By Josh LaBella
Voice Reporter
In a response to a Voice editorial published on Sept. 26, Republican mayoral candidate Michele Gregorio called West Haven a city of missed opportunities.
The opinion piece requested that the candidates for mayor, Gregorio and Democratic incumbent Mayor Nancy Rossi, give concrete visions for their positions on West Haven’s finances, upcoming charter revisions and its quality of life.
“The fact is, West Haven is once again broke, a result of mismanagement by prior Democratic administrations,” said Gregorio.
The Republican candidate said the Municipal Accountability Review Board, which took oversight of the city’s finances in the first week of Rossi’s term, is requiring West Haven to implement “short- and long-term spending reductions and structural changes,” according to Gregorio. She said the city should have done this long before the state decided to intervene.
“The current administration, despite the emphasis on the financial background of the mayor, had to hire an outside company to put together the requested five-year plan,” said Gregorio. “Now here we are with a plan that will increase taxes over the next five years without any relief for overburdened taxpayers.”
Gregorio went on to say the tax increases would not help West Haven attract businesses to the city to ease the tax burden. She added that the city’s bond rating is still one of the lowest in Connecticut. She also said Rossi was being “disingenuous and misleading” by saying the city has a financial surplus – something Gregorio attributed to the restructuring funds given to West Haven by the state.
The mayoral candidate said during her time on the Board of Finance she and the board constructed recommendations to help ease the city’s financial burden.
“As the Vice-Chairman on the Board of Finance I used my years of financial experience in dealing with planning, budget management, union negotiations, process improvements and structural change to work with my fellow board members and make solid recommendations to the mayor,” she said. “None of which, it seems, were considered.”
Gregorio said ways to deal with payroll and benefits, West Haven’s largest expenditure in the city and educational budgets, were included in the recommendations.
While Gregorio conceded that “economic development” is a term frequently thrown around with little specifics given, she said the Rossi administration had missed another opportunity by appointing a real estate broker as commissioner of economic development.
“The city still lacks a comprehensive, economic development plan,” said Gregorio. “The sale of vacant city property that will be converted into affordable housing is not effective economic development and will not ease our resident’s tax burden. The City of West Haven has an over-saturation of affordable housing and we have met our state quotas.”
The Republican questioned many choices the administration has made during its two-year term.
“Instead of taking bail out money from the state, why hasn’t this administration worked with the state for an enterprise zone for bio tech companies? Why hasn’t this administration pursued the state apprenticeship program to help attract manufacturers to West Haven? Why is Orange getting a FedEx Distribution Center while West Haven was not even considered?” Gregorio asked.
She said what the city does have, along with some of the highest taxes in the state, is “blight, unsafe streets, struggling businesses, the elimination of traditional events, and stressed taxpayers with no relief in sight.”
Concerning charter revision, Gregorio said she supports “two main elements that represent a huge cultural shift.” Namely, Gregorio said she supports the proposed increase in minority representation and the requirement of credentialed employees for city positions.
“The Charter Revision Commission has done its job,” said Gregorio. “It is time to move the recommendations to the people and let them decide by ballot.”
Gregorio finished her letter with a call to action. She said the voters have a “huge” decision to make in November. Painting the issue as black and white, she said the voters could remain on course, “despite the lack of real transparency and trust” or they could change direction. She said the latter would require forgetting about party affiliation and voting for individuals who use their talent and resources to the benefit of the community.
“To the voters who haven’t participated in local elections in the past, please get out and vote on November 5th,” said Gregorio. “Despite the naysayers, all voices do matter. They matter to me and I will continue to listen to all of you.”