Mayor David Cassetti proposes his budget to the Aldermen and Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
Editor’s Note: The original version of this story reposted BOAT’s proposed budget timeline, which listed a public hearing on May 6 as being both online and in-person. The meeting has since been changed to be online-only, and the timeline below has been edited to reflect that.
ANSONIA – Mayor David Cassetti unveiled a $67.1 million budget proposal on Thursday (April 25) that would bump up the mill rate in Ansonia for the first time since 2019.
The proposed budget would increase the mill rate from 26.24 mills to 26.49 mills. That’s an increase of 0.25 mills.
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.
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.
“My current, and proposed, mill rate is 26.49. It’s still far below many towns and cities in the state, and certainly one of the lowest in the Valley,” Cassetti said during his proposal to the Board of Aldermen and Board of Apportionment and Taxation (BOAT).
He pointed to larger mill rate increases in Seymour, Derby, and Shelton.
The proposed budget is a $2.6 million increase from the 2023 – 2024 budget of $64.5 million approved last June. Most of that change is driven by an increase in the education budget, from $35.8 million to $37.6 million (about a $1.8 million, or 5 percent, increase).
In past years, the Ansonia Board of Education would vote on a budget in public (click here and here for previous stories). That budget would then be sent to Ansonia City Hall. The city would have final say over a bottom line.
That is also the general process in Derby and Seymour.
This year in Ansonia, the school board has not voted on a school budget. School board meeting minutes do not show a public discussion of a school budget.
However, the school district sent a one-page document to The Valley Indy showing a “BOE proposed budget” of $37.6 million, which is being fully funded by Cassetti.
In an email, Superintendent Joseph DiBacco described a school budget formation process that was done out of the public’s view using staffers.
“The School Business Manager along with the Board Chair and myself developed a draft copy of this budget request. The information was continually reviewed by the BOE staff and information on costs and class size increases were presented for discussion with the City administration,” DiBacco wrote. “Working with the Mayor and his staff, the BOE was able to come to a mutually agreeable budget request that was significantly higher than many other local school districts.
He would not answer questions about when and why the process changed, referring a reporter to Kurt Miller, the city’s chief financial officer. In Connecticut, citizens elect boards of education to supervise school spending.
The superintendent said the school board will probably vote to adopt a budget on May 8. The city is scheduled to adopt an overall budget by May 30.
Other budget items affecting Cassetti’s budget proposal include a $650,000 increase for public works, almost all of which is due to increased waste collection costs.
Another $700,000 increase is budgeted for the public safety department, most of which is due to police officer pay increases.
Cassetti’s budget proposal includes a few cuts, as well. The largest of those cuts is a $500,000 slash to city employee benefits – from $6.7 million to $6.2 million. The public library would also lose about $40,000, or about 10 percent of its budget, under Cassetti’s proposal.
Democratic Town Committee Chairman Dave Hannon said that Cassetti’s proposed budget was based on bad numbers. He pointed to a $5 million revenue item titled “use of future revenue” in last year’s budget. This year’s budget anticipates $7.8 million revenue from the same thing.
“There’s five million dollars that’s still unaccounted for – not unaccounted for, rather, missing from the budget,” Hannon said. “They were in the red by five million dollars in the last budget, so it’s very difficult to take this presentation seriously.”
The budget will next go to the BOA Finance Subcommittee and BOAT for a workshop at 6:30 p.m. May 1, in the Aldermanic Chambers at City Hall.
At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 6, a public hearing on the budget will be held at the same location.
More workshops and another public hearing will follow before the Board of Aldermen votes on whether to adopt the budget on Thursday, May 30.
A full budget timeline is pasted below. BOAT Chairman Gary Cassetti said that some meetings may be held on Zoom, rather than in-person:
Thursday, April 25, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Mayor presents his budget via Zoom to a joint special meeting of the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Board of Apportionment and Taxation and the Board of Aldermen Finance Subcommittee will hold a special budget workshop in the Alderman Chambers at City Hall.
Monday, May 6, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Board of Apportionment and Taxation will hold a Public Hearing on the proposed FY 2024 budget via Zoom.
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Board of Apportionment and Taxation and the Board of Aldermen Finance Subcommittee will hold a special budget workshop in the Aldermen Chambers at City Hall. Also at this meeting, the Board of Apportionment and Taxation will vote to forward the proposed FY 2025 budget on to the full Board of Aldermen.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Board of Aldermen will hold a Public Hearing on the proposed FY 2025 budget in the Aldermen Chambers at City Hall. After the meeting, a budget workshop will be held.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Board of Aldermen will hold a special budget workshop in the Aldermen Chambers at City Hall.
Thursday, May 30, 2024 (6:30 p.m.) — Board of Aldermen will hold a special meeting via Zoom to vote on adoption of the FY 2025 City of Ansonia budget.
