New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Council strips mayor’s raise from budget
OKs $168.3M budget for 2023; mayor, city clerk salaries remain as is
WEST HAVEN — The City Council approved a $168.3 million budget for the 2023 fiscal year Thursday, maintaining Mayor Nancy Rossi’s proposed citywide tax rate of 34 mills and the Allingtown Fire District tax rate at 11.6 mills.
The council made 10 changes to the proposed budget, moving funding around between line items but keeping revenue and the tax rates the same as in Rossi’s recommended budget. Most significantly, the council cut proposed raises for elected officials, keeping the mayor and
City Clerk funded at the same pay that they started their current two-year terms with in 2021. After Rossi put the raises in her budget, some questioned the legality of increasing the pay of elected officials partway through an elected term.
Last month, the City Council took a unanimous no-confidence vote in the mayor.
Additionally, a proposal to raise deputy registrar pay by 10 percent was reduced by the council to a 2 percent raise, consistent with the Local 1103 union contract.
A cumulative $42,849 in raises instead went to the finance director and assistant finance director position. .
Council Finance Committee Chairwoman Bridgette Hoskie, D-1, said it was “in the interest of right-sizing to attract and maintain talent in our city.”
The city grants manager's pay was increased in the budget to reflect that he will work five more hours per week as well as receive a stipend, Hoskie said. Thirty city crossing guard positions also received a raise of $1 per hour, a $20,520 increase within the budget.
Roughly half of the 4.5 hour meeting happened in private, with the 10 Democrats on the 13member council calling a closed-door caucus meeting to discuss changes to Rossi's recommended budget prior to its approval. After Hoskie read the caucus amendments, the items were not discussed or disputed — including by the three Republicans on the council.
Council Minority Leader Steven Johnstone, R-10, proposed a $50,000 transfer to the trees department.
“We are going to be facing a dilemma soon,” he said. “With the rising costs of fuel, insurance and everything going on, if we keep the current recommended budget for the tree maintenance at $200,000 we are most likely going to lose our contract, because he will not be able to afford that. I'm just the messenger.”
Some council members questioned why Public Works Commissioner
Tom McCarthy requested $200,000 for that line item if that was the case. Finance Director Scott Jackson said he was unable to answer questions about the city's tree maintenance contract, as he was unfamiliar with its details and had not been expecting questions on it.
Johnstone's motion failed, although one councilman, Robert Bruneau, D-9, said he would potentially be interested in revisiting the issue later if he learned more about the contract.
The city's budget must be approved by the Municipal Accountability Review Board, a state group that maintains a level of oversight over West Haven's finances.