ANSONIA – Mayor David Cassetti said he’ll give up his raise included in the new city budget, after The Valley Indy reminded him he wasn’t supposed to get it.
The budget, which was adopted June 10, increases Cassetti’s pay from $84,000 to $87,000, a 3.5 percent increase.
However, during a May 19 budget meeting, Alderman Tony Mammone announced the mayor was forgoing his annual raise, a sacrifice to help the city’s coffers as the Aldermen were trying to cut costs and get a budget passed.
“I had a conversation with the mayor, and voluntarily he has agreed to give up his increase for this budget,” Mammone said at the meeting.
However, in an interview June 24, Cassetti said he never agreed to give up his raise and questioned Mammone’s version of events.
“I’ve never had a discussion with Tony Mammone about my pay raise. Never,” Cassetti said.
Mammone didn’t return a call for comment.
Cassetti called The Valley Indy back on June 25 and said he didn’t realize he got the raise included in the budget. He then promised to direct the city’s tax board to erase his 3.5 percent bump in pay.
Alderman Tony Levinsky was also aware about the mayor’s raise being cut from the budget. He said so in a Facebook comment on May 20. Cassetti said he had not seen the comment.
Levinsky texted The Valley Indy June 25 saying the mayor would generously sacrifice his raise.
“Mayor Cassetti is absolutely NOT taking his pay raise in (fiscal year) 2025/2026,” Levinsky wrote.
The new budget goes into effect July 1.
The Ansonia budget cycle was difficult this year because the administration proposed a spending plan in which the increase in net taxes to be collected was more than 3 percent. That meant the budget had to be approved by voters — who rejected the budget three times before the Aldermen were able to adopt a budget June 10.