ANSONIA – Two Ansonia officials met in The Valley Indy’s office Oct. 23 to discuss and debate a series of proposed revisions to Ansonia’s charter.
Javier Varas is the chairman of the charter revision commission, which wrote the revision questions. He is also Mayor Frank Tyszka’s chief of staff.
Dana Haigh is the chairman of the Ansonia Republican Town Committee. He is also a member of the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission.
Voters will decide on the charter revision questions at the ballot box Nov. 3. Early voting has also begun. Click here for a sample ballot, and scroll to the end of this story for the text of the questions.
The discussion was carried live on ValleyIndy.org, along with the publication’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages.
Click ‘play’ on the video below to watch the full discussion.
Both Varas and Haigh agreed on three out of the four charter revision questions, saying they are needed updates to the city’s charter. Most of the debate centered around the second question, which would change how budget referendums are triggered in Ansonia.
Varas said the public should vote ‘yes’ to the second question.
Haigh said the public should vote ‘no.’
What’s In The Second Question?
The second question would change how budget referendums are triggered in Ansonia.
Currently, a referendum is triggered whenever a proposed budget would raise the ‘net taxes to be collected’ by more than 3 percent. That’s the total amount of tax dollars the city expects to collect in a given year.
The proposed change would make it so a referendum is instead triggered when a proposed budget would raise ‘city expenditures’ by more than 4 percent. That’s the total amount of money the city expects to spend in a given year.
Click here for every story The Valley Indy has written on the proposed changes, including the referendum change.
Varas said during the livestream that changing the mechanism would allow the city to bring in more taxpayers, including businesses. He said the city needs to find more ways to grow its tax base.
“We want more taxpayers, not more taxes. And the current formula penalizes everything, and so we need the ability to make sure that we can generate more taxpayers,” Varas said.
However, Haigh said removing the current trigger would also make it possible for elected officials to raise property taxes by higher amounts without asking voters.
“There will be no trigger for tax increases at all. It could be 3 (percent), it could be 10, it could be 20. There’s no trigger for that. It’s only on the spend side,” Haigh said. “And my concern is that the need for taxes to increase can outgrow the need for (spending), and that taxes could increase exponentially with zero impediment.”
Both Varas and Haigh agreed that the current budget referendum rules could use a change. They both said Ansonia currently isn’t making enough money to pay its bills, and that a charter revision could help it raise needed funds.
However, Haigh said the proposed charter revision should still include a trigger tied directly to taxes.
“By removing that safeguard, there’s nobody holding you accountable,” Haigh said.
Varas said there are other mechanisms for holding elected officials accountable. He said those mechanisms include budget meetings held throughout the year, as well as charter revision meetings where members of the public can advocate for specific changes to the city’s charter.
“To sit here and say, ‘Oh, but where’s the accountability?’ We’re going to the public, saying ‘Hold us accountable,’” Varas said.
He said the proposed change is one part of a plan to get Ansonia’s finances back on track.
Haigh referred to projections the city provided to S&P 500, a bond ratings company, which include a 12 percent tax increase next year. He said that projection shows why it’s important to trigger referendums when officials would increase taxes.
“Right now, we have something in our charter that says ‘No, you can’t. You’ve got to come and talk to us about it. You’ve got to let us know why,’” Haigh said.
Varas said the city’s projection is a worst-case scenario and doesn’t include other sources of revenue the city hopes to bring in over the next year. He said officials are working to make it so that a steep hike isn’t necessary.
Officials in Tyszka’s administration – including Varas – have contended that they inherited a bad financial situation due to decisions made under former Mayor David Cassetti.
“If nothing changes where we are, the future does look scary. If we do not find new revenue to bring in, the future does look scary,” Varas said. “But I think what you will see when you come into city hall every single day, and this is my key point that I want to come back to, no one in city hall is talking about the easy solution you’re proposing.”
The full discussion of the question lasted around an hour and can be viewed in the video above.
The Questions On The Ballot
There are four charter revision questions on the ballot in Ansonia.
Question 1 proposes pushing back a budget-related deadline by about a month, and extending the public notice period for budget referendums.
Question 2 would change how budget referendums are triggered in Ansonia.
Question 3 would change how the chief promotion system works within the fire department, and change the official titles for fire department chiefs.
Question 4 would abolish the ‘Superintendent of Fire Alarms’ position, a position which has been vacant for about 20 years.
Click here for a previous Valley Indy podcast episode regarding Questions 3 and 4, featuring Ansonia Fire Chief Jay Fainer and Ansonia Deputy Chief Anthony DeLucia.
The text of all four charter revision questions on the ballot are as follows:
- Shall Section 43 of the City of Ansonia Charter be amended to require that the Mayor submit a proposed fiscal year budget to the Board of Apportionment and Taxation no later than the second Monday in March each year and if a public referendum is necessary shall the timeline for the public referendum be changed to no more than fourteen calendar days and no less than ten calendar days after approval by the Board of Aldermen?
- Shall a public referendum be held on the budget for the City of Ansonia whenever the Board of Aldermen approves a budget that increases total expenditures by 4% or more compared to the prior fiscal year?
- Shall Section 129 of the City of Ansonia Charter be amended to replace references to the Fire Superintendent with Fire Chief, establish the process for selecting the second Fire Chief, and specify the appointing authority for members of the Board of Fire Commissioners?
- Shall Section 130 of the City of Ansonia Charter be eliminated as the Superintendent of Fire Alarms is obsolete?