Meet The Ansonia Cutting Crew

Photo:Ethan FryA commission created to put Ansonia spending under a microscope is getting down to business.

And while they are a long way off from making specific recommendations about how the city can save money, its members already have an inkling that when their suggestions are made, they won’t sit well with everyone.

“Clearly, some (recommendations) will be unpopular,” John Izzo, the commission’s vice chairman, said after a meeting last week. ​“Others will not be. But we are going to make recommendations that we feel strongly are in the best interests of the taxpayers of the city of Ansonia, regardless of party affiliation.”

The city’s new ​“Cost Cutting Commission” held its first two meetings this month.

Aldermen created the commission, which was one of Mayor David Cassetti’s campaign promises during last year’s election, in December.

Its members, nominated by Cassetti and confirmed by Aldermen, are:

  • Nancy Valentine, Republican (Chairman)
  • John Izzo, Unaffiliated (Vice Chairman)
  • Larry Boemmels, Democrat
  • Ryan Hunt, Unaffiliated
  • Edward Norman, Republican
  • Michael Egan, Democrat
  • Susanna Kurus, Republican

When it comes to municipal funding, they’re not lightweights.

For instance, Valentine, the board’s chair, is a former mayor of the city. Norman served on the tax board for a decade. Izzo works for a company that manages dozens of municipal buildings in the New Haven area.

At the commission’s second meeting last Tuesday (March 18), members discussed how they want to prioritize their review of city spending, which amounts to upwards of $61 million per year.

The commission is scheduled to meet with school officials Thursday (March 27) to review the Board of Education’s budget.

They then plan to review different areas of city spending each month with a view to zeroing in on specific areas where the city might be able to save money before issuing a report to the city’s Aldermen.

During last week’s meeting board members did suggest a handful of areas they want to review.

Boemmels, for instance, wondered whether the city should be spending as much as it does on a bricks-and-mortar public library in a predominantly digital world.

The 2013 – 2014 budget allocated just over $500,000 to the library, or 0.008 percent of the city’s budget.

Izzo suggested the city might consolidate some costs with the creation of a central purchasing office.

“There’s been a lot of waste in city government for a long time and it has to be better managed,” he said.

Norman pointed out the budget that Aldermen sent to the tax board last month delivers a slight mill rate reduction mostly by borrowing $550,000 from the city’s fund balance.

Though the city’s cash reserves are still enough to satisfy ratings agencies that rate municipal creditworthiness, Ansonia can’t make a habit of doing that, he pointed out.

Cassetti’s chief administrative officer, Chris Tymniak, also passed out copies of the city’s contracts with its police officers, public works, and city hall employees for members to review.

Though the process in some ways mirrors what the city’s tax board does annually with respect to different department’s spending plans in putting together the city’s budget, Cassetti said the cost cutters will take a more long-term view.

“They’re doing what I set out to in the campaign,” Cassetti said. ​“They’re moving with due diligence.”

The mayor said he wants the commission to focus on certain specific areas of the city’s budget.

“I want to open up the Board of Education, I want to open up the police, the public works, and see where there’s wasteful spending,” he said.

Cassetti said he singled out those departments because that’s where the city spends the most money.

School spending is by far the largest expense for the city — or any municipality, for that matter. The 2013 – 2014 budget’s line item for the school board was $28 million, though Ansonia gets reimbursed for more than half that cost through state grants.

In the same budget, $5.8 million was allotted to the police department, and $4.1 million went to public works.

After last week’s meeting, Izzo assured the commission will do its homework before recommending cuts or changes.

“At the end of the day we want to make prudent recommendations based on serious due diligence and research that will be able to support our recommendations,” he said. 

Click here to read the commission’s minutes and agendas (Select ​“Cost Cutting” from the dropdown menu, then ​“2014 Cost Cutting Minutes and Agendas”). 

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