Is it that time of year again? That’s scary. I could have sworn I was writing my ‘best of 2024’ list, like, three months ago.
Maybe that’s because it was such a crazy year in Ansonia. I’m grateful I got to spend another year doing what I love, which is running and scurrying around the city each day to bring you guys the news – the big stuff AND the small stuff.
We’ve had some exciting stuff happen this year. We built a newsletter which we now send out weekly (it’s free! you can sign up here!), and we’ve brought back the Navel Gazing podcast as another way for you to get some of your news in another format.
We’re able to do things like that because of the support of our readers. Thank you to everyone who has supported The Valley Indy, whether it’s in the form of a monetary donation, a YouTube membership, or even simply reading and engaging with our stories. We (literally) couldn’t do it without you.
5. Remembering Dan Mudry
I wanted to kick this list off with a ‘thank you’ to the firefighters who hopped on the phone for this story. Here’s a link.
Former Ansonia Fire Chief Daniel Mudry passed away Nov. 10 after a battle with pancreatic and liver cancer. He was 54.
I don’t think I ever met Chief Mudry personally – but the chiefs I spoke with all painted a picture of a guy who cared deeply about getting things right. He kept the department’s vehicles spotless. He put insane amounts of time and effort into gifts for his friends, including a detailed replica of the Webster Hose firehouse he built for another chief a few years back. It blew me away when I saw a picture of it.
I’m not gonna wax on too much here, because I didn’t personally know him and won’t pretend to. But thank you again to everyone who spoke for allowing myself and our readers some small glimpse into who he was.
4. Referendums, Referendums, Referendums
This year’s budget process looked a lot different than past years in Ansonia.
An initial budget proposed by the Board of Aldermen included a 3.13 mill increase, which would have been an 11 percent increase in taxes compared to the year before. However, that budget required approval from voters via referendum.
That’s because of charter changes written and passed about a decade ago, in the first years of former Mayor David Cassetti’s administration. The charter requires voter approval for any budget that includes an increase in ‘net taxes to be collected’ of more than three percent. That increase was nine percent in the initial proposed budget.
It was the first time that charter provision kicked in since it was written. And voters weren’t too happy with the proposed budget.
The proposed budgets for the city and school were voted down in three separate referendums between April and May. The Aldermen made cuts to both between each referendum – but the referendum margins didn’t budge by much. The city’s budget was overwhelmingly rejected each time; the schools’ budget fared slightly better, but still didn’t come particularly close to passing.
In between the votes, the budget season got more openly contentious than it’s been in past years. A public hearing held at Ansonia High School after the first referendum attracted more than two dozen speakers, mostly students who asked that the school budget be spared from reductions.
In the end, the budget never got referendum approval. The Aldermen instead made reductions to the city and school budgets so that the increase in ‘net taxes to be collected’ was less than three percent – making referendum approval unnecessary under the charter. The new budget kept city spending flat over last year, while it included a modest increase for the schools.
The budget finally adopted by the Aldermen trimmed about $1.5 million in spending from the initial proposed budget a couple months earlier. The new mill rate was set at 28.55 mills, a 2.06 mill increase over the year before.
3. Ansonia Referred To State Panel For Budget Advice
In the backdrop of those budget referendums, the city’s financial practices were the subject of intense debate between Republicans and Democrats in town.
That in itself is nothing new – Democrats have alleged for years that the city, under Cassetti and a fully Republican Board of Aldermen, had been budgeting for money it doesn’t have. They point as evidence to the city’s $41 million sale of its wastewater system to Aquarion last year, as well as a fund balance that has (mostly) steadily decreased in recent years.
On the other side of that debate, Republicans have said the city is doing the best it can with what it has. They argue the state doesn’t provide enough support for education, shifting the burden to local taxpayers, and that the city has stood up to financial scrutiny before. The city’s bond rating (basically, its credit score) is AA-, they point out, which indicates a “very strong capacity to meet financial commitments.”
That fight escalated just as the city and state budget seasons were coming to a close. Democratic state Rep. Kara Rochelle – a longtime political opponent of Cassetti, whom Cassetti unsuccessfully challenged for her seat last year – filibustered on the state House floor to keep a provision in the state budget which required Ansonia to explain its finances to a state advisory panel.
That panel, the Municipal Finance Advisory Commission (or MFAC), is made up of experts that listen and weigh in on a city’s budget and financial practices. It doesn’t have the power to take over a city’s finances.
