Tarek Raslan, during a 2017 podcast interview with The Valley Indy.
For the second year in a row City Hall and the Board of Alderman have violated our city’s charter, avoiding public involvement in the budget.
For the second year in a row the Mayor broke his promise by proposing increasing property tax bills to their highest level ever for most residents.
Following re-evaluation, last year’s budget substantially raised taxes on 90 percent of Ansonia households, and as a result the city took in an additional $3 million in tax revenue. The city’s charter requires that
any budget that proposes raising tax revenue by more than 3 percent must go to the public for a referendum vote. The Mayor’s tax increase was equal to a 5 percent increase in revenue. Bottom line, last year’s budget
should have gone to residents for a referendum vote, and because it didn’t, last year’s budget was essentially illegal per our city’s long-standing ordinances.
City Hall has dropped the ball again this year. Our city’s charter requires that the Mayor’s budget be submitted no later than March 1, this gives the public and city departments time to evaluate and
adjust. On June 6th we saw the Mayor’s budget for the first time, with a planned vote just 14 days later. Instead of tackling the budget head on, Mayor Cassetti decided to hand the task to Kurt Miller, first
selectman of Seymour, at a hefty price tag of $30,000 tax payer dollars.
Mayor Casseti, why are you and many Aldermen repeatedly violating our city’s charter on something as important as our tax dollars? Why did you avoid public input on last year’s budget by preventing residents from voting directly on such a major tax increase?
Residents of Ansonia, if you’re hoping that someone in City Hall will stand up for you on this, guess again, the Mayor has repeatedly violated city charter in making appointments to boards and commissions, and seeking out individuals that won’t ever push back. If those appointees step out of line, they are swiftly dealt with, like when Frank Tyszka, head of Police Commission and former Alderman, refused to hand out a government contract to a higher bidder.
There are no checks in place, there’s no law and order in affect, it’s a complete unethical free for all and Mayor Cassetti is at the helm. It’s scary times in city hall, and residents need to stand up and against this lawlessness because its already completely out of control.
Whether this disregard for city policy is grounds for legal action is debatable. What’s very clear is that this approach to government and our budget has already punished residents’ wallets and trust.
The author is the chairman of the Ansonia Town Democratic Party.
