Archive for the 'BOA' Category

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Mil Rate 73.24: Coming To A Wallet Near You

Monday, April 28th, 2008

We have heard from the BOA and City that there is nothing in the budget to reduce and that the budget represents mostly fixed costs. We also went to a recent budget panel discussion where this was also stated. So if nothing can be cut or reduced, we should be able to project taxes based on the current budget. Therefore, we looked at the recent growth in the budget and used very conservative growth/inflation projections assuming the budget will stay the same as the city said and projected the taxes. Take a look at our spreadsheet or PDF version of our projections and you decide. Send us your feedback.

Taxes are on course to rise with a mil rate of 73.24 in 2014 (six years from now). This translates into over $14,000 in taxes on a home worth $300,000 or around $400 per month for a renter of one floor in a 3-family in taxes to their landlord in a home worth $300,000.

Come to the final public hearing on the budget Tuesday, 4/29/08 at 7:00pm at City Hall.

Posted in BOA, Budget | No Comments »

2008-9 Budget Recommendations

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

(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)

Posted in BOA, Budget, Debt Obligations, Economic Development, Education, Fire Dept, Inefficiencies, Mayor, NHPD, Tweed Airport, White Papers | No Comments »

Did Your Alderperson Show Up At Meetings?

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

Being an alderperson is a tough job and requires a lot of time, not just for full BOA meetings, but for committee meetings, events, and responding to people in their wards. Some of them got 100% attendance at full BOA meetings in 2007. That is quite an accomplishment - thanks and congrats. Below is a table of the final attendance. Click here for the full spread sheet. How did your alderperson do? Happy, not happy? Contact them and let them know.

2007 Attendance (Listed by Ward)

  1. 82% Shalek (No Longer In Office)
  2. 73% Chen (No Longer In Office)
  3. 91% James
  4. 95% Jackson-Brooks
  5. 100% Perez
  6. 100% Colon
  7. 86% Clark
  8. 91% Smart
  9. 100% Lemar
  10. 77% Mattison (No Longer In Office)
  11. 100% Lee
  12. 95% Antunes
  13. 95% Rhodeen
  14. 100% Pascale
  15. 32% Reyes-Rivera (No Longer In Office)
  16. 100% Castro
  17. 100% Paolillo
  18. 95% DePino
  19. 77% Edwards
  20. 95% Blango
  21. 91% Jones
  22. 93% Morehead (replaced Drew King - 25% - in March 2007)
  23. 95% Shah
  24. 95% McCormack
  25. 86% Silverman
  26. 91% Rodriguez
  27. 95% Lehtonen
  28. 95% Sandman
  29. 100% Goldfield
  30. 91% Edmonds-Sepulveda

Posted in BOA, Meetings | No Comments »

Finance Committee 2008 Schedule

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

February 25, Monday @ 5:30 PM Joint Finance/CSEP

March 5, Wednesday Joint Finance/PS

March 12, Monday @ 5:30 PM Public Hearing on the Budget

March 25, Tuesday Budget Workshop (Overview)
Monthly Meeting

March 31, Monday Budget Workshop

April 2, Wednesday Budget Workshop

April 8, Tuesday Budget Workshop

April 9, Wednesday Budget Workshop Monthly Meeting

April 15, Tuesday @7:00 PM Deliberations on the Budget

April 29, Tuesday @7:00 PM Public Hearing on the Budget

May 7, Wednesday Deliberations on the Budget (If needed)

May 14, Wednesday Monthly Meeting

May 27, Tuesday Board of Aldermen Special Budget meeting

June 11, Wednesday Monthly Meeting

July 9, Wednesday Monthly Meeting

August 13, Wednesday Monthly Meeting

September 10, Wednesday Monthly Meeting

October 7, Tuesday @7:00 PM Monthly Meeting

November 12, Wednesday Monthly Meeting

December 10, Wednesday Monthly Meeting (If Needed)

All meetings will begin at 6:00 PM in the Aldermanic Chamber, City Hall, 165 Church Street New Haven, unless otherwise noted.

Posted in BOA, Budget | No Comments »

New Aldermanic Committees Announced

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

The new arrangement of Alderpersons has been announced, you can see the full line up here. The finance committee members are below:

Shah (Chair)
Silverman (Vice-Chair)
Perez
Goldfield
Jackson-Brooks
Clark
Castro
Rhodeen
Sandman

Posted in BOA, Budget | No Comments »

Sergio Rodriguez Leaves HANH

Friday, November 9th, 2007

Read the NHI story announcing Alderman Rodriguez left his job at Housing Authority of New Haven. Read our Press Release regarding open questions on his departure.

