Dear Editor,
Ansonia is one of the only towns in Connecticut to have its yearly budget set by an unelected board. Specifically, the annual budget and mill rate are established by the Board of Apportionment and Taxation (BOAT for short). The elected Board of Aldermen prepares a proposed budget, but have no formal say in what BOAT finalizes. Our elected and salaried Mayor has no say in the process whatsoever.
Is this budget process right for Ansonia’s taxpayers?
Republican members of the Charter Revision Commission and Board of Aldermen have proposed, in detail, a change in the current city charter that would allow any budget increase over 1.5% of the current budget to go to referendum and be voted on by the taxpaying citizens of Ansonia – taxpayers who will ultimately be responsible for funding the budget.
This sensible proposal does not require that every budget be brought to referendum for a vote; a referendum would only be triggered by a significant monetary increase in excess of 1.5% of the previous year’s budget.
Unfortunately, Democrats and unaffiliated members of the Charter Revision Commission voted against placing this particular charter revision on the ballot this fall (all charter revisions recommended by the Charter Revision Commission and Board of Aldermen must approved by the voters at the ballot in November).
Will the Charter Revision Commission have a change of heart?
Residents will have an opportunity to weigh-in at the Charter Revision Commission’s public hearing, scheduled for August 13, 2013 at 6pm in the aldermanic chambers of Ansonia City Hall. I urge all taxpayers interested in seeing this item up for vote in the fall to attend the hearing and make their voices heard.
I, for one, support any proposal that will force Ansonia to embrace fiscal responsibility. Ansonia’s 2013 – 2014 budget stands at $61 million. That is approximately 10 million dollars higher than neighboring Seymour and approximately 24 million dollars more than neighboring Derby.
Those staggering numbers are accompanied by a 13 point rise in the mill rate to over 39 mills, burdening Ansonia’s taxpayers with one of the highest tax rates in the Lower Naugatuck Valley!
City Hall must begin to curb its spending. In the end, it may take the direct votes of our taxpayers to make it happen.
I look forward to seeing my fellow residents at City Hall on August 13.
Sincerely,
David Blackwell Jr.
The writer is a Republican candidate for the Ansonia Board of Aldermen.
The Valley Indy accepts guest columns from political candidates with a 500-word limit. We edit submissions that are longer than 500 words. The views expressed in guest columns should not be misconstrued as the opinion of the Valley indy, nor is the publication of a guest column an endorsement of a candidate, party or policy.
