After some hand-wringing over a $29,000 position in the mayor’s office, the majority of the Derby tax board approved a 2014 – 2015 budget May 20 that carries a small tax increase.
The tax board voted 9 – 1 to approve a spending plan totaling $38,294,328, a roughly $997,000 spending increase over from the budget adopted last year.
The budget raises the tax rate rate 1.1 percent, from 35.34 to 35.74 mills.
Owners of a single-family house assessed at $105,000 will see a $42 increase in their property tax bill.
The tax board allocated $16.5 million for Derby Public Schools, a 2.6 percent increase.
On paper it is less than then Board of Education initially requested, but Superintendent Matthew Conway explained the request shrunk because some worker’s compensation and unemployment costs were transferred to the city side of the budget.
Conway thanked the tax board for supporting the school budget.
Tax board member Sam Pollastro cast the lone vote in opposition to the budget.
Pollastro voted against the budget as a protest against the way Mayor Anita Dugatto is funding employees who are working in her office.
Under former Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s administration, the city employed an economic development director who also served as the mayor’s chief administrative assistant — and collected a salary in the neighborhood of $104,000.
When Dugatto took office in December, she used some of that salary to hire a new chief administrative assistant, and some of it went toward the hiring of a “community engagement” position in Derby City Hall.
However, the creation of the “community engagement” position hasn’t been approved by the Derby Board of Aldermen, although it has been under discussion for months.
Dugatto sought to include $29,000 in the new budget to fund the position, but several tax board members — Pollastro and Carlo Malerba, specifically — weren’t comfortable funding a position that was not approved by the city’s legislative body.
Malerba said the tax board has asked repeatedly to see an employment contract for the “community engagement” position. Corporation Counsel Kevin Blake said he could not produce the document at the tax board meeting because he couldn’t access e‑mail or wasn’t sure where it was.
Ultimately the tax board subtracted $29,000 from the proposed budget.
The community engagement position is intended to act as a conduit between the mayor’s office and the public. Dugatto told the Valley Indy it’s a way to get a representative at the mayor’s office at meetings and events she might not be able to attend. Since taking office, the community engagement person has been attending meetings of non-profit groups quite regularly, Dugatto said.
The mayor also said she is planning to hire a part-time economic development director for $50,000 within a few months.
At the conclusion of tax board meeting, Dugatto thanked the members of the board for their service to the city.
This budget cycle was the first under Dugatto, a Democrat who took office in December, and was relatively conflict-free compared to recent Derby budget cycles.
Yes, You Really Have To File Minutes, Derby
Finally, on a related budget note, the Valley Indy wrote two articles criticizing the tax board for not making minutes available to the public within seven days of the meeting, as required by law.
The board’s chairman said the city views budget meetings as a long, continuous meeting, a claim that several state Freedom of Information experts found dubious.
Turns out Derby tried the “it’s one long meeting so we don’t have to give the public minutes” back in 1991, and a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission was filed by the late Gus Laskos.
The FOI Commission not only said the tax board’s position was against the law, it imposed a $25 civil penalty on the tax board chairman at the time.
