The Ansonia Board of Apportionment and Taxation set a schedule for future budget meetings March 3.
ANSONIA – The Ansonia Board of Apportionment and Taxation (BOAT) set a schedule for this year’s budget meetings during a meeting Monday (March 3).
The board voted to schedule four public meetings to discuss Mayor David Cassetti’s proposed budget. Those meetings will be held March 19, March 24, March 31, and April 2.
All meetings will be held at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.
The board also voted to adopt the mayor’s budget as presented, and to forward it to the Board of Aldermen’s finance subcommittee for further review. The tax board will participate in those meetings with the subcommittee.
Budget director Kurt Miller said he hopes the Aldermen can approve a budget at a meeting April 8.
A public hearing will need to be scheduled before the Aldermen can approve a budget, according to the city’s charter. Additionally, the budget includes a 9.85 percent tax increase, which would require a referendum to be held after the Aldermen approve a budget.
“As the budget currently stands, we have the potential of needing to have a referendum, so we need to make sure there is ample time to hold referendums,” Miller told the board.
Cassetti’s proposed $68.6 million budget includes a mill rate increase of 2.61 mills.
The proposed mill rate is 29.1 mills, a 9.85 percent increase from the current 26.49 mills. Any tax increase of more than three percent requires voter approval via referendum, according to the charter.
More Details To Come
The mayor proposed his budget in the form of a four-page summary document. A detailed budget book with line-by-line breakdowns has not yet been made available, but more details are expected by March 19.
Taxpayers have access to more budget information than they did this time last year, because the city is now operating on an earlier schedule.
The public summary document shows modest increases to most city departments. It includes an $850,000, or 2.26 percent increase to the board of education. The total spending figure of $68.6 million is an increase of $1.5 million, or 2.23 percent compared to the current budget.
Under the increase, a single-family home on Holbrook Street assessed at $180,000 would pay $469.80 more per year in taxes.
A house on Gardners Lane assessed at $248,000 would pay $647.28 more per year.
A house on High Acres Road assessed at $366,000 would pay $955.26 more per year.
The summary document also cuts about $420,000, or 7.83 percent, from the public works department compared to the current budget.
Cassetti promised in January that the budget schedule would follow the charter deadlines this year; the timeline approved by the tax board follows those deadlines.
Last year, a budget was not made public until April 25. That’s more than two months after the charter deadline, as The Valley Indy reported.
Miller said during the meeting that the city won’t have reliable numbers for state aid until at least May. He noted that state lawmakers have been in open conflict over special education funding, on which Ansonia heavily relies.
Miller said a budget referendum could be set for April 17, if the Aldermen approve the budget as proposed. He said the new timeline allows for up to three additional referendums prior to June 1, if needed.
