ANSONIA – The city’s charter revision commission could discuss a reworking of the city’s budgeting process at a meeting next month.

The commission is scheduled to meet 7 p.m. July 2 at Ansonia City Hall (253 Main St).

The meeting will be a chance for members to discuss proposals brought by residents at two previous meetings on June 4 and June 18.

In those meetings, topics brought up included revising the charter budget process – potentially reversing some changes made by former Mayor David Cassetti’s administration and abolishing budget referendums entirely – and reducing the number of city wards, a proposal which failed by 49 votes on a ballot 12 years ago.

After the July 2 meeting, more public hearings could be scheduled for residents to provide their input and feedback.

Any proposed charter changes would ultimately need to go to voters for approval. Before that happens, the commission and the Board of Aldermen would both need to greenlight the specific proposals and hold public hearings over them.

The deadline for the commission to submit questions for the ballot is in September.

Public Officials Want Budget Process Changed

Mayor Frank Tyszka has said previously that he would ask the commission, which was appointed in March, to consider reversing a series of budget reforms approved by voters in 2014.

Those reforms gave the final say over the city’s budget to the city’s elected Board of Aldermen. Previously, the Board of Apportionment or Taxation (or tax board), whose members are appointed by the mayor, had that control.

The 2014 reforms also required the Board of Aldermen to send the budget to voters if its ‘net taxes to be collected’ – the total amount of money the city expects to collect in taxes – increases by more than 3 percent.

In the June meetings, public officials proposed a variety of changes which ranged from adjusting budget timelines to reverting back to the old system entirely.

Edward Norman, the chairman of the Board of Apportionment and Taxation, said in the June 4 hearing that control over the budget should be returned to his board. He also suggested changes to avoid going to budget referendums in the future, according to meeting minutes.

Tyler Kennedy, an Alderman representing the First Ward, suggested altering the 3 percent threshold in order to make a referendum less likely.

Kennedy proposed “that instead of a net 3 percent tax levy, the formula be adjustable based on what the town expenditures need,” according to the minutes.

Michael Iodice, the city’s new chief fiscal officer, also suggested altering the referendum threshold in the June 18 public hearing, officials said.

John Feddern, the Democratic registrar of voters, suggested that the referendum should require a minimum turnout in order for a budget to pass. He suggested a turnout of between 10 and 20 percent.

Of the four budget referendums held in 2025 and 2026, none of them reached that number. The highest turnout, for a referendum in April 2025, was about 9.7 percent.

Feddern also suggested extending the timeline between the Board of Aldermen approving a budget and the referendum for that budget. The charter currently requires the referendum to be held within five calendar days of budget approval, a deadline which Feddern said is unrealistic and makes it hard to communicate with the public.

Feddern suggested a timeline of 10-14 days to set up a referendum, noting that other municipalities in Connecticut often require a two-week notice period.

“In essence, the five day window may be disenfranchising voters, and must be extended,” Feddern wrote in a message to the commission.

Voter Registrars Want Fewer Wards

Both Feddern and Republican registrar of voters David Papcin said that the city would benefit from having four wards, as opposed to the seven wards it currently has.

“Reducing the number of polling places (and wards) would reduce election expenses, allow the registrars to be more selective in the hiring of poll workers, and provide us with an increased ability to produce accurate election reporting. From our perspective, this is an obvious and long overdue move,” Feddern and Papcin wrote in a message to the commission.

The message notes that Ansonia, with seven wards and 6.2 square miles, leads the state in number of wards per square mile.

Changing the number of wards would also require a ward boundary commission to be set up to draw the new wards and ensure they comply with state law.

The ward boundary commission would also be responsible for setting the number of Aldermen per ward. Currently, each ward elects two Aldermen, but the commission could, for example, increase that number to three or four Aldermen.

In 2014, voters rejected a proposal to reduce the number of wards from seven to three. The proposal failed by a vote of about 2,248 to 2,199.

That ward reduction proposal was made by former registrars of voters David Maffeo and Nancy Valentine, who submitted similar arguments to the ones now made by Feddern and Papcin.

The charter revision commission has not written language for any proposed charter changes yet. After they write their proposals, they will be required to hold a further public hearing for feedback before sending it to the state.