Indices

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.

What each line measures

Total Budget — Colchester's adopted total budget, what the town actually decided to spend each year.

CPI-U — Prices of what households buy (food, rent, gas, clothing, healthcare). The standard "cost of living" index.

BLS ECI — K-12 Schools — Wages plus benefits that state and local K-12 employers pay their staff. The compensation-cost pressure on school budgets specifically.

BLS ECI — S&L Gov (all functions) — Wages plus benefits across all state and local government employers (schools, public safety, public works, etc.). A broader wage-cost benchmark.

BEA S&L Gov Deflator — Prices of everything state and local governments buy: wages, benefits, paving, gasoline, utilities, contracted services. The standard "municipal cost inflation" benchmark.

Why three alternatives to CPI-U? Towns don't buy the same basket households do — about two-thirds of a typical municipal budget is salaries and benefits, and the rest is dominated by services (special-ed contracts, utilities, paving) rather than retail goods. So measures of municipal cost pressure normally run faster than CPI. That's why all four lines drift apart over time, with the BEA S&L Gov Deflator finishing highest.

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?

Budget in Dollars: Actual vs. What It Would Be Under Each Inflation Measure

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?

Cumulative Inflation Gap by Measure (FY 07-08 → FY 24-25)

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?

Annual Budget Increase vs. Annual Inflation Rate

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?

Adopted Budget vs. Year-End Actual Spending

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.

Notes

Each year's adopted appropriation alongside the audited (or unaudited / projected) total expenditures actually recorded. The variance line shows actual minus adopted as a percent of adopted.

How closely actuals track adopted, and the largest gap

Actuals track adopted closely. The largest deviation was FY 17-18 at −2.98% (BOE underspent $977K, Town side $670K). FY 23-24 is shown as projected — the column from the FY 24-25 budget book holds the BOE flat at adopted while showing a $1.12M Town-side overspend.

Whether the headline changes on an actual-to-actual basis

The +33.5% headline based on adopted budgets is robust: an apples-to-apples actual-to-actual comparison FY 11-12 → FY 21-22 yields +14.17%, virtually identical to the adopted-to-adopted +13.92% over the same window.

What would it cost to change nothing and just pay the raises?

The "Do Nothing" Baseline — What Just Paying the Raises Would Cost

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.

Notes

If the town added no new programs, hired no one, and cut no one — but existing employees got typical annual raises and everything else rose with inflation — this is what the budget would have grown to. The shaded band brackets three defensible raise assumptions. The actual adopted budget (solid blue) runs below even the lowest baseline, showing growth was held under the cost of standing still.

What the do-nothing baseline holds constant

Simply maintaining the status quo — paying existing staff a normal raise and letting non-salary costs track CPI — would have pushed Colchester’s FY 2024-25 budget to $65.2M–$70.2M (central estimate $69.0M at the BLS school-wage rate of 2.61%/yr). The budget actually adopted was $62.7M — $2.5M to $7.5M below the do-nothing baseline (central gap ~$6.4M).

The same comparison put as a growth rate

Put as a growth rate: the do-nothing path implies 2.1%–2.85%/yr, but the town’s actual budget grew just 1.69%/yr.

Where the difference between the two came from

Compensation is about 71% of the combined budget across the period, so most of the difference sits in compensation lines. Over the same window teacher FTE fell 198.8→189.5 (Finding 3.2), Colchester’s own teacher-salary growth ran 1.78%/yr against the 2.61% K-12 ECI, and non-salary lines grew below inflation. Both readings of the same budget hold: in nominal dollars it rose, and against the do-nothing baseline it rose more slowly.

What does that come to per resident, after inflation?

Inflation-Adjusted Spending Per Resident

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?

Per Capita Spending — Town Services vs. Education

Roughly $2,900 per resident goes to schools, against about $1,080 to town services.

What share of a household’s income does the town bill take?

Per Capita Town Bill as a Share of Annual Income — By Wage Tier

The per-capita town bill fell as a share of full-time annual income for all four wage tiers, from 18.7% to 12.0% at minimum wage and from 3.5% to 2.9% at the 90th percentile.

