The mill rate would increase by less than a mill — .48 to be exact.
That is still 1.54 mills less than when he took office, the mayor noted.
“The decision to propose an increase — however slight — was not my first choice. And I’m not going to lie — it kept me up at night,” Cassetti told members of the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Apportionment and Taxation. “I mean, it’s an election year, right?” he joked.
Mayor Cassetti’s complete remarks are posted in the video above.
Cassetti said a tax increase is warranted, in part, because state education aid is apparently not increasing. It’s remained flat for more than a decade, while education costs soar.
Cassetti said the state is sending more “alliance district” money to the school system — a $600,000 increase, the mayor said. But that money must go toward specific, state-approved school reform efforts and cannot be touched by the city (a bone of contention that eventually led to the school board suing the city last year).
The city side of the Ansonia budget totals $24.3 million, while the school budget totals $32.1 million, under the proposed budget. The mayor pointed out the school budget takes up 57 percent of the combined budgets.
“When I took office in 2013, education was 49.9 percent of the city budget,” he said. “The facts are clear: Ansonia is doing all it can to responsibly support education.”
The mayor showed a PowerPoint presentation in which one of the first slides showed city spending decreasing by 3 percent, with the school district receiving a 3 percent funding increase from the city.
But Mat Hough, president of Ansonia Federation of Teachers union, questioned how the mayor arrived at the 3 percent increase figure.
Last year the Aldermen approved a roughly $31.2 million school budget.
A complicated lawsuit was filed involving alliance district money, education grants, new state laws, and education funding in general.
The new budget from the mayor introduced Thursday reflects a 3 percent increase from that $31.2 million bottom line.
But the lawsuit ended when the city agreed to add back roughly $800,000 to the school district’s budget as part of a settlement deal.
The Connecticut Post reported in February that the court settlement increased the original $31.2 million school budget to $32.1 million.
The three percent increase is not a three percent increase if you start from the court settled number of $32.1 million, Hough pointed out.
“The three percent increase is a bit misleading,” Hough said. “It’s actually about a .4 percent increase over what was agreed to as part of our settlement. They’re using a reduced number to get to that 3 percent.”
John Marini, Ansonia’s corporation counsel, said in a text message late Thursday that he double checked with the city’s finance department.
“The $800k this year was a payment in connection with the settlement of the BOE lawsuit,” Marini said. “It will not become part of the operating budget until 2019 – 20, and therefore is properly counted as part of the year-to-year increase.”
Hough said Ansonia schools have been expecting a “worst case scenario” in the new budget.
“At this point we haven’t hired anyone back that we laid off,” he said. “We’re going to end the year without layoffs, which is the first time in about three or four years. But we need to start rebuilding, and this budget very clearly does not give us an opportunity to do that.”
Ansonia, like its neighbor Derby, is among the state’s most economically distressed cities, which makes for tough budget debates every year (and it’s why a committee has been formed to study whether the Derby and Ansonia school districts should merge in some form).
And, as the mayor pointed out, the cost to run the school district and the government increase every year, but state and federal aid may not.
Since Mayor Cassetti took office, Ansonia has been using its fund balance (reserves) to prevent mill rate increases. The administration has been criticized by city Democrats for that practice, because fund balances generally don’t exist to be counted as revenue.
It hasn’t bothered residents, if the election results mean anything.
But Ansonia could do so because it had large reserves — some 17 percent of the operating budget, according to one report.
Cassetti said Ansonia’s economy is growing (a constant influx of new restaurants on Main Street is proof) — so the city this year would not rely on taking large chunks of cash from the fund balance to get a zero-percent tax increase. Budget documents posted by the city show the mayor’s proposal would take $250,000 from the reserves.
He said the fund balance will remain at a healthy 7 percent of the city’s operating budget.
It’s important to keep the fund balance at least at 7 percent, because dipping below that could result in a bond rating decrease by ratings agencies. That would trigger higher interest rates when the city borrows money.
Cassetti Thursday pointed out Ansonia has come a long way since he took office. There’s a stable mill rate, a growing grand list and an engaged local government.
“The tax rate in Ansonia should be as low as possible without sacrificing vital services,” Cassetti said. “And for the past five years, we have defied gravity here in Connecticut and avoided any increase in the mill rate. In fact, we have notched the tax rate down by over three percent since fiscal year 2014, which is simply unprecedented.”
Finally, Cassetti also said the city will be forming a subcommittee of Aldermen and tax board members to begin a “conversation” regarding “cost-saving and service-enhancing opportunities with our municipal neighbors.”
The mayor didn’t say specifically what that committee would be looking at (Police? DPW? Finance? Recreation?), but there have been chats taking place already between Derby, Ansonia and Seymour, whose First Selectman, Kurt Miller, helped put the Ansonia budget together.
In an interview immediately after Cassetti’s presentation, Tarek Raslan, the chairman of the Ansonia Democratic Party, pointed out the budget this year in Ansonia is far behind schedule — and now the public has just 14 days to review it and ask questions.
It’s not just poor policy making — Raslan said it’s a violation of the Ansonia City Charter, the city’s blueprint for how government is supposed to work.
“The mayor’s budget is supposed to be presented before March 1, and we’re just seeing this now,” Raslan said. “There’s no opportunity for the departments to take a look at this. This is a shotgun budget, and it’s a disservice to the public, especially when we’re having a tax increase.”
Raslan accused the mayor of “sidestepping” the public’s input by delaying his presentation of the budget.
“This is two years in a row of very sloppy presentation. He even recruited the First Selectman of neighboring Seymour. I had some optimism with Kurt Miller coming onto it, but it did not translate into any additional transparency and we paid $30,000 for that service,” Raslan said.
The Budget Schedule
The “initial public hearing” on the budget is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday June 11 in Ansonia City Hall.
The first meeting of the Aldermanic Finance Committee and BOAT to review the budget is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 12.
The second meeting the folks above is 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13.
An “open house” meeting of the Aldermen and BOAT (tax board) is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 15 until 12 p.m. and the Ansonia Senior Center on Main Street.
The THIRD meeting of Aldermanic Finance Committee and BOAT is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 17 at City Hall
Publication of draft budget in a publication that isn’t The Valley Indy: Tuesday, June 18
If needed, fourth meeting of Aldermanic Finance Committee and BOAT, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19 at City Hall
FINAL public hearing/Final meeting of the Board of Aldermen and BOAT to approve budget, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20, Ansonia Senior Center, Main Street