The public gets its one and only opportunity to critique and review Mayor Dorinda Borer’s $182.7 million budget, announced two weeks ago. A public hearing is set for tonight in the Harriet North Community Room of City Hall, 355 Main St. at 6:30.
The annual public hearing is the first step before the City Council goes into a monthlong review process before finalizing a budget ordinance on the first Thursday of May. Whatever review and alteration made by the council; the final product must be approved by Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) under the Tier IV status given West Haven as a distressed city.
The plan as announced by the mayor includes a 1.79 mill increase in the city’s tax rate, from the current 34.81 to 36.60. That means taxpayers will pay $36.60 per $1000 of assessed value on their property. That does not include fire taxes in the city’s three districts.
The new plan gives a $2 million increase to the Board of Education, the first in several years for the system.
In a column written in last week’s Voice Special Edition, explained her 1.79 mill increase is less than the planned increase that was set by MARB, but she is hoping offsets will lessen the need for the 2.4 mill increase that was expected.
“As a reminder the MARB rejected last year’s 5-year plan and asked the previous mayor to resubmit a new plan to the MARB. That final plan that was submitted and MARB approved includes a 2.4 mill rate increase for this budget. Unfortunately, this is already built into our jumping off point for this budget. This presented a challenge for this budget as to how do we take the scheduled mill rate increase down to lessen the impact to residents and businesses while not cutting the services we collectively deserve. Additionally, we must invest in critical areas while balancing the MARB’s responsible directive and our goal of maintaining a healthy general fund balance,” she wrote.
Mayor Borer announced she is pursuing her restructuring of the city’s personnel, eliminating some positions, and adding others as needed.
“Restructuring personnel-I have eliminated some positions that were less essential in lieu of creating new ones that invest in the areas that I believe our city has fallen short in and need to augment such as services for our Youth, our Seniors, Social Work and outreach for our deserving veterans,” she wrote.
A big saving is going to come from restructuring legal services as well, a big expense over previous years, as well as reducing the city’s fuel and energy costs through renewables and rebidding the city’s electric pricing contract.
New revenues are expected to come from the new Blight Enforcement Task Force, and registration of absentee landlords with a $500 fine for noncompliance.
The new budget calls for a $15 per household increase in the city’s sewer assessment fee, while Allingtown Fire District residents will see a slight decrease.
“One of the main criteria for exiting MARB oversight is to commit a certain percentage towards the General Fund and in this budget, we have taken that action to demonstrate our commitment towards future financial stability,” the mayor wrote.
Following tonight’s hearing, the City Council will meet as a committee-of-the-whole under the direction of the Finance Committee chairman. Review of the budget begins in public sessions, but the public is not allowed to speak during the sessions.
Under the charter, a nine-vote threshold is needed to make any alterations in the mayor’s proposal. Once the budget review is completed, the council votes to approve an ordinance with a simple majority. Failure to pass a budget, or reject the plan, results in the mayor’s proposed budget taking effect by default.
The reviewed budget then goes to MARB, which has the final say on the plan.