Method: Numerator = nominal total adopted budget ÷ population (per-capita town bill, current $). Denominator = hourly wage × 2,080 (a full-time annual income assumption). Hourly wages from BLS OEWS Connecticut "All Occupations" (SOC 00-0000), 10th / 50th / 90th percentile, May release each year. This is a fairness-style metric, not actual property tax paid — real property tax scales with home value, not income, so a high earner who owns a $700K home pays more than a low earner who owns a $300K home or rents. For a homeowner-level analysis using the median-home tax bill see Chart B on income-vs-spending.html. Sources: BLS OEWS state files oesm{YY}st.zip → state_M{YYYY}_dl.xlsx from bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm (current-year state estimates page; the same page lists historical ZIPs under each prior year); raw values in data/ct_oews_percentiles.json; parser at Data/parse_bls_oews_ct.py. CT minimum wage = state statute (CGS §31-58 + Public Act 19-4; post-2023 ECI-indexed). The 2020→2021 dip in the BLS median is a known reference-period artifact (see May 2021 OEWS methods); long-run trend is reliable.

Notes

If the town's total budget were split evenly per resident and you paid your share out of one year's full-time earnings (hourly wage × 2,080 hours), what percentage of your income would it take? Four hypothetical earners shown: a CT minimum-wage worker, a 10th-percentile CT worker, a median CT worker, and a 90th-percentile CT worker. Lower line = more affordable for that tier.

The change at each of the four tiers

A minimum-wage worker’s burden dropped from 18.7% to 12.0% of full-time annual income (a 36% relative reduction), driven by the CT minimum wage roughly doubling while per-capita spending grew only ~31% nominal. A 10th-percentile worker: 16.0% → 11.4% (29% relative drop). A median worker: 7.8% → 6.7% (14% drop — the smallest). A 90th-percentile worker: 3.5% → 2.9% (16% drop).

Which tier’s burden fell fastest, and why

At the CT statewide wage-percentile level the share fell fastest at the bottom of the wage distribution: the state minimum wage roughly doubled over the window, outpacing both per-capita spending growth and median-wage growth. On this dataset the share of income did not shift down the wage distribution over 2007-2024.

Why the homeowner-side comparison may run the other way

It may still hold for Colchester-specific homeowners, where local median household income grew only +34% vs. CT statewide +55% — that comparison sits in income-vs-spending.html.

How does income line up with the levy across Connecticut towns?

Household Income vs. Total Tax Levy Per Capita — All CT 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.

Notes

Each dot is a Connecticut town. X-axis is median household income (ACS 2023); Y-axis is estimated total property tax levy per capita (Grand List × mill rate ÷ population). This shows total town spending from property taxes — both education and municipal combined — relative to what residents earn.

What the pairing does and does not explain

The levy per resident is below the statewide median while median household income is above it. The chart does not say why: a town’s levy per resident turns on its grand list, its service mix and its state aid as well as on what residents earn.

Why some towns sit far off the pattern

Hartford stands out as an extreme outlier — high levy, low income — reflecting its urban tax burden. Wealthy towns like Greenwich and Darien have high levies per capita but very low mill rates because their grand lists are enormous.

Where does Colchester sit on levy as a share of income?

Effective Tax Burden Ranking — Levy as % of Median Household 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.

Notes

All 169 CT towns ranked by tax levy per capita divided by median household income — a single-number measure of how much of a typical resident's income goes to property tax. Showing the top 20 (highest burden) and bottom 20 (lowest burden); 129 middle-ranked towns omitted. Colchester sits at rank 158 of 169.

What the highest- and lowest-burden towns have in common

Colchester ranks #158 of 169 CT towns. The highest-burden towns are a mix of urban (Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven, West Haven, East Hartford) and shoreline-second-home communities where the levy reflects high-value housing more than resident income (Washington, Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Old Lyme). The lowest-burden towns are dominated by Fairfield County wealth enclaves (Westport, New Canaan, Weston, Wilton, Darien) plus a handful of rural/small towns.

Where income-comparable peers sit

Among income-comparable peers (Hartland, Southington, Ellington, Wolcott, Somers — all $114K–$125K like Colchester), Colchester is in the cluster of “low-tax-burden” towns.

How do budget, population and prices move against each other?

Budget Growth, Population, and Inflation — All Indexed

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?

