As a taxpayer of this town, a neighbor, and a concerned citizen I cannot stand by and watch Team Cassetti continue with its fiscal mismanagement – and now a budget – that will harm our community.
Here are the problems that should have everyone concerned:
1. While Team Cassetti is trying to claim it’s lowering taxes, in reality taxes are increasing on nearly every multi-family property and about 38% of single-family properties. It’s a revaluation year,
and they are trying to mislead residents with the “we lowered the mill rate” gimmick.
a. How does this work? Say your property is worth $1,000 and the mill rate is 20. You would owe $20 on your property. If, in a revaluation year, your property assessment increases to $2,000, Team Cassetti can choose to lower the mill rate to 10, meaning you would still pay $20, or fail to lower it enough to keep your taxes the same and collect more from you. That is what they are doing. While they are lowering the mill rate some, they are still planning to collect more money from you.
2. With the proposed tax increases, the vast majority of residents in wards 1 – 4 will be paying hundreds or thousands more annually. If you are a renter, your landlord will likely pass this on in a rent increase. The residents of these wards cannot afford this! Here is a breakdown by ward:
a. Ward 1: 57% of properties will see an increase
b. Ward 2: 70% of properties will see an increase
c. Ward 3: 79% of properties will see an increase
d. Ward 4: 72% of properties will see an increase
e. Ward 5: 48% of properties will see an increase
f. Ward 6: 30% of properties will see an increase
g. Ward 7: 28% of properties will see an increase
Do you like those odds? We don’t. And this was avoidable. It still is. Tell the alder to vote NO on this proposed budget.
3. There is a census tract in the lower wards with nearly 50% child poverty. By balancing the budget on the backs of these residents, Team Cassetti endangers these children and parents who are already working themselves to the bone to put food on the table. These are our neighbors. We must do better.
4. Team Cassetti is raising taxes yet giving itself pay raises. To boot, we hear this mayor just got himself a brand new fully loaded $75,000 SUV with our tax dollars. He also pays a photographer
$75 for vanity photos at nearly every event. It’s wasteful, and selfish. It. Must. Stop.
5. The administration overspent the budget nearly every year over the past decade. They’ve drained the taxpayer’s savings account to cover for this, and now that we need the funds, they
aren’t there. They’ve run $5.5M over budget (and counting) on 65 Main Street (police station/senior center project), because they failed to have an engineer properly examine the
building before lurching ahead with a poorly planned project.
6. Instead, the city gave a sweetheart deal on Olson Drive, forfeiting much-needed tax dollars.
Our residents cannot afford Team Cassetti’s mismanagement, recklessness, or tax increases.
The public hearing is TONIGHT (Tuesday, May 30), 6:30pm at City Hall. I hope you will join me in speaking out against this terrible budget proposal.
Daniel Stahl
Ansonia
