Ansonia Aldermen on Tuesday voted without dissent to pass Mayor David Cassetti’s proposed budget to the city’s tax board for further review.
The Aldermen’s endorsement came after officials quelled concerns raised regarding police and ambulance funding in the spending plan.
The budget would carry a tax decrease of .73 mill if approved by the city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation (tax board).
The tax board has until mid-May to approve a budget.
The mill rate change means that for a house assessed at $200,000, property taxes would go from $7,867 to $7,720 year over year, or a $147 decrease in taxes.
The bottom line on the spending plan is $61,104,251, up $17,823, or .03 percent, from last year’s budget.
While most departments saw cuts of around 4 percent — as requested by Cassetti — the city’s public school system would receive an increase of $1,579,549 from last year — or 5.6 percent.
The schools had requested $29,579,549 in funding — $300,000 more than Cassetti’s proposal.
Education funding is almost 50 percent of the total budget, but the state picks up more than half the tab in grants and other aid.
No Aldermen raised any concerns about school funding under Cassetti’s budget Tuesday, but Superintendent Carol Merlone told the board’s finance committee last week that she couldn’t implement the budget without cutting teachers.
The Valley Indy left a message with Merlone Wednesday asking specifically how the proposed budget would impact school staffing.
Click here for a previous story with more details.
Article continues after a summary of the budget proposal.
Ansonia 2014 – 2015 Budget Proposal
Cassetti: ‘This Goose Is Cooked’
This year’s budget process is the first under the Cassetti administration.
The city’s charter puts budget-making powers in the hands of the Aldermen and the tax board, but Cassetti has taken a much more active role in the process, with the backing of the Republican majority on the Board of Aldermen.
While making his monthly remarks at the Feb. 4 Aldermen meeting, Cassetti said the spending plan was “an honest and fair budget” that will lower taxes for the first time in five years.
“A .73 (mill) reduction may seem small, but in reality it would be very difficult to reduce it much lower based upon department reductions,” the mayor said, while noting “it is possible to lower taxes while keeping the promise to education our children intact.”
“It has been said that taxation is the art of plucking the feathers from the bird without killing the bird,” Cassetti said. “It’s time we realize there are no more feathers on the bird. In other words, this goose is cooked — we cannot ask our departments to cut their budgets any further without a noticeable reduction in services or staffing.”
Ansonia’s mill rate will be 38.6 if the budget is approved as it is.
To find more savings in the future, Cassetti said he had sent a letter to union leaders representing the city’s employees asking them “to engage in conversations” about lowering the cost of the city’s insurance plans.
The mayor said the matter is all the more pressing because a “Cadillac tax” in the federal Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, threatens to cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars when it kicks in in 2017.
Police, Ambulance
While discussing Cassetti’s proposal, Fifth Ward Alderwoman Joan Radin said she “bothered a little bit” by two areas of Cassetti’s budget — the decrease in money going to police and ambulance crews.
First Ward Alderman Edward Adamowski agreed, saying while it’s “great” to have a small tax decrease, the budget was draining money from “the wrong spots.”
In the proposed budget:
- Ansonia Rescue Medical Services would see a budget decrease of $30,925 year over year -— or 4.1 percent.
- The police department would see a budget decrease of nearly 5 percent under Cassetti’s proposal — from $5,851,032 to $5,562,165.
Police Chief Kevin Hale had said those cuts could come from not filling a vacancy for a patrol officer, laying off a part-time records clerk, and cutting crossing guard funding by $15,000, among other adjustments.
A potential problem with the police department’s smaller budget — the department lacks wiggle room if a number of officers opt to retire. But Hale also noted it is early in the annual budget process and that some potential cuts, such as to the money used to fund crossing guards, might be saved.
Meanwhile, ARMS Chief Jared Heon told Aldermen last month he’d try to pinch pennies with more volunteer staffing to deal with the cut to his budget. He warned Aldermen he might have to cut back on staff hours on the department’s second ambulance crew.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Heon’s comments echoed Hale’s comments, indicating ARMS will work within whatever final dollar amount they receive.
Heon said he’ll audit his numbers quarterly and alert officials if it appears ARMS will need more money than budgeted. They may need to rely more on volunteers to supplement the ambulance service.
Still, the ARMS chief said, “We would like to maintain our current budget, obviously.”