Total Budget Over Time

Town Government

Which side of the budget grew faster?

Town Operating vs. Board of Education — Growth Comparison

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?

Regional Mill Rate Comparison — FY 2024-25

Colchester’s nominal mill rate of 28.67 ranks 3rd-lowest among 7 neighboring towns.

Notes

Colchester vs. neighboring towns. Lower is better for taxpayers.

Why nominal rates are not comparable across towns

Nominal mill rates are not directly comparable across towns at different points in their 5-year revaluation cycle. Lebanon (post-2023 reval) and East Haddam (post-2022 reval) both have lower nominal rates here partly because their grand lists were freshly reset; on equalized basis the picture is different.

Where Colchester ranks on the equalized rate instead

On the CT OPM equalized mill rate (effective rate per $1,000 of fair market value, FY 22-23 — see Chart 9 footnote and `data-dictionary.md`), Colchester ranks 9th of 15 in the originally considered peer set — middle of the pack, not “well below average.”

And spending per resident against those neighbors?

Per Capita Budget — Colchester vs. 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?

Per Capita Spending — Colchester vs. Demographic Peers

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?

Mill Rates: Colchester vs. Demographic Peer Towns

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`.

Notes

CT towns with similar population (12K-17K), income ($100K-$135K), and suburban character. Revaluation years noted.

Why nominal rates are not apples-to-apples here either

Nominal mill rates are not apples-to-apples across towns at different points in their reval cycle. Suffield and Tolland, the two lower than Colchester among the charted set, are both recent revaluations.

Where Colchester ranks on the equalized rate instead

On the CT OPM equalized mill rate (effective tax cost per $1,000 of fair market value, FY 22-23), Colchester ranks 9th of 15 in the originally considered peer set — middle of the pack, not “well below average.” Plainfield (13.91), Bozrah (14.92), Lebanon (15.07), Suffield (15.68), East Haddam (16.97), Ellington (18.43), Ledyard (18.66), and East Hampton (18.91) all have lower equalized rates than Colchester (19.11).

What the reval factor says about each grand list

Colchester’s reval factor (equalized/nominal) of 0.71 is high because its grand list reflects current market value (post FY 22-23 reval); peers’ factors near 0.55 mean their grand lists are about half of FMV.

Why can two towns’ posted rates not be compared directly?

Nominal vs. Equalized Mill Rate — How Revaluation Cycles Distort Comparisons

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.

How equalization works

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.

Budget Growth vs. Peer Towns

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’?

Total Budget Growth — Colchester vs. Surrounding Towns

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?

Total Budget Growth — Colchester vs. DRG D Peers

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?

Town (Municipal) Budget Growth — Colchester vs. Peer Medians

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?

Education Budget Growth — Colchester vs. Peer Medians

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?

Per-Resident Spending Over Time — Colchester vs. Peer Medians

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).

Board of Education

Education Cost Sharing (ECS) — State Funding Gap

The state's ECS grant to Colchester has been flat or declining since FY 2013-14, shifting costs to local taxpayers.

-$45.8M to -$58.3M

Cumulative Gap (CPI — S&L Gov)
over 18 Years

-$7.6M to -$8.7M

Annual Gap Today (CPI — S&L Gov)
FY 24-25

39.0% → 26.4%

ECS Share of BOE
Budget Decline

5 Years

ECS Frozen at
$12.04M

How much education aid does the state send, and how has it moved?

ECS Funding: Actual vs. What It Should Be (Inflation-Adjusted)

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`.

Notes

Shows actual ECS revenue vs. what Colchester would receive if ECS had kept pace with inflation from FY 2007-08. The shaded area represents lost purchasing power. Two projections shown: solid line uses CPI-U (the conservative consumer-price benchmark); dashed line uses the BEA State & Local Government Consumption Expenditures Implicit Price Deflator (the inflation that actually applies to municipal/school budgets).

The gap as an annual and a cumulative figure

An annual gap of $7.6M to $8.7M. Cumulative over 18 years: $45.8M (CPI) to $58.3M (S&L deflator) in lost purchasing power against those two deflators. This is a comparison with an inflation path; it does not itself show how the town covered the difference.

