Did People Know There Was A Budget Vote In Ansonia?

ANSONIA – Where were the signs reminding people to vote? Why were there no robocalls? Why wasn’t voting info on the city website?

Those were among some of the complaints on local social media in the wake of a budget referendum Monday, the first under Mayor Frank Tyszka’s watch.

At the referendum, voters approved the school budget but rejected the city side of the budget by a narrow margin.

In advance of the 2025 budget referendum, Mayor David Cassetti’s administration placed a few signs around the city, used a robocall, and put the voting info on the front of the city’s website, in addition to social media posts.

However, both budgets were rejected by voters during the first referendum in 2025.

This year the city relied almost exclusively on Facebook to spread the word.

The City of Ansonia Facebook page posted a sample ballot May 30, two days before the vote, and again about 30 minutes prior to the start of the June 1 referendum.

About 120 fewer people showed up to vote Monday compared to the first referendum last year.

Voter turnout was about 8.5 percent (about 985 voters) Monday, which was down from 9.7 percent (about 1,104 voters) at the first budget referendum last April (there were three referendums in 2025).

It took three tries to get a budget approved in Seymour this year, and each time voter turnout was around 10 percent.

Chicago Rivers, a former “Team Cassetti” Alderman who did not run for re-election last year, said he was working at a woman’s home on Johnson Street when she told him she didn’t know there was a vote.

“I asked her, I said, ‘Did you go to vote?’ And she said, ‘What vote?’ And I was telling her about it, and she had no idea. I ran across several people (who) had no idea about the vote,” Rivers said in a phone call.

Rivers said his own three adult children were unaware of the vote or unable to cast one due to conflicting work hours (the referendum was from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.).

He said the city should have sent a robocall to residents. He noted that a robocall recently went out informing residents that the Memorial Day parade was canceled (though it was later rescheduled).

“A lot of people are not online. So the next thing to do would be to do a robocall. I mean, I got that when the parade was canceled. So something as important as a vote, nobody was getting calls,” Rivers said.

Monday’s budget vote was scheduled quickly. The Aldermen adopted the budget last Wednesday (May 27), and had just five days to hold the referendum, as dictated by the Ansonia City Charter.

The city did not take out paid public notices in The Connecticut Post or The New Haven Register because the charter does not require it, according to Ansonia City Clerk Beth Lynch.

The city’s website did not display budget vote info prominently. No information was posted to the voting registrar’s page or the town clerk’s page within the city website about Monday’s vote. 

Prior to setting the referendum date, Tyszka and city finance officials held a series of presentations explaining the budget.

The weekend prior to the Monday vote saw city Democrats post about the need to pass the budget, while Republicans urged voters to “ax the tax.”

The Valley Indy posted on social media about the budget votes multiple times and displayed a graphic on its front page for three days.

Ansonia made statewide news last week when the Aldermen voted to bring in a law firm to investigate spending under Cassetti’s watch. However, those same news outlets did not cover the fact the Aldermen adopted a budget and set a referendum date.

The Valley Indy sent a list of questions about the public notice to Tyszka’s office June 2 but did not hear back. The Valley Indy also did not hear back from Ansonia Republican Party leader Tony Mammone.