According to proverb, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I am sorry to report that Ansonia may be loading up the car and kids for the trip.
On Monday, May 20, 2013, the Ansonia tax board passed a $61 million budget that will – against the backdrop of revaluation – see the city’s mill rate leap from 27.65 to 39.34 mills.
Actual spending will increase by $2 million.
This means that a home assessed at $230,000 will pay $9,048.00 per year in taxes in 2013 – 2014. That is a tax hike of more than $2,600.00 from last year (the tax increase experienced by any given home owner would, of course, depend on the value of their home after revaluation).
The increased mill rate also ensures that all resident’s car taxes will rise.
By comparison, Derby (which went through revaluation last year) will see a $37 million budget that carries a slight tax decrease and a mill rate of 35.34 mills.
Seymour residents went to referendum earlier in the month to soundly reject a $53.26 million budget that carried a relatively modest 1.9 mill increase. Shelton is still considering a $115 million budget that carries another slight tax decrease.
There is no doubt that Ansonia’s tax problem is the result of good intentions. But good intentions will not mean much to those facing unemployment, fixed incomes and home foreclosure.
The solution is not easy.
In this case, the Board of Aldermen (myself included) supported a budget that met only the city’s most pressing needs. However, the unelected Board of Apportionment and Taxation saw fit to further increase spending by nearly half a million dollars.
Until the next budget year, Ansonia needs to consider the following principles:
- The ability of residents to pay must be the essential budget driver. You cannot get blood from a stone, no matter how worthy the cause appears.
- Long-term planning is long overdue. This requires communication, transparency and cooperation between all city officials, boards, commissions and the public. Living day-to-day without a long-term vision has hurt the city.
We need to stand up to Hartford. The State Board of Education imposes a host of costly administrative mandates on our local educators. The state expects Ansonia to pick-up the ever increasing tab.
The next time you see a state politician on the taxpayer-funded Riverwalk, ask them where the funding for Hartford’s mandates went. If they mumble some talking-point about “shared sacrifice,” tell them to take the next road to hell out of Ansonia.
John Marini
Ansonia Board of Aldermen
