A screen shot of Alderman Josh Shuart, the president of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen.
ANSONIA – A fourth budget referendum scheduled for Friday (June 6) has been canceled, as the Ansonia Board of Aldermen are scheduled to adopt a $68.1 million budget after reducing spending for the city and schools.
At a meeting June 2, members of the Board of Aldermen voted to reduce the city’s proposed budget by $143,803, and to reduce the schools’ proposed budget by $545,325.
The new bottom lines are:
* $29,509,117 for the city, a zero percent increase over the current budget
* $38,612,089 for the schools, a $1,035,877 (or 2.8 percent) increase over the current budget.
“Current budget” refers to the 2024 – 2025 budget, which was approved last year and covers the city until June 30.
“Proposed budget” refers to the 2025 – 2026 budget, which would start July 1.
The dollar amounts come from public statements made at the June 2 Aldermen meeting. The city’s corporation counsel told The Valley Indy that the dollar amounts above are correct.
Since April, voters have rejected three budget proposals. The latest budget proposal doesn’t require a referendum.
That’s because the revised proposal would reduce the increase in ‘net taxes to be collected’ to 2.99 percent, according to budget director Kurt Miller. City charter only requires voter approval if that increase is 3 percent or more.
The Aldermen June 2 did not officially approve the budgets or set a new mill rate.
That is scheduled to happen at an Aldermen meeting scheduled for June 10, according to Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini. Check the Ansonia city calendar for the agenda, which must be posted at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.
Officials Hope To Avoid Layoffs
The proposed budget first sent to voters April 25 totaled $69.6 million combined.
Three failed referendums later, and the Aldermen have reduced spending on the proposed city budget by $544,000 total. Spending on the school side has been reduced by about $949,000 since April 25.
On May 15, just prior to the third referendum, school officials said they would have to make the following cuts:
$81,680 from new AP math & science textbooks
$55,000 from building maintenance and repairs
$52,000 from technology upgrade purchases
$48,752 from a full-time lead security officer position
$45,000 by eliminating all middle school sports
$28,000 from student supplies, such as crayons, paper, musical instruments and art materials
$25,000 by eliminating high school junior varsity (JV) sports
$23,303.70 from a subscription to the Reflex Math service
$19,752 from elementary and middle school after-school programs,
$13,800 from middle school language arts consumables, and
$11,120 from subscriptions to online math programs
School officials had said more cuts were coming if the budget was rejected a third time – which it was.
At the Aldermen meeting June 2, school district officials were in attendance but did not detail what additional cuts could be on the way.
However, a bright spot for the school district – more state aid than school officials were expecting, as pointed out by Alderman Steven Adamowski , a retired school superintendent.
That state aid is part of a new state budget, which is being finalized this week.
On the city’s side, budget director Miller mentioned a few ways the city could reduce spending, including:
$34,300 by reducing contributions to local nonprofit/charity organizations
$12,591 by dropping out of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities
$10,000 by canceling the 2026 Memorial Day Parade
$27,732 by moving to half-days on Saturdays at the transfer station
More cuts could be coming to the city side of the budget. Miller and Marini are scheduled to meet with department heads and union leaders over the coming days to see what concessions can be negotiated in order to avoid layoffs, Marini said.
Marini and Miller are scheduled to report back to the Aldermen with more information on June 10.
To Referendum, Or Not To Referendum?
The Aldermen wrestled with whether to send a slightly larger spending plan back to voters for a fourth time.
Ultimately the majority of the board – along with Rich Bshara, the school board chairman – decided that voters would reject any budget sent to them.
Alderman Chicago Rivers pointed to the cost of holding another referendum. Each referendum costs about $5,000, according to Democratic Registrar of Voters John Feddern.
Seven out of ten Aldermen voted in favor of the city budget changes, with three Aldermen (Joseph Jaumann, Joseph Cassetti, and Dan King) voting against them.
Eight out of ten voted in favor of the school budget changes, with two (Jaumann and Alderwoman Bobbi Tar) voting against them.
Ten of fourteen Aldermen were at the meeting. Aldermen Gary Farrar, Robert Knott, Nate Hardy, and Mario Durante were absent.
The Valley Indy streamed Monday’s meeting on Facebook. It’s posted below.
