ANSONIA – After deliberating for more than three hours, members of the city’s tax board April 8 could not reach a consensus on whether to reduce a proposed $68.1 million budget from Mayor Frank Tyszka.
Tyszka’s budget, which he presented March 10, would raise the mill rate by 2.27 mills, from 28.55 to 30.82. The proposal would flat fund Ansonia Public Schools at $38,612,089 and reduce city-side spending by about $20,000, to $29,484,066.
The tax board cannot make further reductions to Board of Education spending, since Tyszka’s budget already funds it at the lowest number allowed under state law.
You can read that budget proposal here.
The tax board is required under the city’s charter to recommend a budget to the Board of Aldermen. The Board of Aldermen may then make their own modifications to the budget.
The budget proposal in its current form would also require voter approval at a referendum, since the increase in ‘net taxes to be collected’ is more than 3 percent.
Next year’s budget will kick into effect July 1, 2026, and last until June 30, 2027.
Members Divided Over One-Time Revenue
Wednesday’s tax board meeting included a two-hour debate between officials over the city’s use of its reserves (also known as the fund balance) to fund its budgets.
Tyszka’s budget proposal calls for using about $3 million from the reserves in the next year.
The city has about $15 million in total reserves, according to past statements. The money includes a $6.1 million fund balance and a $9 million account leftover after the sale of the city’s WPCA.
The city’s current budget, which was adopted under former Mayor David Cassetti’s administration last year, used at least $6.5 million from reserves.
Tax board member Richard Thayer said the board should shoot for reducing city-side spending from $29.48 million to about $22 million. He said that would eliminate the city’s reliance on its reserves.
“If we put in anything over $22 million, it’s money that we don’t really have. It’s going to have to come from somewhere,” Thayer said.
He said the city should stop drawing on its reserves immediately.
“Our budget to the Board of Aldermen should be actual tax revenue, not any other revenue,” Thayer said.
However, tax board chairman Edward Norman said getting to Thayer’s number would require making large cuts to the city’s payroll. He said he would rather leave payroll decisions to Tyszka.
“I did not touch payroll because that’s up to him. If he wants to do a reduction in force, that’s up to him,” Norman said.
Thayer said he didn’t want to send a budget to the Board of Aldermen without reviewing the city’s payroll.
“There’s no way to get a budget decision from us to send them that’s legitimate in my eyes, when we skip over all of the salary line items,” Thayer said.
Tax board member Dan King said he was frustrated that no one from the city’s finance department attended the meeting to go over budget specifics with the board. He also said he wanted to ask questions to Thomas Hamilton, a finance consultant hired by Tyszka’s administration.
“If we can’t agree on a budget, that was what we were here for, then we’ll just close the meeting,” Norman said toward the end of the meeting.
Next Steps
The city’s budget is still in the same place it was before the meeting.
The tax board will need to meet again in order to decide on and recommend a budget to the Board of Aldermen. A new meeting has not been scheduled as of April 9.
The Board of Aldermen were originally scheduled to receive a budget for review at their April 14 meeting.
After the Aldermen receive the budget, they can make their own alterations to it before voting to adopt it. The Aldermen will also be required to hold at least one public hearing over the budget before finalizing it.
In the budget’s current form, it would require approval from voters at a referendum before the Aldermen could adopt it. It’s the same process the city went through last year, when voters rejected three budget proposals at referendum.