New Haven Citizens’ Action Network

See this NHR Letter LETTER: In city’s fiscal squeeze, subsidies unwarranted

Monday, November 3, 2008 3:15 AM EST
In her letter objecting to my suggestion that the city should not have given the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament a subsidy, Anne Worcester, the tournament director, notes that it provides significant benefits to the city. Yes, the tournament attracts a large number of visitors — some 81,000 this year. And, the tournament provides affordable tennis lessons to many young people.

But, why should the city’s hard-pressed taxpayers provide a subsidy to a tournament that has many corporate sponsors, receives revenues from television and pays out $1.28 million in prize money?

The city is confronted with a very difficult fiscal situation. Despite an 11 percent increase in property tax revenues, the city entered the current fiscal year with a $6 million deficit. Thirty-four long-time employees were laid off in September. Many other positions have been eliminated through attrition. Funding for the police was cut by $227,000. Funding for homeless shelters was cut by $384,000.

Nevertheless, the city gave Pilot Pen $135,000. It also gave the Shubert theater $260,000, the Grove Street garage $290,000 and Tweed New Haven Regional Airport $550,000. How many people could have kept their jobs if the city hadn’t given those subsidies? How many homeless people could have been provided shelter this winter?

David R. Cameron

New Haven

Editor’s note: David R. Cameron is a professor of political science at Yale University and a member of the city’s Blue Ribbon Budget Review Panel.

Although this letter from the Mayor focuses on the national financial mess, New Haven’s financial problems have been years in the making. This was coming to a head without the latest national pressures. What is happening, is now, these issues can no longer be managed with one time revenue infusions from selling City assets, or other financial engineering. We have written elsewhere, and provided testimony, that the budget is mostly personnel related. That is why the Mayor’s letter focuses on union renegotiations. Tweed, Shubert, the trolley to nowhere, and other major ticket items still pale in comparison to the major driver - personnel cost. This is simply a fact of the city budget. The fact that the city employees and the citizens still do not understand this is a failure of leadership on this issue. We need transparent government, multi-year financial projections to make sound decisions, and accountability at all levels of city government and city spending if we want to start digging our way slowly out of this hole. I am hopeful that the current administration will take the necessary steps to greater transparency, community involvement, and encourage honest and rigorous discourse on the financial state of this City so we can begin coming together to right this ship. Have some ideas? Send them our way.

Tax on residences actually rises 14.5%, not the often repeated 9.8% line repeated ad nauseum by City Officials. Mine increased 22% this year, and 72% since I moved here 5 years ago. What was your increase?

Read the New Haven Register Article: Tax on residences actually rises 14.5%.

We should have the percent increase/decrease printed on our tax bills just like the cell phone and other bills show what our bill was last time and that it was paid. We need increased transparency on our tax bills.

You might want to take another look at our projections of where taxes are headed. See the spreadsheet or PDF version.

The City released a new budget document with the announced cuts.

No More Fair Rent Commission, Elimination of Small Business Initiative, $1M less in BOE, almost $6M in proposed layoffs and concessions while increasing employee benefits by a $1/4 Million, $679k from Community Services Administration, reduced soup kitchen aid, homeless funding, two people from the mayor’s office, $150k less to Shubert, $150k Less to Market New Haven and $250k less to Tweed. $144k from Executive Management Concessions (No Reduction for the Mayor who is still at $131,000. In fact no one in his office got a salary reduction although two positions were eliminated all together.). Elimination of some senior centers (there was low attendance at a few of these), closing some police substations, eliminated 3 Librarians, and more.

They estimate $1M in new money from an unannounced source (sale of parking lots?), increased money from parking meters, vital stats, and $150 per bulk pick-up.

The Mayor is proposing budget cuts to close the gap. See the coverage below as well as his letter to City Employees.

NHI

WTNH Coverage of Mayor’s Press Conference

Governor Rell Fires Back

Here is the letter:

Dear Colleagues:

As you may know, the State Legislature closed session for the year last
night without passing a new Fiscal Year 2009 budget. Therefore, the
State will operate under the tax and spending plans in the biennial
budget approved last year. The budget the State is working with results
in a difference for New Haven of $14.7 million between what we require
in aid and what they will in fact provide. With this challenge in mind,
in order to achieve a balanced budget by July 1, we are going to need to
make some sacrifices. These are sacrifices we don’t want to have to
make. However, we will do what we must and we will do this together as
one united team.

Our goal is to make the changes we need to make to meet the budget with
as minimal an impact on our delivery of services to residents as
possible. Throughout this process it’s important to keep the best
interest of our residents as a top priority. We will not raise the mill
rate. But, because of the revaluation phase-in, homeowners will see an
increase in their property taxes. This requires us to make budget
adjustments internally. It would be irresponsible to unfairly increase
property taxes beyond what taxpayers will see from the second year of
phase-in.

At 3:30 p.m. today at City Hall, I will lead a press conference to talk
about where we plan to save money and where we hope to make some money
back. The changes we discuss today are part of a proposed framework that
we will further develop to submit to the Board of Aldermen next week. By
not honoring its self-imposed obligation to reimburse us for tax-exempt
property in the City and by eliminating funding for important
programming, the State has left us with no choice but to make
concessions in our budget to avoid a deficit.

Over the course of the next several days and weeks, you will hear about
potential changes in programming, staffing and services. I will continue
to make it a point to keep you informed about how these changes may
affect all of us. Please know that we are working to achieve the most
minimal impact on day-to-day operations within the City as possible, but
some areas will undoubtedly experience a more visible impact than
others.

