Once again, the Ansonia city budget is late. Section 43 of the city charter calls for the mayor’s budget to be presented no later than the second Monday in February. Two years ago, the mayor’s budget wasn’t submitted until the third week of March; last year, it wasn’t submitted until the first week of April; and this year, his budget will not be presented until the last week of April, 10 weeks late. This is a trend that keeps getting worse by the year.
Other cities and towns start their budget process on time, without excuses. The Derby mayor submitted his six weeks ago. Seymour’s First Selectwoman submitted hers a month ago. Bridgeport, New Britain, New Haven, Stamford, Bethel, even Windham — which is more economically distressed than Ansonia — are on time.
Why is this important and worth your time to call out? First, we have a City Charter that the administration is supposed to adhere to. Second, there is a reason these timelines are set. It provides the time necessary to formulate a smart, fair budget that can be debated and scrutinized by the public, instead of this last minute mad scramble to get it done, with little time for taxpayers to analyze and weigh in. That’s how mistakes are made.
I also want to point out that while the city often claims it is “recharging” and “better than ever,” it also has backslid to second most economically distressed in the state despite 10 years of Team Cassetti, and despite RECORD HIGH state investment in municipal aid, economic development funds, school funds, etc. I’ve reviewed the past eight years of budgets, and Ansonia has never had as much state support as they have now. Yet, city officials hide behind excuses like “we are dependent on the state,” for their late budget proposal, which speaks to their failures at the city level, not the state’s.
There is quite a bit of dodging here, and one must wonder why. City officials have overspent budgets nearly every year under Team Cassetti, depleted our taxpayer rainy day fund, and more than doubled our town debt in just the past couple years. Now that they’re going to raise taxes on our residents again, maybe they’re desperately trying to buy time and find ways to shift responsibility?
By not delivering mil rate reductions to balance property value increases during past revaluations, this administration has collected more of your money, relying on you falling for the “we didn’t raise them mil rate!” gimmick. Beware folks, it’s revaluation time again, so expect city officials to use the same gimmick this year, raising your taxes again.
Other cities, small or large, wealthy or distressed, are able to do their budget according to their deadlines. We have a CFO that we are paying to the tune of $140,000, and every year the budget is late. If he, the mayor, and the alder are unable to dispense their duties in a timely fashion, what is their function? Frankly, the Mayor’s failure to present his budget proposal and keep the budget process on schedule is (at best) apathy, incompetence, and a mockery of the rules (again). Or, perhaps they’re hoping this quick-and-dirty version of the budget process will distract us from the worsening fiscal situation they’ve created through their own mismanagement?
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