ANSONIA — The Ansonia Board of Aldermen met virtually on Tuesday, March 14. Here are some highlights from the meeting.
Where’s The Budget?
Ansonia’s Chief Financial Officer Kurt Miller gave the board a brief update on what’s happening with the budget for the upcoming 2023 – 2024 fiscal year.
The public has not seen a budget presentation for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Miller and Mayor David Cassetti’s administration are not following the City Charter, which states the mayor is supposed to present his budget to the tax board “no later than the second Monday in February;” the tax board in turn is then supposed to submit a budget to the Board of Aldermen “no later than the second Tuesday in March” and; the Aldermen are ultimately supposed to adopt a budget “no later than April 30.”
However, the administration ignores those deadlines, saying the city relies on state aid, and the state budget is never ready this early in the year.
Miller said he is still crunching numbers, but blamed the state for an “unfunded mandate” connected to increasing expenses connected to the municipal employee retirement system.
Miller said he will have a budget timeline ready by the April 3 meeting of the Board of Apportionment and Taxation. In Ansonia, the Aldermen have the final say on the budget passage.
Tribute To Ralph Villers Planned
The board unanimously approved a transfer of $800 from proceeds made during last summer’s drive-in movie nights at Warsaw Park to go toward funding a newly created scholarship for students.
The scholarship is being named on behalf of the late Ralph Villers, the former chairman of the Ansonia Culture and Arts Commission, which was initiated by Rich DiCarlo and Irene Krom-Kirby.
Annual scholarships will be open to graduating seniors of Ansonia High School who have volunteered their time with the commission’s many events, like the Harvest Festival and Rock the Valley, in which Villers played an instrumental role. The board also voted to create a line item in the annual budget going forward to ensure the scholarship can continue to grow.
“I knew Ralph for a very long time, and this is a great tribute to him,” said Aldermanic President Josh Shuart.
Ralph Villers was married to Patricia Villers, the former Evening Sentinel and New Haven Register reporter who lives in Ansonia.
Slow Down
Ansonia Police Chief Wayne Williams said the state Department of Transportation is giving the city two electronic speed signs, valued at $5,000 each.
He expects the signs will arrive in town at the end of March. The signs electronically display a driver’s current speed as they approach compared to what the posted speed limit is.
Ansonia Youth Cheer
Ansonia Youth Cheer scored $5,000 from the city to help purchase new cheerleading uniforms to replace stained and torn ones that are more than six years old.
The Aldermen voted to transfer the money from the city’s sports contingency line item in the budget to help fund the new uniforms, which organizers say will cost about $8,600. The fund contained about $25,000, according to Miller, and was also recently used to fund requests from other city sports organizations, including $4,000 for the youth soccer program, and $1,000 for football helmets for Pop Warner.
AYC Secretary Jaimie Weiler told the Aldermen that there was a larger turnout last year for cheerleaders wanting to join, and it was difficult to outfit every girl.
“We didn’t have all the right sizes to accommodate everyone, and some of the uniforms are stained and falling apart, and we need to upgrade to accommodate the size of team we’ll get this year,” she said.
Weiler said she was grateful for the donation and said the group we’ll do some fundraising in order to raise the rest of the money.
Ansonia Not Happy With Trash Program
Due to numerous complaints from residents over a pilot program that requires them to separate their food waste and scraps from their everyday trash into color-coded bags, the Aldermen may look at stopping their participation in the program.
Alderwoman Bobbi Tar asked her fellow Aldermen to discontinue the program, because of the many complaints piling up, she said. However, the item was not listed on Tuesday’s agenda, so the Aldermen instead asked city leaders to see if the program is working, and decide at its April meeting whether to curb the program.
“I feel like residents are almost being forced to do something they don’t want to do,” Tar said.
Ansonia, like several other municipalities across the state including neighboring Seymour, received grant money from the state Department of Energy and Environment to pilot a food scrap collection program in an effort to address the state’s growing garbage crisis. The state is basically running out of space to discard its garbage and municipalities are being forced to dump more money into out-of-state disposal costs.
The pilot program was rolled out in Ansonia last December to about 7,000 households and is expected to last nine months.
Miller said it’s likely the city will stop participating in the pilot program once it ends in September.
“It’s absolutely not something we should move forward with using city tax dollars,” Miller said. “I’ve not seen any savings to date”
Shuart said while the program has good intentions, he’s heard from residents who don’t like it.
