City deficit may hit $13.6M- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut

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Jeffrey Kerekes

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Dec 5, 2009, 9:47:48 AM12/5/09
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CT Central Network:

City deficit may hit $13.6M

Published: Saturday, December 5, 2009

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By Elizabeth Benton, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Less than halfway into the fiscal year, New Haven is facing a $6.6 million budget hole, and the possibility of another $7 million gone should Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposal to cut state aid to municipalities come to pass.

“We’re halfway into the year and half of the budget is spent, and the rest are contractual commitments. The alternative here is to raise taxes in a midyear tax increase or run a budget deficit,” said Mayor John DeStefano Jr. “We’ve got our hands around (the budget gap), but that’s going to take all our efforts through the next rest of the year to do that. To have another probably $7 million dumped on us would be a big problem.”

DeStefano said the city is planning to close the shortfall through “very strict controls on spending” and possibly another sale of city assets.

“It’s not that we don’t want to cut ... but we closed three senior centers this year, closed a school ... and it’s still a tight budget,” he said.

DeStefano refused to name which assets might be sold. The city has been reviewing a long-term lease of Parking Authority assets, but DeStefano said that would “not be part of this year’s solution, if indeed we do it.”

But Budget Director Larry Rusconi said a sale of city property is not on the table, and that the $6.6 million gap would be closed through expenditure control.

“We’re undergoing an intensive review of all the outstanding purchase orders,” he said. “We’re suspending to the maximum extent possible any future spending.”

The assessor’s office has also stepped up its attempt to expand the city’s tax rolls.

As of late October, the assessor’s office had added $30 million to the tax rolls in a crackdown on businesses failing to declare personal property. The ongoing initiative has already generated $1.25 million in new tax revenue this fiscal year.

The budget gap was caused primarily by lower-than-anticipated revenue from the state, according to Rusconi. The state was still deep in budget negotiations when the city passed its budget in May, and assumptions the city made regarding state payment in lieu of taxes were off by $3.5 million and state Pequot Fund assumptions were off by $3.1 million, according to Rusconi.

The state is facing its own budget crisis, with the Office of Policy and Management projecting a deficit of $466.5 million. As part of a deficit mitigation plan, Rell has

proposed $84 million in midyear cuts in state aid to cities and towns. DeStefano has said that would translate to a $7 million midyear cut for New Haven.

DeStefano is part of a 14-member panel of legislators, mayors and state leaders given the task of identifying specific ways to cut state aid, and ways to offset those cuts through mandate relief.

The $464 million budget for fiscal 2009-10 increased spending by 1.8 percent, but kept taxes level.

The budget shrank the city’s work force from 5,115 to 4,978, excluding Board of Education employees. Twenty-seven workers were laid off before the start of the new fiscal year. Three senior centers were closed. Fees in many areas were increased. The Board of Education, which had requested a 3 percent increase in funding, received no increase.

This is not the first time New Haven has faced midyear budget woes. Fiscal 2008-09 began $6 million in the hole, and plunged deeper as the impact of the global recession shattered initial revenue projections. Scarce funding took a toll on the city’s work force. Twenty-seven veteran workers took a buyout, 34 workers lost their jobs and $2.7 million in unfilled positions were eliminated from the budget.

Ultimately, the city ended the year with a $356,000 surplus, due in part to expenditure controls, contributions from Yale University, and a $3.2 million unanticipated increase in building permits.

The surplus was added to the city’s fund balance, which now stands at $15.8 million, or 3.6 percent of the city’s operating budget. Should the fiscal year end in a deficit, money would have to be pulled from the fund balance.

Elizabeth Benton can be reached at 203-789-5714 or ebe...@nhregister.com.

