City Hall is being sued by the Board of Education for allegedly illegally taking $600,000. This lawsuit is indicative of much greater problems.
Budget Woes:
Last year, Mayor Cassetti stated, “the city’s finances were rock solid” and that “he will not take any more money from the reserve fund.”
Mayor Cassetti’s statement has proven to be far from the truth. City Comptroller Richard Bshara, recently said the fund balance will be down to $4 million by July, it was $11,812,283 just last year (per 2017 Audit).
That’s a heart stopping $7,812,283 taken from the reserve fund in a single year!
In three years, the fund balance has decreased 11,888,701! City Hall also borrowed $4.9 million during that same period.
This is budgeting insanity! But City Officials are not done taking yet, their current budget is calling for taking another $600,000 from reserves this year!
Credit rating agencies warned Ansonia in February that if they dropped below 8% in reserves, this could lead to a credit rating downgrade…now we’re at 5.8% and we’re headed lower.
Is Education the Problem?
In their desperation to make up funds and point blame for their own financial mismanagement, City Hall is now scapegoating the Board of Education and attempting to allegedly illegally take $600,000 from the school system. The adversarial approach is hurting our kids, our community, and our City’s reputation in ways that will hurt our local economy for decades. As for the accusations, Board of Ed’s approved budget expenses have risen $1.2 million over the last three budgets, while City Hall is responsible for $11.8 million in reserve fund spending, obviously there’s problems elsewhere. Education is the solution to our economic challenges, not the problem.
Confrontation:
City Hall has four major lawsuits pending now, including two with Ansonia government agencies, with Cassetti stating, “Let them sue.”
Ansonia Housing Authority vs City of Ansonia
Winters Bros vs City of Ansonia (Trash Collection)
City of Ansonia vs. Shaw Growth Venture (Police Station Eminent Domain)
Ansonia Board of Education vs City of Ansonia
These are costly, avoidable, and they demonstrate an inability for City Hall to run a collaborative government capable of making good deals. A Derby government official stated, “it is concerning to be entering into a regionalization study [with Ansonia] when such a toxic environment exists”.
Increasing Taxes:
Tax bills are going up. The Mayor’s budget calls for the mill rate to stay the same, but home assessments went up for 88% of residences. My tax bill is going up 27%, a $968 increase.
The average property tax bill will be $427 (10%) higher than last year, and 5% higher than in 2013 when Mr. Cassetti ran on a platform that taxes were too high.
How is it that taxes are going up when they’re proposing cutting education and public works, and flat lining the police budget? Despite these tax increases, City Hall is failing to provide for the very basics of municipal government.
The problem isn’t education spending, we’re ranked 151 of 169 municipalities in spending per student. The world is advancing and getting more expensive and Ansonia’s not keeping pace.
We must do better.
The writer is the chairman of the Ansonia Democratic Town Committee.
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