How Norwalk’s BET Shapes the City’s Budget and Infrastructure

NORWALK, Conn. — With the 2025-26 city budget process in full swing, you’ll likely hear a lot about the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) in the coming months.

But what exactly does the group, commonly called BET, do? And why is it so important?

We turned to the City of Norwalk’s Chief Financial Officer, Jared Schmitt, for answers to these questions and more.

“The BET serves as the fiscal policymaking body of the city, with responsibility for authorizing all expenditures of taxpayer dollars, including the adoption of the city’s annual operating budget and setting the related mill rates,” explained Schmitt in a recent email.

“Additionally, the BET sets the limit on the annual authorization of capital projects, which are critical pieces of the city’s buildings, roads, sewers, schools, and other infrastructure. The Common Council ultimately approves the capital budget,” he added.

While a Board of Estimate and Taxation may not be a common entity in other Connecticut communities—Schmitt noted that, according to ChatGPT, Norwalk, and Greenwich are the only two in the state with one “as part of their local government structures”—its roles and responsibilities typically fall under the purview of boards of finance in other municipalities.

“State statute recognizes fiscal policymaking entities and confers certain authority to them,” said Schmitt. “More often, you probably hear them referred to as Boards of Finance. The BET effectively acts as a Board of Finance.”

Though the existence of a BET isn’t entirely exclusive to Norwalk, “The membership on the [city’s] BET may be unique: It is a bipartisan board with three members from each party appointed by the mayor, and the mayor is the seventh member,” said Schmitt. “The charter does not allow more than two BET members to be from the same Common Council district. So, the BET is a politically and geographically diverse group.”

Schmitt said the BET’s budget process—which culminates in May—begins in September when the finance department begins analyzing department pro forma budgets.

“By early to mid-February, I present to the BET the mayor’s recommended budget, which includes line-item details of the city budget, and a single line-item for the Board of Education (as required by state law),” said Schmitt.

“After the Common Council sets the operating budget limit, the BET holds multiple public meetings to review details of each department’s budget,” he continued. “The BET has the authority to make line-item changes to both revenue and spending items in the city’s operating budget before it adopts mill rates on May 5 this year.”

While BET “generally meets once a month” on the first Monday of the month, “meetings occur more often during budget development, especially when the department budgets come up for review (as mentioned) in the middle part of March. There are typically five days of department budget hearings,” said Schmitt.

For more information on BET, visit https://www.norwalkct.gov/1012/Board-of-Estimate-and-Taxation.