ANSONIA — Residents can weigh in Thursday (May 5) on a proposed $60.5 million budget for fiscal year 2022 – 2023 that holds the line on taxes.
The Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing on the budget at 7 p.m. in the aldermanic chambers at City Hall.
The aldermen, who get the final say-so on approving a budget, are slated to vote and adopt a final budget at their regular monthly meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. May 10 at City Hall.
The budget, which Mayor David Cassetti proposed on April 7 and the city’s tax board unanimously approved April 19, is $1.5 million, or 2.5 percent, more than the current budget. Even with the increase, the budget maintains the current mill rate of 37.8 mills. Cassetti has said he would veto any budget that contained a mill rate increase.
The city’s Chief Financial Officer Kurt Miller has said much of the increase can be attributed to a spike in utilities, and additional funding included for public safety and information technology services.
The budget in part includes 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.
Several tax board members and aldermen lauded the city’s strong working relationship and much-improved lines of communication with the school district led by Superintendent of Schools Joseph DiBacco, and for coming in with budgets with reasonable requests.
