Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan
DERBY — With the passage of the 2021 – 2022 budget in May, the final steps were put in place to right Derby’s financial ship and allow us to chart a new course towards economic growth and prosperity moving forward.
When I took office in December of 2017, I was looking forward to developing and enacting a plan to move Derby forward only to find out before our first budget could be put together that there was a 2.5 million dollar deficit in the fund balance, also known as the rainy day fund, and then subsequently that there had been accounting errors made regarding state educational grant funding, which began in the previous administration, for another 2.4 million dollars total. Knowing that when life gives you lemons, a good leader puts aside their plan, plays the hand they are dealt, and learns to make lemonade, that was exactly what I committed to do.
Digging out of that financial hole was painful, especially for our residential taxpayers, but it was necessary. The city was under the close scrutiny of financial institutions and the State of Connecticut with zero wiggle room. It required continual vigilance and a focus on the prize of financial stability.
It took the city three municipal budget cycles and close adherence to an 8‑point recovery plan which included debt restructuring, sale of city owned property, a series of tax increases, minimal spending increases, sale of delinquent tax collection and other financial practices. This allowed Derby to maintain an AA- credit rating instead of experiencing further downgrading by the rating agency Standard and Poor, which is exactly what occurred when the financial crisis was first unveiled in 2019. We followed through with these plans, and as a result Derby’s future is brighter.
The adoption of the fiscal year 2021 – 2022 municipal budget not only provided the final steps for righting Derby’s financial ship, but it was also done with zero increase to the taxpayer. The 2021 – 2022 fiscal year marks the first year after property in the city was reevaluated. According to City Assessor Betsy Quist, the post reevaluation Grand List increased from $737,450,933 in the previous fiscal year to $818,179,973 for this year’s adopted budget. This represents a 10.95% increase. The result was a mill rate cut from 43.869 in the previous fiscal budget to 38.6 in the recently adopted budget. This represents a reduction of 5.269 mills or 12.01%. The significance of this is that, while individual rates may vary, on average, Derby’s overall taxes were reduced by just over 1%.
I am thrilled to be able to say in the final year of fulfilling our eight-point recovery plan and in the midst of reevaluation, my administration was able to cut the mill rate and lower the taxes of the average taxpayer. With the financial crisis behind us, I look forward over the next few weeks to rolling out my plans for sustained economic growth and taxpayer relief.
Derby’s future is bright. Developers are interested in being part of that bright future, which will significantly increase revenues. I look forward to working with you to make that bright future a reality.
Mayor Richard Dziekan
DERBY
