New Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti really is in charge.
The Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee on Thursday endorsed a budget recommendation for 2014 – 2015 from Cassetti without changing a single line item — and without the mayor ever setting foot in front of them to justify his proposal.
If approved, the budget would deliver a slight tax decrease — of 0.73 mill, or 1.9 percent — to the city, with cuts to, among other things, ambulance staffing, crossing guards, and the city’s fund balance.
The mill rate change means that for a house assessed at $200,000, property taxes would go from $7,867 to $7,720 year over year.
The bottom line on the spending plan is $61,104,251, up $17,823 from last year’s budget.
Though a committee of aldermen has been discussing the budget for two weeks, it’s still relatively early in the process.
The spending plan now goes to the full Board of Aldermen, with a vote expected Feb. 11.
The city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation (BOAT) will then review it, and must finalize a budget by May 19 — but with the tax board recently stacked with new members appointed by Cassetti, it’s highly unlikely there’d be many changes.
Board of Alderman President Phil Tripp said after Thursday’s meeting “There’s no doubt in my mind [the mayor’s budget] will be approved” by the full board.
In a prepared statement issued Friday, Cassetti thanked Aldermen for putting in “long hours” reviewing his plan.
“The day I took office I started working on a fair and honest budget for the taxpayers of Ansonia,” Cassetti’s statement said. “I asked all department heads with the exception of the Board of Education to submit their budget at a 4 percent decrease over the previous year. I want to thank them for their diligence in following through with that request.”
Article continues after a summary of the budget proposal passed out to Aldermen this week.
Ansonia 2014 – 2015 Budget Proposal
Some Of The Cuts
Cassetti was elected last November after months of campaigning during which he promised tax relief to voters.
His first budget proposal delivers that — with some hefty cuts.
As he mentioned in his statement, he asked the city’s department heads to hand in budget requests asking for decreases of 4 percent from the current budget.
Some departments were cut more than that.
The police department, for instance, would see a decrease of about 5 percent under Cassetti’s proposal — from $5,851,032 to $5,562,165.
Police Chief Kevin Hale told the aldermen’s finance committee Thursday night those cuts would come from not filling a vacancy for a patrol officer, laying off a part-time records clerk, and cutting crossing guard funding by $15,000, among other adjustments.
Ansonia Rescue Medical Services would see a budget decrease of $30,925 year over year — or 4.1 percent.
ARMS Chief Jared Heon told aldermen he’d try to pinch pennies with more volunteer staffing, but warned them he might have to cut back on staff hours on the department’s second ambulance crew.
Heon also warned that less funding would mean less revenue — even though Cassetti’s budget proposal envisions an $80,000 increase in ambulance collections.
Ryan Hunt, an EMT who said he works a couple shifts at ARMS per week — and was just appointed by Cassetti to the city’s new Cost-cutting Commission — told aldermen Thursday they were looking in the wrong places for savings.
“This is not where you cut the budget, where the lives of citizens are at risk,” he said.
Thursday’s testimony caused First Ward Alderman Charles Stowe to cast the lone no vote on the finance committee Thursday night.
Stowe said he wants some money restored to the police and ARMS.
Other Aldermen noted that while approving the cuts was difficult, Cassetti and the new Republican majority on the board were elected promising tax relief.
“Some of [the cuts] we wish we didn’t have to make,” said Seventh Ward Alderman David Blackwell. “We’ve made some tough choices tonight. A lot of them don’t sit well with me, but they’re choices that have to be made.”
As part of their vote, aldermen asked the BOAT to direct any increases in revenue between now and finalizing the budget first to the police and ambulance budgets.
Click play on the video below to see some of the discussion. Article continues afterward.
Revenue, Schools
The budget proposal also borrows $550,000 from the city’s fund balance that would be counted as income for 2014 – 2015 if ratified by the full Board of Aldermen and the BOAT.
The city’s fund balance would still be more than the 10 percent of the annual city budget that ratings agencies like to see, but city officials conceded they can’t make borrowing from the fund balance a yearly occurrence.
The challenge this year was compounded by a decrease of more than $7 million in the city’s grand list, an inventory of taxable property in town.
Officials also hope to recover some money through other avenues, like renegotiating contracts and more aggressive tax collection.
“I am confident in saying the money we took out of the fund balance, we will have at least some of that coming in through tax collection,” said Chris Tymniak, Cassetti’s chief of staff, Friday morning.
He added there might be some adjustments to the spending plan between now and May, when the BOAT finalizes it, but he said Cassetti won’t be looking for any more cuts.
“We don’t intend on asking department heads for another nickel,” he said, calling the current proposal “a fair and honest budget for the taxpayers and the departments.”
The city’s public school system, meanwhile, would receive an increase of $1,579,549 from last year — an increase of 5.6 percent.
Because of an anticipated increase in a state grant that pays for more than half the school budget, Cassetti’s plan lists the “net increase” for schools at 4.06 percent.
The schools had requested $29,579,549 in funding — $300,000 more than Cassetti’s proposal.
Aldermen said Thursday that Cassetti promised to fund the schools during his campaign and delivered.
Superintendent Carol Merlone told aldermen Thursday night that she’d try to make the numbers work the best she could, but predicted staff cuts.
Click here for a previous story on the school district’s funding request.
“I can’t do this budget without cutting teachers,” she told Aldermen flatly Thursday.
Tripp said Thursday night that Cassetti followed through on his campaign vows as best he could.
“Elections have consequences,” Tripp said, referring to Cassetti’s overwhelming victory over seven-term incumbent James Della Volpe Nov. 5. “It was a very strong vote for Mayor Cassetti and the things that he espoused on the campaign trail. Mayor Cassetti is holding true to his campaign promises that he was going to provide tax relief to the residents, voters, taxpayers of the city of Ansonia.
“He also said that he would support education,” Tripp went on. “He’s trying to give relief to the taxpayers and not do too much damage to education, fund education as best he can. The way I see it, he’s accomplishing both those goals.”
The statement released by Cassetti’s office Friday is posted below.