Which of the two estimates the page publishes

The published “$19.6M / $7.6M / $45.8M” figures are the conservative CPI-based estimate; the upper bound applies the inflation that actually affects what schools have to buy.

Staffing & Salary Analysis — BOE

Enrollment has declined 31.6% since FY 2008-09, but staffing has not declined proportionally. How have class sizes, admin ratios, and salaries changed?

-31.6%

Enrollment
Decline (17 Years)

14.1 → 11.8

Students per
Teacher

233 → 189

Students per
Admin

+94.2%

BOE Cost per
Student

Who are the staff who are not classroom teachers?

Where Are the Non-Teaching Staff? Administrators vs. Instructional Specialists

School-level administrator FTE (principals, APs, dept chairs from EdSight CSVs) has held steady at 9–10 FTE throughout the 17-year period.

Notes

Both lines on the same scale (FTE positions). Administrators = principals, superintendent, directors, dept chairs. Specialists = literacy coaches, math coaches, curriculum coordinators. All data verified from CT EdSight FTE Staffing CSV reports.

Why central office has two different counts

Central office has two counts, and they differ. Under the SDE Strategic School Profile narrow definition, “District Central Office Administrators” held flat at 3.0 FTE in every published year. Under the broader named-position list from each year’s BOE budget book (which includes CFO/Business Director, Director of Educational Operations, IT, HR), the count was 5 in FY 08-09 → FY 18-19, climbed to 7 in FY 21-22 through FY 23-24 (added Director of IT in FY 19-20 and Director of HR in FY 21-22; “Assistant Superintendent” title appears from FY 22-23 onward), and fell back to 5 in FY 24-25 when the IT and HR director positions were eliminated. Net change FY 08-09 → FY 24-25 = 0; the interior expansion was real and now reversed.

What instructional specialists did over the same years

Instructional specialists (literacy coaches, curriculum coordinators) fluctuated between 11–15 FTE in early years and 16–17 FTE since FY 2023-24.

Where the year-by-year table and the review sit

See `data-dictionary.md` for the year-by-year named-individual table and `findings-summary.md` Finding 3.3 for the F4/F13 review.

How has the make-up of certified staff changed?

Certified Staff Composition Over Time

Teachers are about 88% of certified staff in FY 2008-09 and 87% today.

Data Definitions & Sources

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 Faster Than Staffing

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: The Fastest-Growing Cost Driver

Special education staffing grew 21.6% (76.5 → 93.0 FTE) while total enrollment dropped 31.6%.

Notes

Special education staffing (teachers + paraprofessionals) has grown even as overall enrollment declined. All data verified from CT EdSight FTE Staffing CSV reports.

Which roles account for the growth

The biggest driver is sped paraprofessionals, which grew 30% (50 → 65 FTE). Sped teachers held steady (+5.7%), while gen ed teachers were cut 21.3%. Special education now accounts for nearly 20% of all district staff, up from 17.4% in FY 2008-09.

Why special education staffing does not track enrollment

This reflects growing federal and state mandates, rising identification rates, and the fact that sped services can’t be reduced when enrollment drops — they’re driven by individual student needs, not class size.

How have teacher and administrator salaries moved?

Salary Growth: Teachers vs. Administrators

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 Over Time

BOE cost per student rose 94.2%, from $10,498 to $20,392, while the BOE budget grew 32.9% and enrollment fell 31.6%.

Notes

Total BOE budget divided by student enrollment. Rising cost-per-student reflects enrollment decline more than spending growth.

How this page reads the split between the two

The BOE budget grew 32.9% over this period, below CPI-U inflation (45.8% from FY 2008-09), while enrollment fell 31.6%. Taken one at a time, the budget change alone would have raised cost per student by 32.9%, and the enrollment change alone by 46.2% (3,267 ÷ 2,235); together they compound to 94.2%. Which costs do not fall when enrollment does is set out line by line on the Enrollment & Cost page.

Why this is not the state’s per-pupil figure

This chart divides the adopted BOE budget by budget-book enrollment. The state’s own per-pupil measure, NCEP (Net Current Expenditures per Pupil, CT SDE), counts spending and students differently; on it Colchester’s FY 2024-25 figure is $22,367. The two are not interchangeable. NCEP for Colchester and its peer towns is on the Education Comparison page, and Colchester’s statewide position on audited state figures is on Education Spending (State Figures).