Derby has also been appearing in front of that panel for years, beginning with voluntary appearances in 2020 after Mayor Richard Dziekan discovered budget blunders that he said predated his administration. Derby’s appearances became mandatory in 2023 when MFAC said they no longer trusted that city’s numbers.
The Cassetti-aligned Board of Aldermen responded by passing a resolution condemning Rochelle, calling the move a political stunt done to make the administration look bad. Cassetti said the same, but also said he was looking forward to working with the panel.
Ansonia made its first appearance before the panel in September. You can read about that appearance here.
2. Jose Morales Convicted, But Vanessa Morales Remains Missing
A tragedy in Ansonia saw partial resolution this year.
About five and a half years after Christine Holloway was found murdered in her Myrtle Avenue home, a jury took only two hours to convict Jose Morales of the crime.
Morales, 49, was sentenced to 65 years in prison after a trial which lasted about two weeks in April. At his sentencing, Holloway’s relatives described for the court the agony that Morales’ actions had wrought upon their family. His sentence was the maximum allowed under state law.
The family also focused many of their statements on Vanessa Morales, the then-one-year-old daughter of Morales and Holloway who has been missing since Holloway’s death.
Morales, the last person to be seen with Vanessa, has not said anything regarding her whereabouts since 2019. Her disappearance remains under investigation by the Ansonia Police Department, members of which have expressed frustration at Morales’ silence.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to finding Vanessa. The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children released the following age-progressed photo of her:
1. Ansonia Democrats Sweep The Election
Nov. 4 was a day for the history books, no matter which side you’re on. After 12 years in office, six-term mayor David Cassetti was defeated in the election, as were all Republican candidates for the Board of Aldermen.
Democratic Mayor Frank Tyszka won the election handily, as did the 14 Democrats who now constitute an all-new board. The board had been all-Republican before that.
When Ansonia goes through a political shift, it commits to it. This election was almost a mirror image of the one that first elected Cassetti to power. In 2013, Cassetti ousted incumbent seven-term Democratic Mayor James Della Volpe, while Republicans won nine seats on the Board of Aldermen to gain their first majority in decades.
Nov. 4 was also a big day in political headlines across the country. Other races – such as those for governor in Virginia and New Jersey – were quickly analyzed by other outlets as rebukes of Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies in his first year back in office.
But did that sentiment have a hand in Ansonia’s turnaround? I don’t think so.
If I can be a presumptuous armchair analyst for a second, the issues at play in this race were as hyperlocal as it gets. Tyszka’s campaign centered on reforming the city’s finances – you’ll recall both parties’ financial arguments from earlier in this list – and mobilized residents who were upset by the city’s sale of its sewer system.
The campaign also included a pledge to begin holding city meetings in-person again, which had (mostly) been held via Zoom since 2020.
Then, there was a question of image.
Cassetti got into some hot water with voters earlier this year over statements he made on social media and to the press. There were expletive-laced comments on Facebook, a radio interview in which he said there are “a lot of hood rats” in Ansonia, and family drama which got aired out publicly after an assailant slashed Cassetti’s tires.
Now, toxic words and strong feelings are nothing new – not for Cassetti, and not for Ansonia as a whole (I mean, a newly elected Democratic Alderman was cited for trespassing after planting signs on his opponents’ lawns over a healthcare dispute on election night). And Cassetti, the former boxer, had a contingent of voters that considered his sometimes-bluntness an asset. But I think there was another contingent that went to the polls with those comments still fresh in their memory.
“Team Cassetti” was an institution in Ansonia, winning elections in landslides for the past decade. Just two years ago, Cassetti won nearly 80 percent of the vote against then-Democratic candidate Thomas Egan. Will there be a “Team Tyszka” now? I suppose it’s too early to say.
Throughout this year, The Valley Indy did our best to cover every step of the municipal elections in Ansonia, Derby, and Seymour. We were the only outlet present at press conferences held by Tyszka and Cassetti. If you want a look back at the Ansonia election and the campaigns this year, we have a list of all our stories on it here.
And with that, I’d like to take a second again to thank everyone who supports us. We’re a small operation. We’re grateful to have the support of readers, including those of you who gave more than $12,000 during this year’s Great Give.
SEE YA IN THE NEW YEAR!