ANSONIA – The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday (May 10) unanimously approved a $60.7 million budget for fiscal year 2022 – 2023 that does not raise residents’ taxes
There were no public comments from residents regarding the budget, prior to the Aldermen’s vote, capping a quiet budget season in Ansonia.
A screen shot from the Ansonia Aldermen meeting.
Ansonia Chief Financial Officer Kurt Miller said a late change to the budget included, capping the motor vehicle mill rate at 32.46 mills, in accordance with a new state law. Ansonia previously budgeted both its motor vehicle and personal property/real estate mill rate at 37.80 mills. Miller said the change in the motor vehicle mill rate should result in residents seeing a decrease in their car tax bills. Miller also said the state will make the city whole in terms of making up for the variance in the mill rate.
The Aldermen voted to approve the $60,693,930 budget, the 32.46 mill rate for motor vehicles, and the 37.80 mill rate for personal property/real estate.
​“This budget gets my highest recommendation,”Mayor David Cassetti said. ​“The budget holds the mill rate stable while fully funding city services, education and public safety. Every department was granted what they requested. That’s never happened since I’ve been around.”
The budget, which Cassetti initially proposed on April 7 and the city’s tax board unanimously approved April 19, is about $1.5 million, or 2.6 percent, more than the current budget. Even with the increase, the mill rate will remain unchanged.
Miller had said much of the increase can be attributed to a spike in utilities, health insurance and additional funding included for public safety and information technology services.
Some of the budget highlights include a $542,300 increase in utility costs, bringing that budget to $3.2 million; a $348,000 increase in waste collection for a total budget of $2 million, and about $150,000 more for the police department, bringing the department’s budget to $5.6 million. There’s also $2.3 million for the public works department, and $457,000 for the public library.
The largest chunk of the budget is earmarked for the board of education, and includes an additional $379,083, which fully funds the school board’s total $33,926,212 budget request.
The meeting was held on Zoom due to an increase in COVID-19 cases across the state.
