Town hopes to avoid another $4.7M budget hole
STRATFORD — As town officials work to craft a budget for the new fiscal year that starts this summer, they are still grappling with concerns over whether the town will once again miss out on millions of dollars in distressed municipality funding — a problem that last year created a $4.7 million budget hole in the current budget.
Last year, there was $100 million in COVID-19 funding for distressed municipalities included in Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed budget — $4.7 million of which was supposed to be headed to Stratford.
But, in the end, the money was not passed by the legislature, as the state appropriations committee nixed this portion of the budget in April, according to state Rep. Phil Young, DStratford.
Mayor Laura Hoydick and Finance Director Dawn Savo said that the town was not aware that this funding had not advanced at the time the town budget was passed.
“We were presented some significant challenges in drafting this budget as we worked to close a $4.7 million hole created when the state failed to fund all communities receiving funds from the distressed community program as was promised,” Hoydick wrote in her proposed 2022-23 budget. “Stratford did not receive the planned-on funds last year, and they are not in the Governor's proposed state budget this year.”
Ultimately, the town was able to make up the money in other ways, Hoydick and Savo said. The town’s tax collections were strong, it received an extra $1 million in other state funding and property conveyances — a portion of money the town receives for property sales — were high as well. The town said it also received FEMA money from a previous storm that it had not budgeted for.
Savo said the town also naturally builds in some budget wiggle room, by being conservative on revenues and aggressive on projected spending, in case there are differences in what’s planned.
“It caused us concern to the point where, it’s a big number it equates to a mill, so we’ve been inquiring strongly with our state representatives and senators and the governor’s office and saying, ‘Hey what's happening?’” Hoydick said, also pointing out other towns had the funding also in their budgets.
Still, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which notified the town of the funding, is currently working to get the funding allocated by the state to the municipalities, according to Kevin Maloney, director of communications and member relations.
The Town Council passed the current budget on June 1, 2021, but it could have legally waited until June 30 because of an executive order Lamont issued extending town budget deadlines. The governor signed the state budget into law on June 23, 2021, over three weeks after the town passed its budget. Hoydick said if the town had waited this would have interfered with its ability to get tax bills out on time.
“It would be great if we could wait until the state passed, but that doesn’t always happen because in order to get tax bills out we have to have this ready to go at least three weeks, if not four weeks, before June 30,” Hoydick said.
Bridgeport, Derby and Ansonia also all included some funding from this in their 2021-22 budgets as well.
The town received an increase in payment in lieu of taxes funding from the legislature to also help make up for the difference, according to Young. This payment was around $100,000 extra, Hoydick said.
The town’s passage of this money was met with criticism from some officials.
Young said it was “fiscally irresponsible” for the town to bank on funding that was not guaranteed and then blame it on the state.
“The Mayor, her chief of staff and the COO of the Town of Stratford all worked in the State Legislature, so they should all know the budget process,” Young wrote in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media. “No one from the town (ever) contacted me or any one else, as far as I know, who would have easily been able to find information on this.”
Hoydick, a former state representative, said she “disagrees” with Young’s “assertions.”
“In the governor’s runs, which is what we used to build the budget, there was funding for distressed municipalities, we carried that forward,” Hoydick said. “The changes the legislature made from that allocation to PILOT put Stratford at a deficit. When you’re comparing $4.7 million to the realization the PILOT money, that was about $350,000.”
Town council member Greg Cann also shared similar sentiments to Young, saying the state has been “very generous to the Town of Stratford” by providing state funding to the town.
“The status quo is not sustainable,” Cann said. “It is far past time for the town’s leadership to ‘take local control’ and stop blaming others for not providing sufficient bail outs and subsidies.”
Hoydick said she thinks “it’ll be evident when we have our budget workshops and Councilor Cann brings these comments up, and then we can discuss them in full public view.”
Meanwhile, the town has not applied for any programs for distressed municipalities, according to Office of Policy and Management spokesman Chris McClure.
Council chair Chris Pia deferred comment to the mayor’s office.