You can also read our old press release about opening the Hatch Act Inquiry and view Alderman Rodriguez’s own ethics disclosure document, and the legal opinion the city obtained months ago.

Posted in BOA, Voting & Elections | No Comments »

Voter Coercion

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

We at NHCAN are deeply concerned about apparent voter coercion on Tuesday during elections. Please see the NHI article on this issue.

If you want to do something about it, please contact the State Elections Enforcement Commission. To do so, you need to complete this form and have it notarized (at a bank or the City Clerk’s office) and mail it here:

Attorney Joan M. Andrews
Director of Legal Affairs and Enforcement
State Elections Enforcement Commission
20 Trinity Street, Suite 101
Hartford, CT 06106

You might also consider contacting:

Michelle Duprey, City of New Haven, Director of Disability Services mduprey@newhavenct.net

Allan Atherton, President of CT National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), namicted@namict.org

Edward Preneta, Director, CT Council on Developmental Disabilities ed.preneta@po.state.ct.us

Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, CHRO.Webmaster@ct.gov

State Election Enforcement Commission, SEEC@ct.gov

Posted in BOA, Voting & Elections | No Comments »

NHCAN Supports Tom Malone (R) - Ward 25

Monday, October 29th, 2007

NHCAN is a nonpartisan organization interested in Financial Responsibility and Transparent Government here in New Haven. We are interested in the best candidates and independent voices in the BOA. We are supporting Tom Malone’s run for Alderman of Ward 25 over incumbent Ina Silverman as we belive he best represents our mission of Transparent Government and Financial Responsibility.

Tom Malone

Here is some of his campaign literature:

Voter’s Issues
Taxes
Visit his Website

Posted in BOA, Voting & Elections | No Comments »

NEW HAVEN CAN BE BETTER!

Saturday, October 6th, 2007

New Haven Citizens Action Network (NH CAN) was created last summer by a group of New Haven citizens who wished to participate in the deliberations of the Board of Aldermen during the 2007-8 budget process. Our objectives were to ensure that the proposed budget fiscally sound and would not create a tax burden on future taxpayers. We were also interested in keeping city government open to participation from the general public.

Summer has come and gone. The BOA has not welcomed citizen inputs and had prevented public comments on items before the Board. There is a solid majority of the BOA that votes as a block to approve the Mayor’s wishes without too much challenge. Consequently, New Haven CAN has shifted it’s focus – from working with the Alders to working to elect more independent minded Aldermen willing to check the Mayor’s propensity to tax and spend.

The New Haven 2007-8 budget totals $445 million, with Special Funds and Capital expenses adding another $272 million. This is equal to over $14,000 per New Haven household. Of this amount, about 30% is paid directly by City taxpayers, another 50% comes from State taxpayers with the remaining 20% being borrowed. The City has commitments of over $1,100,000,000 – about $22,000 per household — for pension liabilities, debt and retiree health care. Future taxpayers must pay for this.

The budget process is seriously flawed. There is no culture of cost control, of eliminating unnecessary activities to pay for new initiatives. Transparency is lacking. Education spending accounts for 38% of the General Fund. Yet one has to estimate the additional costs for employee benefits, pensions, debt service, the Capital and Special Fund accounts to get a better estimate of total education costs which are closer to 61% of total spending of $717 million.

The budget process is not integrated with the cost drivers that dominate the budget. Contract negotiations commit taxpayers for a good part of the budget, yet occur independently of the budget process. Pension plans still use the more expensive Defined Benefits approach rather than the more widely used Defined Contribution approach.

The budget process does not relate expenditures to any measures of anticipated outcomes. What should we expect for the $17,000 spent per school student each year? How effectively can we expect Police and Fire personnel to respond to incidents? For Public Works to repair sidewalks and roads?? Etc.. There is no reference to such benchmarks in the 400 plus pages of the budget.

Posted in BOA, Debt Obligations, Education, Fire Dept, Inefficiencies, NHPD | No Comments »

Another Budget Increase Coming Your Way

Monday, October 1st, 2007

See the NH Register article reporting a budget deficit and how the BOA may be voting in another increase tonight.

Posted in BOA, Inefficiencies | No Comments »

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