Newtown officials who were anticipating dealing with about $400,000 in budgetary red ink because of changes to state revenue formulas are now seeing figures nudge into the black, thanks to an eleventh-hour special session modification in a motor vehicle tax cap proposed to help reel in a projected $1 billion state budget deficit next year. The Connecticut Mirror, a planned motor vehicle tax cap in some municipalities resulting in a reduction in property tax revenues was going to be offset by giving those cities and towns a portion of state sales tax receipts.Council's Reductions Detailed

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A version of the plan that passed last year would have required about 50 municipalities to cap car taxes at 29.6 mills - $29.60 for every $1,000 in assessed value.

But a preliminary budget proposal for 2016-17 reduced the amount of sales tax money cities and towns get to offset lost car tax dollars. As a result, the state was going to adjust to that lower level by raising the car tax limit to 32 mills.

In the end, however, a separate bill adopted during the special session May 12 subsequently raised the cap even higher, to 37 mills. Senate Republicans pointed out that increasing the cap to 37 mills would mean people in 37 communities, including Newtown, would not see a reduction in their car taxes.

But in Newtown's case, the increase in the cap from 32 to 37 mills resulted in converting an anticipated $400,000 deficit in budgeted state aid, to about $28,000 more than was budgeted and approved by local taxpayers in the local April 26 referendum.

"That change in the motor vehicle tax cap saved us," said First Selectman Pat Llodra.

That slight windfall was among a package of revenue estimates presented by Newtown Finance Director Robert Tait during a Board of Selectmen's meeting May 16. Newtown will also see about $727,000 more than anticipated in Education Cost Sharing grants that stood at $4.3 million as of the governor's April 16 budget proposal, but increased to a final projected disbursement of $5,080,129.

The aforementioned bump in shared sales tax revenue increased from $135,108 to $572,949, while just over $102,000 in combined school transportation grants was zeroed out in the final state budget.

Other reductions included: $5,747 in PILOT grants to offset local property tax losses on state-owned property in town; $2,368 in the Mashantucket Pequot grant; and the elimination of the proposed $335,300 in motor vehicle offset grants that came off the table when Newtown's related mill rate cap was increased from 32 to 37.

In its final action on the municipal budget proposal before sending Newtown's 2016-17 spending plan to referendum in April, which passed, the Legislative Council approved leaving the first selectman and finance director to determine where to affect any cuts to achieve a $61,084 reduction.

A package of 20 incremental reductions adding up to $61,084 was released by the selectmen Monday, immediately drawing the ire of Selectman Herb Rosenthal, who called that action "a violation of the Charter."

"They tried to do this to me when I was first selectman," Mr Rosenthal complained, "but I wouldn't accept it. We did our job - if it's that hard [for the council] to find the reductions, they shouldn't have cut it."

Mrs Llodra agreed, saying the council's action represented a process issue, and adding that it "has a responsibility to find those line items themselves," and stating that coming up with those reductions in such a tight budget "took quite some time and was not easy."

"Maybe the intent was trying to be respectful, but the outcome was shifting their responsibility to me," Mrs Llodra said.

To try and spread those reductions as thinly as possible across the largest range of departmental budget lines, Mrs Llodra said she called on department heads to try and find where in their requests they could squeeze a few more dollars in savings.

"We appreciate those department heads helping us find a way out of this challenge," the first selectman said.

Among the largest reductions were $15,000 from the town repair and maintenance services line; $10,000 from the Fairfield Hills Authority contractual services budget; $8,000 from Parks & Recreation earmarked for recycling containers; $5,000 from the technology department; $3,000 from emergency communications earmarked for equipment rentals; and $3,000 from the Fire Commission budget, which came from savings in heating oil costs.

Smaller increments from $169 to $2,500 were reduced from the selectman, town clerk, assessor, finance, police, emergency management, building official, land use, library, and Health District's spending plans.