ANSONIA – A financial consultant hired by Mayor Frank Tyszka’s administration said the city would need a tax increase of up to 26 percent to correct budget forecasts made under Tyszka’s predecessor, David Cassetti.
However, Thomas Hamilton, the consultant, said the city could take a series of actions to lessen the tax hike during a presentation attended by about 100 members of the public at the Ansonia Senior Center Tuesday (Feb. 17). Those actions include selling assets, asking for more state aid, raising fees, cutting spending, and mill rate increases of some kind.
For several years the city was spending more than it was taking in, Hamilton said. Decisions made under Cassetti’s administration resulted in millions of dollars in missed revenue and unexpected debt, including from a stalled fuel cell project.
The complete presentation can be viewed below:
Tyszka, a Democrat, beat Cassetti, a Republican in November and assumed office Dec. 1.
Hamilton said nearly all of the $41 million from the city’s 2024 sale of its WPCA is spent, with about $465,000 in proceeds currently remaining.
He also said the city is short about $1,578,000 it predicted would come from a fuel cell project on North Main Street.
Hamilton said the city could increase transfer station fees, cut back services, and continue to draw from its fund balance to mitigate the tax increase. However, he said the tax increase will still likely be steep enough to require voter approval.
“At the end of the day, you need to increase taxes enough to balance your budget,” Hamilton said in the meeting.
Hamilton said the city urgently needs to get the fuel cell project off the ground, after the city entered negotiations with two different companies who are now in a dispute before the state siting council.
That fuel cell was supposed to start operating in December 2025, Hamilton said, but has not started due to the dispute.
Additionally, while the project hasn’t made any money, the city has had to start making debt payments toward the $37 million balance of the project. Hamilton said the city did not budget for those debt payments, either.
He said the city will owe about $1.7 million in unbudgeted debt payments by the end of this fiscal year in June. He said next year, that number will climb to about $3 million.
Because of the fuel cell problems, Hamilton said the city “is likely going to run a shortfall” this year.
Tyszka said in the presentation he’s asked all department heads to create budgets with no increase for next year. He said that includes the Ansonia Board of Education, which in January voted to ask for a 2.4 percent increase.
“We require a multi-faceted strategy as outlined tonight which includes some cuts, taxes, (and) state assistance,” Tyszka said.
While the city is nearly out of WPCA sale proceeds to use in its budgets, Hamilton said the WPCA had an account with about $9 million leftover at the time of its sale. He said the city can use that money to make ends meet and mitigate tax increases.
He said the city will likely use about $2 million of that money to close out its books at the end of the current fiscal year, with the rest available to be used in the future.
Tyszka said the department of public works under superintendent Michael D’Alessio found upwards of $100,000 in savings through ending free waste disposal by contractors and switching vendors for cleaning supplies.
He said he’s also asked the city’s corporation counsel to budget 10 percent less than was budgeted for corporation counsel services last year.
Tyszka said he will refuse to accept a city credit card funded by taxpayers, and that he will hold off on leasing a new public vehicle after the current vehicle is paid off.
Details and numbers in Tyszka’s proposed budget, which he is scheduled to present March 10, were not shared in the meeting.
Administration officials did not take questions from the public at the presentation.
Reaction
Ansonia Republican leader and former Alderman Tony Mammone said after the meeting that Hamilton’s plans line up with what his party was doing while in office.
He said Cassetti tried to increase taxes last year in order to use less WPCA sale money in last year’s budget – but pointed out city Democrats encouraged voters to reject those tax increases.
“Ansonia Democrats were extremely vocal against (Cassetti’s) proposal and helped defeat the mayor’s budget at referendum three times. Therefore, it appears that Ansonia Democrats helped create this year’s situation,” Mammone said.
Now, Mammone said, Democrats are attempting to do the same thing they had criticized Cassetti for attempting.
Voters defeated three budgets in referendums under Cassetti last year, after which the Board of Aldermen adopted a budget which kept city spending flat while increasing board of education spending.
Hamilton said the city is likely to overrun that budget, since it included revenue from the fuel cell project which hasn’t happened.
In response to a question from The Valley Indy, Hamilton said his recommendations are similar to plans the city laid out under Cassetti in 2024 to reduce its reliance on one-time proceeds. Those plans included phasing in tax increases and expecting new revenue to come in.
Cassetti administration officials also outlined their use of the WPCA sale proceeds last year, with numbers which largely matched those in Hamilton’s presentation.
However, Hamilton said the city needs to speed up the process of weaning itself off money from the sale of its assets.
“It’s a question of the magnitude,” Hamilton said.
He said the city relied too much and moved too fast on the WPCA sale money.
“In my judgment, they were just drawing down too much from that $41 million in one year,” he said.
He also referred again to the stalled fuel cell project, which Cassetti administration officials said would help the city wean itself off WPCA sale money.
Tyszka said in the meeting that the city will schedule a series of public budget meetings, but did not reveal dates yet. He is expected to present his proposed budget at the Board of Aldermen meeting March 10.
In his closing remarks Tuesday, Tyszka said he asked the city’s corporation counsel to look into credit card use by public officials. The mayor shared no details.
