Make your voice heard
Tonight, Mayor Dorinda Borer’s newly proposed budget goes to the public in the first and only public hearing on the plan. The City Council meets in special session in the Harriet North Meeting Room of City Hall at…
The $182.7 million spending package for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is just under a $10 million increase from the last fiscal year of $173.4 million. It includes a $2 million increase in the Board of Education side of the ledger, the first time in several years the school system has seen an increase in city funding.
Of paramount interest to the average taxpayer is the effect the budget – if passed as is – will have on their own household budgets. In that regard there is a good news, bad news scenario as the mayor’s original plan was for a mill rate of 37.21. It was pared down to 36.6 mills, or a 1.79 mill increase from the current fiscal year.
That translates to a tax rate of $36.60 per $1,000 of assessed value for the property owner. That does not include the separate assessments meted out by the city’s three fire districts. The budget does include that rate for the city’s solely operated department, Fire Department West Haven – Allingtown. Still to be determined are the First Taxation District in the Center, and the West Shore Fire District. Those mill rates will not be finalized for a few weeks.
The meeting tonight is important if taxpayers want to voice their opinions on the proposal and offer some alternatives to the spending plan as presented. Again, this is the only scheduled public hearing on the budget, though the public is allowed to sit in on review sessions scheduled by the City Council during the month of April. While they cannot make remarks, they can offer suggestions to their district councilor or at-large representatives.
Under the city’s charter, the budget must be finalized by the City Council by the first Thursday in May. Prior to that date, the council may review and amend the proposal, though under current provisions, making any alterations requires a supermajority of nine votes on the 13-member panel. In the past that has been a tough hurdle to overcome.
Once the budget plan is finalized, the council presents a budget ordinance, which takes only a majority vote to pass. The charter does not allow for rejection of the budget. A vote to reject defaults the plan back that proposed by the mayor with no alterations. This has happened over the course of the city’s history. One way or another, a budget plan is put into place on the first Thursday of May.
While that might complete the charter’s requirements, there is still one more facet before the plan goes into effect. The Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) must sign off on the finalized bottom line. The city’s status as a distressed Tier IV municipality means MARB has the final say on spending and budgets. Once the council has made its determinations, MARB can adjust it, and even hike the mill rate if it believes it is necessary. That has happened.
Tonight’s meeting is the first step in a long process. It is the time for members of the public to voice their concerns and interests. It is important to take part.