Mayor calls for 4.1% tax hike
Martin: School enrollment spike, special ed and employee retirement costs driving increase
STAMFORD — Mayor David Martin has requested $630 million to run the city in the upcoming fiscal year, a budget that, if passed as is by elected boards, will bring a 4.1 percent tax hike.
Martin said he is seeking $38 million more this year primarily because of two school-board costs — enrollment is up by 590 students and special-education expenses are increasing, and an ever-rising city cost — pensions and medical benefits for retired employees.
The latter, Martin said, is the result of 50 years of “bad assumptions” about pension investment returns and “bad promises” made to unions for retirement benefits the city ultimately would not be able to afford.
Retirement benefits “have been a major tax driver for a decade,” Martin told members of the Board of Representatives and Board of Finance Tuesday night. “I want to respect the unions and our workforce — a lot of great people are working very hard — but our costs outstrip the private sector by a wide margin.”
Half the operating budget is needed to fund schools. This year the Board of Education requested a 6.5 percent increase, which Martin said is “substantial … certainly larger than average.”
Superintendent Tamu
Lucero has asked for $307 million for 2020-21. That’s $24 million more than this fiscal year.
The next two largest budget items are the $223 million Martin wants for the city operating budget, and $91 million for retiree benefits.
The good news is that he did not reduce any services,
Martin said, and Stamford’s economy is strong.
The value of the grand list, a tally of all taxable property, is still increasing, he said. Debt service is below the rate of inflation, and the city maintains its AAA bond rating, the highest possible. Commercial vacancy rates for aging office parks are high, but less so for new buildings. The property-tax collection rate is 99 percent, he said.
“Many other communities in Connecticut are jealous of the economy we have in Stamford,” Martin said, though he wishes the city would get some of the aid the state sends to New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport. “I hope that, this year, this economic engine of Connecticut gets a little gas from the pump.”
The city makes do by pursuing grants, Martin said. A recent one from the federal government will be used to replace garbage trucks so broken-down that, each day, some don’t make it out on the road.
On the revenue said, he was conservative in his projections for sources that in the past have helped the city get through unexpected expenses — building permit fees and conveyance taxes that result from development, Martin said. Economic forecasts indicate a possible recession in 2020, he said.
“A city should not try to run its operating budget on building permits and development fees,” he said.
He changed another projection at the last minute. He doubled the expected cost — from $250,000 to $500,000 — of doing whatever the city must do to contain the coronavirus, Martin said. Wednesday the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 has been identified in more than 114 countries and has killed more than 4,000 people, making it a pandemic.
“I don’t know yet what we might need. We might have to add cleaning and disinfecting services,” Martin said. “We have a primary coming up; we want people to come and vote, but we have to make sure they are safe from the virus.”
Connecticut’s presidential primary is April 28.
During his presentation of the budget, Martin told elected officials that, despite stories about all the city workers who earn six figures, salaries are not out of line, and Stamford has fewer employees than other cities of comparable size, and fewer than it has in the past.
“Too many employees is not our issue. There are situations where we just don’t have anybody to do what needs to be done,” Martin said. “Salaries are not our issue. We are having trouble hiring for (supervisory) positions because the salaries are a little bit shy.”
Two departments, accounting and human resources, are particularly short, and he has requested money to fill some slots, the mayor said.
During his presentation Martin evoked his former director of administration, Michael Handler, who quit his cabinet position Feb. 28, just as budget season was about to begin.
Handler left to take a job with developer Building and Land Technology. Normally he would be front and center at budget meetings.
He came up when finance board member Mary Lou Rinaldi asked Martin if the city is considering refinancing some its debt, now that interest rates are low.
“If Mike Handler were here, he would know off the top of his head,” Martin replied. “I don’t know those fine details.”
Last year Martin proposed a budget that would have come with an average tax hike of 4.4 percent. After board cuts, the increase was 3.2 percent. Budget season ends in May with the setting of the mill rate, which determines the tax rate.