Mr. Tylinski’s letter to the Valley Indy dated May 9, 2023 is a combination of complete falsehoods and an inability to comprehend municipal finance. Let me set the record straight. The residents deserve that.
Below are the simple facts by statement:
– Mr. Tylinski fails to understand that the bottom-line of a municipal budget is our taxpayers. He states that “profits” or in our case surplus funds, should be used to “reward shareholders,” yet clearly disagrees with rewarding taxpayers in the form of tax reductions. Who are the shareholders he is looking to reward?
– Mr. Tylinski seems to be calling the Mayor’s desire to increase funding for emergency services and fully funding education as wasteful spending. Again, who are the stakeholders he is looking to award if not the taxpayers and residents?
– He claims the City’s debt level is high. Yet in actuality, the amount of debt the city currently carries is extremely low. S&P states that healthy communities should carry debt ratios below 6%. Ansonia’s currently sits at 3.72%.
– He falsely claims that the City’s fund balance was “depleted” and (even more shockingly) alleges that officials borrowed funds to replenish it. In truth, the 6/30/13 audit shows a total fund balance of $10,014,365. The 6/30/22 audit shows a total fund balance of $7,970,361. The “borrowing” (a bond issue) was used to make permanent the Bond Anticipation Notes from the construction of the new police station and had zero to do with replenishing the fund balance.
– He fails to understand that the City has generated genuine surpluses. A surplus is caused by having a positive cash position after all revenue and expenses are accounted for. There was a surplus in FY 21 primarily caused by the BoE having less expenses then anticipated due to COVID and unexpected revenue that came from premium dollars created from the bond sale.
– Mr. Tylinski neglects to tell readers that the deficit experienced by Ansonia in fiscal year ’22 was a direct result of the City losing roughly $1 million in expected state aid funding. Yet he has no criticism for the State officials responsible.
– He also neglects to mention that the City recovered from the loss of the above-referenced funding through the institution of a contingency plan, reducing spending to cover a large portion of the revenue loss significantly reducing deficit.
– Despite his claims, the City of Ansonia’s budget process is incredibly transparent. The finance department prepares budget to actual reports that are presented to both the Aldermen and to BOAT as a part of their agenda packets which are publicly available. The budget presentation is set up the way it is to allow residents to clearly see how budget line items are changing year over year and can be easily understood by people who may not have any background in budgeting or municipal finance. The City conducts two full public hearings on the budget, in addition to public comment at its meetings.
– Confusingly, Mr. Tylinski claims that the City is not providing any budget to actual numbers for the FY 23 budget. Yet he still somehow has the ability to project a $1 million deficit based on current trends. Where is he finding those trends if he doesn’t have access to the actuals?
KURT MILLER
City of Ansonia Chief Financial Officer
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