Reader Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of nhregister.com.

bigcheese wrote on Dec 5, 2009 7:13 AM:

" Let me chime in here...perhaps if they closed the sanctuary city, and all the non taxpayers were sent back to where ever they belong, that would create jobs for people who pay taxes, which would help. Also, how many thousands of people in housing projects and other houses are on the governments teat? 1/2 of New Haven are state raised, with no end in sight. Destefano, like all democrats, cater to the poor, yet the poor always stay poor. They promise them a lot, deliver little. So long as they house/feed and clothe them, at taxpayers expense, they are fairly happy, yet they have no sense of pride of ownership, and that is why most of New Haven is a ghetto.
Ultimately, to keep housing, feeding and clothing these dregs on society, they will have to raise taxes on the few remaining people who pay taxes and have legal jobs.
The cheese has spoken. "

Big Nose wrote on Dec 5, 2009 7:21 AM:

" Hey bigcheese I gree with u 100% you are so right. Once this mayor gets out of office New Haven may have a chance for the good poeple who live here. "

mayor bj wrote on Dec 5, 2009 7:52 AM:

" stop spending so much time cruising long wharf and stop giving handouts to the illegals "

thank you wrote on Dec 5, 2009 8:11 AM:

" thank you bigcheese, the other day I was in a house in the hood. It was warm outside, and very hot inside the apartment. They had the windows open. The guy inside the apartment told me he gets assistance from the city to pay for the heat. I looked at him, and just started to shake my head left to right. I'm watching my pennies, while people throw out dollars from the windows. "

TheVolleyballGod wrote on Dec 5, 2009 8:26 AM:

" The D man is a classy dresser, I like that he can mix the duds up too and is not stuck on a one suite style. He looks to be a bruxer and his teeth filed down from grinding his chicklets excessively during sleep, or from job related high stress or nervous tension, but he can't do much about that and it is inspiring to see a leader always looking sharp.

In today's pic I can picture him in a black top hat and playing in a role on Broadway in the classic A Christmas Carol...maybe he will play Mr Fezziwig who was a kindly businessman who employed Ebenezer Scrooge early in his working life.

The DeSteffinator is the King of Gotham.. Coz' every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man. "

whiting forensic institute wrote on Dec 5, 2009 8:33 AM:

" time to come back to the psych ward volley you know you are off your meds again so get back here where you will get the much deserved treatment. "

JimmyRange wrote on Dec 5, 2009 8:36 AM:

" This incompetent, gutless mayor will play-up to anyone he thinks he can grab a vote. Truly, he speaketh with forked-tongue. He alone has managed to destroy New Haven-I am a liberal democrat-thanks to Mayor D, I am registering as a Republican. Like any gutless politician, he goes to the game with banners for both teams, running under the bleachers based on the score board. Good luck, New Haven. "

John wrote on Dec 5, 2009 8:46 AM:

" the mayor has to stop giving his polical buddies who got him elected raises and get rid of all the leaches in New Haven living off the taxpayers "

Outraged tax payer wrote on Dec 5, 2009 8:48 AM:

" Sanctuary Mayor, you have been breaking most laws and giving folks who are illegal everything free on our dime. I feel as many tax payers in this city that we have and are done paying more taxes. Tell your sanctuary crowd to get lost and stop this insanity in order to get other votes. We cannot afford to do this and if you are to stop a program I am going to insist that you stop with providing a free ride to folks who cannot provide anything back except ask for more. sorry, but we just cannot afford this law breaking sanctuary bull that you have put us into. cutting programs starts with this one. We as tax payers are done Destefano so get lost and go home. "

SOSNewHaven wrote on Dec 5, 2009 9:07 AM:

" I used to be much more "liberal", before I moved to New Haven. The corruption, welfare culture here is amazing. Becoming an unwed teen mother in New Haven is a career move - it's like hitting the jackpot of free rent, free utilities free food - and then you get to complain that it isn't enough! Multiple babies from multiple losers no problem! The white liberal suburban social worker will fix everything for you. Drop out of school - no problema. Never learn to speak standard English, watz duh matter wit soundin like use uh sharecropper from backwoods Mississippi (even though you live in CT.). Drive through any ghetto neighborhood this winter and notice all of the doors wide open - that's your money paying for "heating assistance". Board of Education spending is a monetary black hole. Churches running scams. Connected friends running sham non-profits getting sweetheart deals. I could go on, but I think everyone already knows what a corrupt pool of slime and ignorance New Haven is. On the bright side, at least one can vent on the Register... "

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Thanks,

Jeffrey Kerekes
jeffrey...@gmail.com
www.jeffreykerekes.com
m: 203-676-0880

Jeffrey, a Realtor, is a Connecticut Licensee (License RES.0790996), affiliated with Pulse Realty, LLC, 817 Grand Ave, New Haven, CT 06511

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