Ansonia will receive money to make improvements at Gatison Park, pictured above.
ANSONIA – Ansonia is one of several winners in a budget stabilization bill passed by the General Assembly on Tuesday (May 7).
The $370 million bill includes about $850,000 in aid to Ansonia. A $750,000 one-time payment will go directly to the city, while another $100,000 is earmarked for improvements at Gatison Park.
The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, passed with a 103 — 48 vote in the House and a 26 — 10 vote in the Senate, mostly along party lines.
Ansonia is one of several cities receiving direct aid from the bill. Glastonbury, Manchester, and Windham are also among the cities receiving aid.
The full text of the 350-page bill is linked here.
Currently, there is not a breakdown of how the money will be used. State Representative Kara Rochelle, who voted for the bill, said that that money will be released to the city and the city will decide how to spend it.
A social media post from Rochelle credits her with securing state aid for Ansonia.
“Rep. Rochelle fought hard for the taxpayers of Ansonia,” the post quotes House Speaker Matt Ritter as saying. “Her strong advocacy for her constituents led directly to more funding for Ansonia.”
The money for the budget stabilization bill comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, a 2021 federal stimulus bill which gave $2.8 billion to Connecticut. According to CT Mirror, the state has until December to spend the remaining $370 million in federal money from that bill.
Reaction
According to Rochelle’s post, the $750,000 in direct aid to Ansonia was secured “in light of the city’s forfeiture of motor vehicle tax reimbursement funds.”
Rochelle said in a phone call that that’s a reference to the Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti administration’s decision to reduce the mill rate from 37.80 to 26.24 in 2023. While that decision lowered property taxes for single-family homeowners, it also made the city ineligible for reimbursement on motor vehicle taxes from the state, Rochelle said.
In Connecticut, the motor vehicle mill rate is separate from the real property mill rate. The motor vehicle mill rate is capped at 32.46 statewide. For cities with a mill rate above that number, the state reimburses cities for whatever the difference would be.
Cassetti, who is running against Rochelle for her House seat this November, said Rochelle’s press release mischaracterized his administration’s tax policies. The mayor has repeatedly said stabilizing taxes is the cornerstone of his administration.
“That’s a false statement that we forfeited,” Cassetti said. “We didn’t forfeit anything. We went by what the mill rate was that the state offered us. That’s what we went by for our motor vehicle tax.”
Cassetti referred further questions concerning Rochelle’s statement to Ansonia’s tax collector, Johanna Figueroa. Figueroa said in a phone call that she hadn’t seen Rochelle’s social media post.
Rochelle reiterated her position in response to Cassetti’s comment.
“I hope it’s not that he didn’t understand how the major funding mechanism worked,” she said in a written statement. “It’s a simple one: the reimbursement rate is the difference between your real property (mill) rate and the cap the state created for motor vehicle (mill) rate. The state pays the difference if the real property (mill) rate is higher. From his statement it sounds like he might not be clear on how the program works.”
Rochelle also said she raised the issue because she lacks confidence in the city’s budgeting practices, pointing to a $5 million line item in the current year’s budget titled “use of future revenue.”
“I went to the Speaker of the House and said, ‘Ansonia could really use this. They may not be on steady ground financially, and I’m worried about the taxpayers,’” Rochelle said.
Rochelle referred to the use of future revenue in the budget as “unorthodox” and said the city may be miscalculating the numbers in their budget.
Click here for an interview with city budget director Kurt Miller on the topic.
Gatison Park
The bill also includes $100,000 separately for improvements to Gatison Park, located between Third and Fourth streets, behind the Domino’s.
Cassetti, when asked about the park funding, pointed to work that the city has already done on Gatison Park. He mentioned an Adopt-A-Spot that the city did with Burns Construction, and said that the city had recently spent $16,000 on repairs at the park.
“I want to know what exactly that $100,000 is going to be utilized for,” Cassetti said.
Rochelle said that money will be released to the city by the state, who will then decide how to spend it.
May 8 was the last day of the 2024 legislative session.
