ANSONIA – The Ansonia Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing on a proposed $67.1 million budget on May 29.
That public hearing is currently scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. on Zoom.
The hearing was originally scheduled for May 28 as a hybrid meeting – with residents able to participate either online or in-person at city hall – but, on the afternoon of May 21, it was rescheduled and moved to be solely online.
Check the city website ‘Meetings’ tab to find the Zoom link.
The budget, which includes a mill rate increase of 0.25 mills, underwent two budget meetings with the Board of Apportionment and Taxation (BOAT) and the Aldermen Finance Subcommittee on May 14 and 15. During those meetings, the budget was updated to include new revenue from the state, but it otherwise remained the same as Mayor David Cassetti’s proposed budget.
The boards voted on May 15 to forward the budget proposal to the full Board of Aldermen.
If the budget is accepted as proposed, a single-family house on Holbrook Street assessed at $180,000 would pay $45 more per year in taxes.
A house on Gardners Lane assessed at $248,000 would pay $62 more per year.
A house on High Acres Road assessed at $366,000 would pay $91.50 more per year.
The budget allocates an additional $1.8 million to Ansonia Public Schools. That’s a 5 percent year-to-year increase, bringing the proposed education budget to $37.6 million.
The Board of Education has not voted on a budget, unlike boards in Derby and Seymour. However, members have indicated that they intend to accept the city’s proposed budget as their own.
Click here for a story about how the Ansonia Board of Education’s budgeting practices have changed in recent years.
Other spending increases include a $650,000 increase for public works, almost all of which is due to increased waste collection costs, and a $700,000 (or 9 percent) increase for public safety.
Tax bills are calculated by multiplying the assessed value (not the appraised value) by the mill rate and then dividing by 1,000. Click here to look up your address and find the value.
‘Future Revenue’ Reduced In Light Of State Revenue
The updated budget proposal’s bottom-line revenues and expenditures remain the same as Cassetti’s proposed budget. However, a couple of revenue numbers were moved around over the course of BOAT’s budget workshops, according to an updated budget proposal shared with The Valley Indy.
Cassetti’s proposed budget included a $7.8 million line item called ‘Use of future revenue.’ In the May 6 public hearing, Ansonia resident and former Alderman William Phipps criticized this line item and questioned whether that money actually exists.
“Allocating rather substantial sums of money on a hope and a prayer is what it appears to the public,” Phipps said in that hearing.
Thomas Egan, a Democrat who ran against Cassetti in last year’s mayoral election, said in the hearing that the city had not been transparent about where the city’s“future revenue” is coming from.
BOAT’s updated budget reduces that line item by $350,000, down to $7.4 million.
Additionally, another $400,000 line item, ‘Municipal Revenue Sharing Account’ (MRSA), was removed entirely over the course of the budget meetings.
The MRSA is a state program that gives funds to cities whose mill rates are above 32.46 mills. Ansonia, which previously received money from the MRSA, became ineligible for the program after cutting the mill rate by 11.6 mills last year, but projected revenue from the program was still included in Cassetti’s original proposal.
Those two reductions – $350,000 from ‘future revenue’ and $400,000 from a program that appears to have been mistakenly included – total to $750,000.
Those moves are balanced out by the addition of $750,000 from a one-time ARPA payment from the state, resulting in the same total revenue number. Click here for a story about that payment.
Additionally, click here for an interview with Ansonia budget director Kurt Miller on the topic of ‘future revenue.’
A Budget By The End Of May
The May 29 public hearing is the second and final hearing in Ansonia’s budget process. After that hearing, the full Board of Aldermen will hold a meeting on the proposed budget.
The meeting was rescheduled to May 29 from an original scheduled date of May 28.
The monthly Board of Aldermen meeting will still be held on May 28, according to city corporation counsel John Marini. There will be a discussion of the budget during that meeting.
On May 30, the Aldermen are scheduled to take a vote on the proposed budget. If they vote to approve it, it will take effect July 1.
Check the city website before each meeting to confirm the dates and times are still accurate.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024 (6 p.m.) — Board of Aldermen will hold a Public Hearing on the proposed FY 2025 budget on Zoom. After the meeting, a budget workshop will be held.
Thursday, May 30, 2024 (6 p.m.) — Board of Aldermen will hold a special meeting via Zoom to vote on adoption of the FY 2025 City of Ansonia budget.
