New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
West Haven mayor’s proposed budget would bring tax increase
WEST HAVEN — Mayor Nancy Rossi’s proposed $173.4 million budget for the 2024 fiscal year would see the city’s tax rate increase by 0.97 mill, according to a presentation to the City Council.
The proposed budget would be about $5.1 million larger than the 2023 fiscal budget, and includes $89.9 million for the Board of Education. The current approved tax rate is 34 mills, although residents also must pay supplemental taxes to their local fire district, which this year range from 10.29 mills to 11.61 mills, depending on district.
The budget anticipates that local tax dollars will comprise a slightly larger share of the city’s revenue, from 62.62 percent of the city’s budget in 2023 to 62.68 percent in 2024. One mill in the tax rate represents $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
In Rossi’s budget narrative, which she read as she presented the budget document to the council, Rossi said the city is reducing its long-term debt and has managed four consecutive balanced budgets after the 2021 fiscal year recently was audited after more than a year of delays. She said the city is using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to renovate and improve recreational areas, including 27 parks. She also highlighted shoreline improvements made possible with capital improvement funds, such as new flood gates at the Cove River and the anticipated raising of Beach Street.
“I look forward to working and partnering with all the members of the City Council over the next several weeks to pass an honest and balanced budget, which will continue our progress investing in education, public safety, infrastructure and the quality of life for our residents,” she said.
Rossi’s budget proposal includes 321 positions, a net increase of 11 city positions. Including in those new positions would be an assistant grant writer in the planning office, a budget coordinator in the finance office, an information technology technician, an additional assessment auditor in the tax office and three additional administrative positions in the public works department. Some critics have called for the mayor to hire a director of economic development; Rossi’s budget maintains a $100,000 line item for an economic development consultant.
Acting City Council Chairman Ron Quagliani, D-At Large, called for a public hearing on Rossi’s proposed budget on April 3 before the council hears from department heads on their departmental budgets.