Finding: Classified Staff Salaries Growing Faster Than Enrollment Would Suggest

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.

Finding: Special Education Out-of-District Costs — Volatile and Rising

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 vs. Classified Salaries Over Time

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?

Where the BOE Budget Has Been Cut — Inflation-Adjusted

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?

Household Income vs. Per-Pupil Spending — Where Does Colchester Fall?

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.

Notes

Each dot is a Connecticut school district. X-axis is town median household income (ACS 2023); Y-axis is per-pupil expenditure. Colchester is highlighted in red. Wealthier towns generally spend more per student — but Colchester spends less than most towns at its income level.

Where Colchester sits against the often-compared towns

Its income places it in the upper-middle tier of CT towns. Among the four often-compared towns (green dots — only Ledyard shares Colchester’s DRG D), Colchester spends more per pupil than Ellington ($19,052), Tolland ($19,697), or Ledyard ($19,629) — but less than most of its geographic neighbors (blue dots).

Towns with similar or lower household income

Towns with similar or lower household income — like Hamden, Middletown, and Norwich — all spend more per student.

Summary — what the 18 years show

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 (adopted budget ÷ enrollment) rose 94.2%: the budget grew 32.9% while enrollment fell 31.6%. That is not the state's NCEP per-pupil measure, on which Colchester's FY 2024-25 figure is $22,367.

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.

Sources

Colchester Budget Data

Town of Colchester — Adopted Budget Documents (FY 2007-08 through FY 2024-25, 17 PDF files)

Inflation & Population Data

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Price Index (CPI) — Annual average CPI inflation rates, 2007–2024
CT Department of Public Health — Annual Town Population Estimates — 2024 population data for all CT towns
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts — Colchester, CT — Demographics, median household income

Mill Rate Data

Peer Town Budget Data

Town of East Hampton — Annual Budgets — FY 24-25 budget ~$56.7M
Town of Ellington — FY 24-25 Budget ($71.2M) — Patch coverage of budget referendum
Town of Tolland — FY 24-25 Budget ($63.7M)
Town of Ledyard — FY 24-25 Budget (~$67.4M, estimated from FY 25-26 proposal)

ECS (Education Cost Sharing) Data

CT State Department of Education — ECS Grant / MBR — Official ECS grant entitlements by town
School+State Finance Project — ECS Formula — Phase-in schedules, hold-harmless provisions
CT Mirror — How CT Schools Are Funded: The ECS Formula
CT Mirror — See How Your Town Fares (2019 ECS Cuts) — Colchester faced $1.1M (8.5%) proposed ECS reduction
ECS revenue figures extracted directly from each year's Adopted Budget PDF (revenue pages)

Staffing & Salary Data

CT EdSight — FTE Staffing Levels — Official FTE counts by staff category (teachers, administrators, specialists) for Colchester School District
NCES Common Core of Data — Colchester School District (ID 0900840) — Federal education statistics including enrollment and staffing
Ballotpedia — Colchester Public Schools — Teacher FTE, administrator FTE, student-teacher ratios by year
Niche — Colchester School District — Average teacher salary ($82,554), student-teacher ratio (11:1)
GovSalaries — Colchester Board of Education — Individual employee salary data (244 employees, 2024)
Connecticut Teach — Teacher Salaries & Benefits — CT statewide average teacher salary ($86,511)
Student enrollment figures extracted from budget PDF town profile sections; FY 2012-13 through FY 2015-16 enrollment interpolated

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.

A Note on General Education Paraprofessional Staffing (FY 2024-25)

EdSight’s FTE staffing report shows Colchester’s General Education Paraprofessional count rising from 33 FTE in FY 2023-24 to 89 FTE in FY 2024-25, a 170% increase in one year. FY 2025-26 reports 93 FTE. The rise appears at each of the four main schools: Colchester Elementary (14 → 35), Jack Jackter Intermediate (8 → 26), Johnston Middle (4 → 16) and Bacon Academy (5 → 10). No other staffing category fell that year; “Other Staff Providing Non-Instructional Services/Support” went from 102.3 to 113.2 FTE. So the counts are consistent with added positions. They do not rule out the district reporting existing staff under a different category: the state leaves that choice to each district, and CSDE’s published documentation records no change to the category. This note will be updated if CSDE says whether anything changed.

