The right path for West Haven

It is both necessary and important to respond to former Mayor Ed O’Brien’s claim that he and his team were responsible for the recent $3.1 million surplus; it is simply not true.

Here are the facts:

Ed O’Brien inherited a $2.7 million budget surplus when he took office in 2013

Ed O’Brien never balanced a budget as mayor

Ed O’Brien was responsible for operating deficits totaling more than $10 million

Ed O’Brien’s proposed 2014 debt restructuring was rejected by the City Council of West Haven because it would have cost West Haven taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars in interest

When I took office in December 2017 — five months into fiscal year 2018 — the city of West Haven was projecting yet another $2 million deficit in addition to the $8 million shortfall in revenue that Ed O’Brien built into the budget even after he was told the $8 million was not going to materialize. My team and I took immediate and decisive action, making many tough and unpopular, but necessary, decisions to stabilize the city’s finances.

We eliminated programs and positions, implemented a freeze on hiring and non-essential overtime, negotiated furlough days, reduced hours of some positions, and canceled events. We also undertook an aggressive audit of personal property to increase tax revenue and worked to move stalled economic projects forward. That is why the city of

West Haven ended fiscal year

2018 with a surplus.

Here are two more facts:

The city of West Haven is projecting a budget surplus in fiscal year 2019

The city of West Haven has a positive fund balance (rainy day fund) for the first time in over a decade

The work is by no means complete, but we are on the right path and the future is looking brighter for West Haven. Nancy R. Rossi, CPA Mayor, City of West Haven