Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti predicted a multi-million dollar surplus in the city’s budget and said there is a new tenant for the former Healey Ford property during his first “State of the City” address Thursday.
But the surplus isn’t yet finalized, he and advisers said, and they declined to provide much detail on the old car dealership, including who’s moving in.
(The Valley Indy learned of the potential buyer, though, and the info is listed below)
Their point, though — the city is headed in a far better direction than it was when Cassetti took the reins of municipal government late last year.
The mayor got a standing ovation from most of the 200 or so people gathered at the high school’s auditorium for the event and immediately harkened back to his swearing-in nearly a year ago.
“Over the past year this administration has rolled up its sleeves and gotten to work,” Cassetti said.
The mayor thanked elected officials, employees, and volunteers, listing many by name, from Board of Aldermen President Phil Tripp to Jimmy Vartelas, a City Hall custodian fighting cancer to whom Cassetti wished a speedy recovery.
The mayor then lauded the 0.73-mill reduction in the city’s mill rate passed by the city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation earlier this year. He called it “a modest but very real step toward digging out of the tax avalanche,” before being interrupted by applause.
At the same time, he called the tax rate — which is the ninth highest in the state — “totally unacceptable.”
“The fight to reduce taxes and fees has only begun,” he said, pledging to “lower taxes wherever possible” and keep tight controls over city spending.
The mayor credited strict budget oversight with creating a year-over-year surplus of nearly $3 million.
“Smart budgeting and smart managing can make all the difference,” he said.
Click the play button on the video above to see the mayor talk about the projected surplus.
As to what the city will do with that $3 million, Cassetti indicated during his address that it would be going toward another tax decrease.
“After all, what is a surplus other than taxpayers’ money, and what better use is taxpayers’ money than back in the wallets of our taxpayers?” Cassetti said.
But afterward, during a question and answer session with a handful of residents, officials backed off that pledge.
“A surplus one year doesn’t guarantee a surplus the next year,” said John Marini, Cassetti’s corporation counsel, saying the surplus would not be “earmarked” toward any specific purpose.
The surplus was achieved largely through cutting back on discretionary spending, said William Nimons, the city comptroller and a member of the Ansonia Board of Education.
But if there was so much fat that could be trimmed out of the city’s budget last year, how come spending went up nearly $300,000 in the budget the city passed this year?
“There’s been a lot of cutting, however you have these fixed costs you’re obligated to meet,” Marini said.
He said Cassetti’s administration would look to bend those costs down through renegotiating contracts with employee unions and contractors.
Blight Fight
During his speech Cassetti also highlighted his administration’s work toward rehabilitating the many abandoned buildings in downtown Ansonia, from a tougher blight law to grants the city has received to work on the problem to a deal with Ansonia Copper and Brass to forgive a portion of the company’s tax debt in exchange for partial demolition commencing at its 40-acre, largely abandoned property downtown.
“The future of economic development in this city depends on our willingness to tackle the big challenge: acres of vacant and contaminated factories and mill buildings that have remained fallow for decades,” Cassetti said.
The mayor said one of the most prominent empty properties will be returning to productive use soon — Main Street’s Healey Ford dealership, which was shuttered more than four years ago.
The property is owned by the Ford Motor Credit Co. of Dearborn, Michigan.
“There is a signed agreement between a company and the owners of the Healey Ford property,” the mayor said. “You will see site renovations and changes to that property in the very near future.”
Asked for more details, Sheila O’Malley, the city’s Economic Development Director, said afterward that the site’s new tenant would be engaged in “probably a similar reuse.”
So, another auto dealership will go there?
“Perhaps,” O’Malley said.
After the Valley Indy prodded for more information, officials said that the property’s new tenant would be a new auto dealer, though they said they weren’t authorized to name the new business yet.
However, the Valley Indy has learned the potential buyer is Road Ready Used Cars, a business on Reservoir Avenue in Bridgeport. Road Ready’s owner is offering the Ford Motor Credit Company more than $1 million for the property. The deal isn’t without complications, and is being negotiated.
Opposition View
Edward Adamowski, who wants to be Cassetti’s opponent in next year’s mayoral election, wasn’t very impressed with the mayor’s announcements.
Adamowski, a Democrat who represents the First Ward on the Board of Aldermen, pointed out that municipal surpluses are fairly routine, even in Ansonia.
“It’s been that way for 10 years,” Adamowski said.
He also criticized the administration for delivering this year’s tax decrease by taking $550,000 from the city’s fund balance and counting it as revenue.
Adamowski predicted it wouldn’t be the last time residents would see that happen.
“I have a funny feeling that’s where it’s going to be taken from again,” Adamowski said. “How did you lower taxes if you increased spending? Nothing’s changed.”
During the question and answer session after his address, Cassetti pledged to “reimburse” the money taken from the fund balance during this year’s budget process.