Colchester is not the only district with a one-year rise of this size. Across 163 Connecticut districts, 72 report at least one year between 2008-09 and 2025-26 in which this category rose by 80% or more, and those years are spread across the whole period. 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 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).

One possible explanation is federal ESSER/ARPA COVID relief funding. Connecticut received nearly $1.7 billion in ESSER funds across three rounds, and districts had to obligate ESSER III funds by September 30, 2024, in the same fiscal year as this rise. That link is inferred from timing. No budget document found so far ties these positions to ESSER. The CT Mirror reported that paraeducators, mental health professionals, and tutors are among the positions most at risk as ESSER funding ends. FY 2025-26 reports 93 FTE; whether the level holds in later years is not yet known.

Read this one year with care when judging Colchester’s long-term staffing trend. The source does not say whether the rise is new hiring or a change in how positions were reported. The staffing charts above (Charts 13, 13b, 14, 14b) use data through FY 2024-25 and include these positions.

The data behind these charts

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.

Revenue and spending by fiscal year

Revenue and spending by fiscal year for Colchester, Connecticut
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.

Population and school enrollment by fiscal year

Population and school enrollment by fiscal year for Colchester, Connecticut
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.

Town of Colchester, CT

Overall Budget Trends

The Central Finding, Against Every Benchmark

Budget Growth vs. Inflation

Budget Growth vs. Municipal Inflation Indices

Budget in Dollars: Actual vs. What It Would Be Under Each Inflation Measure

Cumulative Inflation Gap by Measure (FY 07-08 → FY 24-25)

Annual Budget Increase vs. Annual Inflation Rate

Adopted Budget vs. Year-End Actual Spending

The "Do Nothing" Baseline — What Just Paying the Raises Would Cost

Inflation-Adjusted Spending Per Resident

Per Capita Spending — Town Services vs. Education

Per Capita Town Bill as a Share of Annual Income — By Wage Tier

Household Income vs. Total Tax Levy Per Capita — All CT Towns

Effective Tax Burden Ranking — Levy as % of Median Household Income

Budget Growth, Population, and Inflation — All Indexed

Total Budget Over Time

Town Government

Town Operating vs. Board of Education — Growth Comparison

Regional Mill Rate Comparison — FY 2024-25

Per Capita Budget — Colchester vs. Neighbors

Per Capita Spending — Colchester vs. Demographic Peers

Mill Rates: Colchester vs. Demographic Peer Towns

Nominal vs. Equalized Mill Rate — How Revaluation Cycles Distort Comparisons

How equalization works

Budget Growth vs. Peer Towns

Total Budget Growth — Colchester vs. Surrounding Towns

Total Budget Growth — Colchester vs. DRG D Peers

Town (Municipal) Budget Growth — Colchester vs. Peer Medians

Education Budget Growth — Colchester vs. Peer Medians

Per-Resident Spending Over Time — Colchester vs. Peer Medians

Board of Education

Education Cost Sharing (ECS) — State Funding Gap

ECS Funding: Actual vs. What It Should Be (Inflation-Adjusted)

ECS as a Percentage of the BOE Budget

Staffing & Salary Analysis — BOE

Where Are the Non-Teaching Staff? Administrators vs. Instructional Specialists

Certified Staff Composition Over Time

Data Definitions & Sources

Enrollment Fell Faster Than Staffing

Special Education: The Fastest-Growing Cost Driver

Salary Growth: Teachers vs. Administrators

BOE Cost per Student Over Time

Finding: Classified Staff Salaries Growing Faster Than Enrollment Would Suggest

Finding: Special Education Out-of-District Costs — Volatile and Rising

Certified vs. Classified Salaries Over Time

Where the BOE Budget Has Been Cut — Inflation-Adjusted

Household Income vs. Per-Pupil Spending — Where Does Colchester Fall?

Summary — what the 18 years show

Sources

A Note on General Education Paraprofessional Staffing (FY 2024-25)

The data behind these charts

Revenue and spending by fiscal year

Population and school enrollment by fiscal year