New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Elicker addresses residents on budget plan at first town hall
NEW HAVEN — Residents from the Fair Haven Heights and Fair Haven sections engaged with Mayor Justin Elicker about taxes, the state of city parks, and programs to help elderly residents cope with rising costs Tuesday evening at the first of three town hall-style meetings on the proposed city budget.
Quinnipiac Avenue resident Charlene Maturo was one of about 20 people at the meeting held at Benjamin Jepson School on Lexington Avenue. Nearly half of the people there were city department heads and other officials.
“What about when (taxes) keep going up and we’re the seniors,” asked Maturo, who said “it’s a struggle” to keep up on a fixed income, “and even if you want to sell your house, when are you going to?”
Elicker enlisted the help of acting Assessor Alex Pullen, who detailed two programs available, included a “senior freeze” that freezes the assessments of senior citizens who qualify. Pullen urged Maturo and any other seniors who wanted to know more to visit to the Assessor’s Office in City Hall, 165 Church St., “to see what you qualify for.”
“What about the guys who go to work every day and are in our 40s, 50s and 60s? What are you going to do for us?” asked Pawtucket Street resident Robert Vitello. “... I’m not waiting for 65 to get tax relief.”
Vitello said people like him pay more because of other people the city helps, and said he rarely gets city services on his street, which is off Quinnipiac Avenue.
Earlier, Elicker explained the basics of the budget and how far he thought the city had come since having a $66 million budget “gap” a couple of years back.
He talked about steps New Haven has taken to address pension obligations and reduce its debt, and the help it got from the state General Assembly changing the Payments in Lieu of Taxes formula
in ways that raised New Haven’s PILOT revenue from roughly $41 million to $90 million, as well as by Yale University’s commitment to increase its voluntary contribution to the city from $13 million to $23 million.
“My job, I believe, is to balance the taxes with the demand for services that people have,” Elicker said.
The three town hall-style meetings are in addition to the regular public hearings on the proposed $662.7 million budget for fiscal 2023-24. The next two will be 6 p.m. March 28 at L.W. Beecher School, 100 Jewell St., and 6 p.m. April 4 at Conte-West Hills School, 511 Chapel St.
Russell Street resident Tracy Blanford, meanwhile, was concerned about city parks, and like several people at last week’s first Board of Alders Finance Committee budget hearing, questioned the success of the city’s move a few years ago to combine the Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Trees departments.
“I just don’t see how the Public Works-Parks combination really services our parks,” said Blanford, who works at a city park and is a member of Friends of
Quarry Park. “I just feel so strongly that the parks serve our city” in many ways, she said.
She said of the additional seven new parks positions proposed in Elicker’s budget, including four caretakers, one foreperson and two new park rangers, “that’s just a drop in the bucket.”
Elicker responded by saying, “It’s not a drop in the bucket,” and the positions are needed “simply because we have so many parks.” He said he has asked parks supporters “to submit a list of things that need to be addressed in various parks.”
Another resident asked Elicker, talking about the Livable City Initiative, “What do they do? It sounds nice,” he said, “but what do they do?” Elicker responded that LCI works “do housing inspections” and operate various city licensing programs.
The man told Elicker he has called LCI employees with questions and problems and they haven’t returned his calls. Elicker said he’d like to know who didn’t return the man’s calls and asked whether he could talk to the man afterward.