Each and every one of you works hard everyday for the people of New
Haven. Your work is valued and appreciated. Please relay any questions
or concerns to your department head who will also work to make sure you
are informed about this process.

Very truly yours,

John DeStefano, Jr.
Mayor

The new budget document is expected out today. You can read coverage about the Mayor’s presentation last night at the NHI and NHR. Here are stories worth reading.

NPR: What Happens When City Hall Goes Bankrupt?
NHI: Mayor Proposes $466M Budget
NHR: Mayor proposes 4.6% boost in spending
NHI: Mayor’s Office Upgrades
NHI: Budget Watchdogs Release Plan
NHI: Stetson Library (Funding Restored, but interesting debate)
NHI: Tweed Peace Plan

(NHCAN) is pleased to announce the budget recommendations for the 2008-2009 Fiscal Year. We have prepared a list of recommendations including the ending of unsustainable subsidies, to the reorganization of departments, to the transformation of the budget document itself. Below you will find the link to the full document (2.3 MB), as well as, shorter versions of the document. We recognize that some of these recommendations may be impractical or even naïve. We invite you to consider these in the spirit in which it is offered and to offer superior alternatives for the general good. We look forward to continuing this discussion.

2008-2009 Budget Public Comments(2.3 MB)

Executive Summary Only (414 KB)
Full Document Without the Appendices (1.4 MB)
Appendices Only (2.0 MB)

Its a bad financial picture for the city. And the BOA just passed a back door raise for the city executives that should have been a part of the budget discussions. We need to begin discussing measures of success. What are we getting for the money we spend? Should we not reward executives based on the money saved or actual services delivered, rather than the money spent? See the numbers on where we stand and ask your alderperson and the mayor how they plan to address this financial picture?

Check out the NHI:Dollar Deal.

The city wants to give away the Shartenberg site for $1.00. This is concerning during a time of unlawful deficit spending in the city. Call your alderperson!

We believe:

New Haven CAN be greater! New Haven CAN do better! IF
NH Can cut the budget
NH Can be fiscally responsible
NH Can root out wasted dollars
NH Can reign in unnecessary spending and dubious programs

New Haven Citizens Action Network (New Haven CAN) is a citizens action group comprised of New Haven taxpayers concerned about rising taxes and lack of fiscal responsibility in City government.
These New Haven taxpayers decided to form the New Haven Citizens Action Network (New Haven CAN) to raise public awareness of these issues. Every citizen of New Haven is encouraged to join and help make New Haven an affordable City in which to live.

This issue directly affects property owners AND tenants. While property owners see a direct impact on their costs, renters pay these same taxes as a portion of rent. With this huge increase landlords are forced to raise rents significantly. You can find out more about NH CAN at our website: www.nhcan.org

Last night the New Haven Board of Aldermen held a Special Budget Meeting and approved the budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year. The passage of the budget translates as higher spending and a significant escalation of taxes. Those increases will be reflected in the first half of your tax bill due in July 2007. You can see the results of roll call votes here: http://www.nhcan.org/boa-accountability-project/

Analysis:

It was encouraging to listen to the discussion about the budget and its potential to be trimmed. However, in the end, very little was cut and the results are major tax and spending increases for city residents and property owners.

There is a glimmer of hope with an amendment proposed by Finance Chair and major presenter Alderman Sergio Rodriguez requesting the Mayor report back to the BOA by September 1st on a plan to increase fiscal responsibility through performance based budgeting and changes in employee benefit plans. However, we feel the Finance Committee efforts ended as an appeasement to all of the citizens who hoped for substantial budget reductions. Ironically, those who voted for this favorable amendment, including Alderperson Rodriguez, also voted against very modest proposals to cut about $4MM from the budget.

These cuts would not have affected any services or cut any staff since the proposal by Alderman Jorge Perez simply eliminated funding for positions that must, for technical and practical reasons, remain unfilled.

Yet the majority of the Board voted this amendment down. Some offered explanations — Alderman Mattison objected to the lack of sufficient notice ( NH CAN knew about these positions by attending workshops and public hearings). Alderman Roland Lamar felt it would be “irresponsible” of him to cut these minuscule amounts without knowing the full impact on the performance of these departments (If these positions are not filled and won’t be how can performance be impacted?). We find this rationale lacking and insufficiently based on facts.

It was encouraging to hear Alderman Robert Lee inject some realism into the discussion by declaring that while this amendment did not propose staff reductions, the NH BOA should be prepared for these too. He aptly noted that private industry eliminates jobs all the time, especially in difficult times.
In the final votes amendments aimed at trimming the budget failed. The budget was approved almost exactly as proposed by Mayor John DeStefano and his Department Heads.

Out of almost three-quarters of a BILLION dollars in the City’s expenditures in the General Fund ($445 MM), the Special Fund ($134MM) and the Capital Fund ($137MM), our elected Aldermen could not find even $4MM to cut from programs and from personnel not yet hired. New Haven taxpayers will now face higher tax bills in June. Spending has has now reached about $717MM or approximately $5,700 PER PERSON!

We specifically commend those Alderpersons who voted against the budget, against increasing your taxes: Smart, Colon, Jackson-Brooks, and Lee. Thank you for refusing to be a rubberstamp for overspending. Thank you for placing your responsibilities to the taxpayers ahead of personal loyalties and fear of political retribution.

In addition to the above four Alders, we thank Alderpersons Perez, Paolillo, James, Lee, Atunes, Chen and Castro for voting for the budget cutting amendments.