Alders look to slash $500K

Committee’s move comes after Harp hands out raises

NEW HAVEN — City officials could get their budgets sliced if the Board of Alders agrees to reduce 17 department budgets by almost a half-million dollars.

The Board of Alders’ Finance Committee unanimously approved an ordinance that reduces various departmental budgets by a total of $483,172 in direct response to raises Mayor Toni N. Harp awarded to 37 executive management and confidential employees in June. The amount being cut from various budgets equals what Harp awarded in raises, which alders contend was done wrongfully.

The salary adjustments Harp approved are split between retroactive payments for the current fiscal year and an equal amount for fiscal 2019-20, which begins on July 1, 2019, for a total of $483,172. All the departments the committee included in its budget cuts are those in which people got raises, according to the proposed ordinance. Only departments in which people received raises are targeted for the proposed cuts.

The committee’s approval of the proposed ordinance is another chapter in disagreements the

alders have had with the mayor after she issued the raises without their approval.

Alders issued a statement when Harp gave the raises, saying it should have been communicated with the board pursuant to the charter and the Code of Ordinances. The mayor has

said she has the ability to give raises without going to the alders as long as they are within the salary range approved for the position, the Register reported when the raises were handed out. Alders say her actions were done without consultation, communication or action by the board, which they maintain is required.

The nearly $500,000 in cuts will go toward reducing the tax rate, according to the ordinance, which was approved at 42.98 mills. The ordinance also mandates “that a new revenue line be created titled Mill Rate Reduction for all funds that are to be used for mill rate reduction” and the use of these funds will require board approval, according to the ordinance document.

The board made no overall reductions to the city budget earlier this year after Harp proposed her $547.1 million general operating budget, preserving the 11 percent increase in the tax rate.

The ordinance is unclear in describing how the budgets will be cut and what operational expenses the potential deficits could make an impact on. The raises were a line item transfer from a reserve account to individual salary lines in city departments, but it’s not known whether departments could use the raise monies to cover their potential budget shortfalls created by the ordinance proposal. The reserve account was listed as having $1.84 million for this fiscal year and $1.8 million starting on July 1, the Register has reported.

“It’s still going through the process so there’s still some uncertainty about how the cuts would be realized or achieved,” city spokesman Laurence Grotheer said.

However, as the ordinance works its way through the Board of Alders process, “the administration is beginning to formulate contingency plans,” he said. “The chief of staff has written to department heads asking them to respond with proposals for budget reductions to meet those prospective cuts.”

Most of the line items in the proposed ordinance are identified as “other contractual services,” which is where reductions would have to be made should this proposal be approved, he said.

Grotheer said a comment from mayor would be inappropriate at this time because the ordinance’s language “remains a work in progress and at the purview of the Board of Alders.”

The ordinance will go before the full board for a vote.

Late last month, after Harp vetoed an order that directed future funds go toward reducing the tax rate, the Board of Alders voted to override the veto during a special meeting.

The board made no overall reductions to the city budget earlier this year after Harp proposed her $547.1 million general operating budget, preserving the 11 percent increase in the tax rate.

Harp