Dear Editor,
Ansonia is one of the only towns in Connecticut to have its yearly budget set by an unelected board. Specifically, the annual budget and mill rate are established by the Board of Apportionment and Taxation (BOAT for short). The elected Board of Aldermen prepares a proposed budget, but have no formal say in what BOAT finalizes. Our elected and salaried Mayor has no say in the process whatsoever.
Is this budget process right for Ansonia’s taxpayers?
Republican members of the Charter Revision Commission and Board of Aldermen have proposed, in detail, a change in the current city charter that would allow any budget increase over 1.5% of the current budget to go to referendum and be voted on by the taxpaying citizens of Ansonia – taxpayers who will ultimately be responsible for funding the budget.
This sensible proposal does not require that every budget be brought to referendum for a vote; a referendum would only be triggered by a significant monetary increase in excess of 1.5% of the previous year’s budget.
Unfortunately, Democrats and unaffiliated members of the Charter Revision Commission voted against placing this particular charter revision on the ballot this fall (all charter revisions recommended by the Charter Revision Commission and Board of Aldermen must approved by the voters at the ballot in November).
Will the Charter Revision Commission have a change of heart?
Residents will have an opportunity to weigh-in at the Charter Revision Commission’s public hearing, scheduled for August 13, 2013 at 6pm in the aldermanic chambers of Ansonia City Hall. I urge all taxpayers interested in seeing this item up for vote in the fall to attend the hearing and make their voices heard.
I, for one, support any proposal that will force Ansonia to embrace fiscal responsibility. Ansonia’s 2013-2014 budget stands at $61 million. That is approximately 10 million dollars higher than neighboring Seymour and approximately 24 million dollars more than neighboring Derby.
Those staggering numbers are accompanied by a 13 point rise in the mill rate to over 39 mills, burdening Ansonia’s taxpayers with one of the highest tax rates in the Lower Naugatuck Valley!
City Hall must begin to curb its spending. In the end, it may take the direct votes of our taxpayers to make it happen.
I look forward to seeing my fellow residents at City Hall on August 13.
Sincerely,
David Blackwell Jr.
The writer is a Republican candidate for the Ansonia Board of Aldermen.
The Valley Indy accepts guest columns from political candidates with a 500-word limit. We edit submissions that are longer than 500 words. The views expressed in guest columns should not be misconstrued as the opinion of the Valley indy, nor is the publication of a guest column an endorsement of a candidate, party or policy.
It’s time for the Dog & Pony show.
Various Republican candidates for office have recently been very active in the media. They want to enable citizens to have a vote on the budget via referendum if it exceeds 1.5%. The way they tell it, the Democrats and some unaffiliated guy voted it down. These Republicans have apparently not read the Charter Revision Commission’s minutes and are trying to make this issue into a Republican versus Democrat issue. It looks good to be the one to fight for the right to vote!
Now I don’t know about you, my family is struggling. I can certainly tell you I would not have accepted the current budget and voted it down. (I believe it was roughly a 4.5% increase) It would seem most people would have felt the same way. So we have referendum after referendum after referendum, each time voting the budget down.
Meanwhile, the costs of having that referendum are estimated to be as high as $10,000. So now we don’t have a budget, we spend 10, 20, 30, 40 thousand dollars, and cannot pass the budget. We now have to fund the city on last year’s budget. Can you say program cuts? (Gee, could have kept that teacher or athletic program with the referendum costs alone) Does not work, does it?
A rough proposal was put together by the Charter Revision Commission, to enable the Alderman, the folks we vote for, to have the final say in the budget. I believe this concept works. You don’t like the budget; you contact the person you voted for. It costs nothing! You don’t like your Alderman; feel they are not representing your interests? Don’t vote them back in.
This concept was discussed along side several other time consuming issues at the recent Charter Revision Commission meetings. (The minutes are published on the city’s web site.) I don’t know if the Commission just took on too many potential changes, or the time was not managed effectively, but the Commission works under a set of constraints that limit just how much it can produce in time to make the November ballot.
The solution to this issue is to tell your Alderman the following:
Charter revision is not about a political show. It is about making our city run better. We want comprehensive budget process reform, not quick fixes that look good for political gain and have dire consequences. Take the Charter Revision Vote out of Novembers Election. Enable the Commission to continue their work, and get it done right. The Republicans like referendums so much, we can have one in the spring to vote on the Charter Revision. There is a public meeting on August 13, 2013. It’s a great time to voice your opinion on this important issue.
This election, we need leadership, not Dogs and Ponies.
William Luneski
Ansonia Home & Business Owner
Commissioner: Ansonia Charter Revision Commission
Unaffiliated
Budget reform in Ansonia is a very serious issue. Our city now spends $61 million per year and shoulders one of the highest tax burdens in the Valley. We desperately need a change in the way City Hall spends taxpayer money.
The referendum proposal is a serious solution to this problem. is it the only possible solution? Of course not. It is, however, a detailed and thoughtful idea that would allow residents to vote on the city budget only if it exceeds a 1.5% increase in spending from the previous year.
Some of Mr. Luneski’s concerns about the proposal are entirely fair. It is possible even under the proposed system that a budget could be sent out for referendum multiple times, and yes there is most certainly a significant cost associated with that. Consider Seymour, for example, where voters went to referendum three times this year before a budget was approved.
On the other hand, also consider that Seymour’s yearly budget is almost $10 million more (correction: LESS) than Ansonia! That fact alone may bear testament to the fiscal restraint imposed by a referendum system. Is it better to spend an additional $30,000 for three referendums or an additional $10 million without them?
Even the Valley Gazette entered this debate a few years back with an editorial supporting a referendum system in Ansonia.
At this point I would like to hear directly from the residents. The charter revision process requires two public hearings before changes can be brought to the ballot. These hearings are required by the state statutes because public opinion is considered vital to the charter revision process. We owe it to our our residents to listen. They will, after all, be the ones picking up the tab in the end.
Finally, I would caution anyone looking to dismiss the referendum proposal as a “dog and pony show,” particularly when so many have sat silent for the three-ring circus of the current system. Those advocating for the referendum system are willing to call for change where others have not. They are forcing a debate on an important issue and offering a novel solution. In other words, they are demonstrating the qualities of leadership.
I look forward to hearing from the public on August 13.
John Marini
Chairman, Charter Revision Commission
Member, Board of Aldermen