Letter: Where’s The Ansonia Budget?

We are approaching June 1st and residents have not seen a proposed budget from City Hall yet. Not a single public hearing or public discussion on the budget by the numerous boards or commissions overseeing the process. Where’s the budget?

My property tax bill went up more than 20% last year. Add on the numerous public disputes between City Hall and city departments over finances, the numerous lawsuits, borrowing, and the fact the Board of Apportionment and Taxation just approved taking another $1 million from the reserve fund…it doesn’t look good.

Normally, a Mayor would have a budget before the end of March, and numerous discussions between city departments and public hearings would follow, aiming for a final budget to be passed in June. Seymour had their proposed budget published April 1st. Where’s our Mayor?

Instead of handling the budget with his team, in late March the Mayor announced he was hiring Kurt Miller (First Selectman of Seymour) for $30,000 to oversee our budget process. Has this ever happened before? Paying a neighboring politician $30K for approximately 80 hours of work, in other words $375 per hour!

This is not my idea of putting taxpayers first. We already have several highly paid staff and several boards to do this job. 

Unfortunately Kurt Miller’s involvement seems to have led to less transparency. For $30,000 I would have expected a full dog and pony show, instead not a public single public hearing or budget document. How did Seymour get their budget out by April 1st, and yet nothing in Ansonia? It’s less transparency than at any time in recent history.

Mayor Cassetti: Ansonia residents deserve a $30K refund, and we deserve a public discussion on the budget.

Sincerely,
Tarek Raslan
Chairman
Ansonia Democratic Town Committee

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