Ganim Presents Budget To City Council, Mixed Bag For Taxpayers In Revaluation Year

Mayor Joe Ganim on Monday submitted a $560 million budget to the City Council up nearly $28 million from the election-year budget approved last year that finance officials say still includes a budget deficit of more than $10 million that will be carried over to the spending plan that begins July 1 with the implementation of property reassessments. Officials say as a result some homeowners will experience a tax increase, others a cut while some will stay the same. Businesses may likely absorb the larger tax hit based on the revaluation.

The first budget of JG2 is a bit of déjà vu  for Ganim. When he was elected mayor in 1991 he inherited a multi-million dollar budget deficit from then-Mayor Mary Moran that impacted his first budget as mayor. Taxes went up about six percent that also helped to finance additional police. After Ganim’s first budget, taxes did not rise for the next 10 years. Will history repeat itself?

Overall the gross difference between expenses and revenues this budget year and the proposed plan is roughly $15 million that will be raised through additional tax revenue. Officials project the city will receive an additional $13 million in new revenue from the state generated from payments in lieu of taxes on tax-exempt properties and a new municipal funding share from sales taxes. The implemented revaluation of taxable property to be reflected in upcoming tax bills produced a net grand list of about 15 percent lower.

Officials say there is good news in the budget: the average car tax will drop about 25 percent as a result of the state creating a statewide 32 mil rate on all motor vehicles. The city’s current budget year mil rate is 42. The state will reimburse the city the revenue difference between the current and new motor vehicle rates.

Education advocates may make some noise. Board of Education spending will receive a small increase from $241,565,836 to $242,052,502, based on the proposed budget.

City officials have not pegged a mil rate in the proposed budget declaring it moot because the final mil rate will be set by the City Council. But based on the spending plan, according to sources, the mil rate will likely be north of 50. It depends what the council does with the budget. Ganim told the council Monday night that the local budget picture could change depending on the outcome of the state budget. City spending relies heavily on state dollars.

The spending plan is now before the council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee chaired by Scott Burns and Denese Taylor-Moye. The committee will conduct meetings over the next four weeks including public hearings to review the budget and make changes.

Although city officials say they’ve cut into what they peg an inherited $20 million deficit, including millions in unbudgeted salaries and police pension obligations, from the mayoral administration of Bill Finch, budget builders are carrying over millions into the next budget cycle rather than reaching back for deeper cuts on top of layoffs, realignment of debt, and other cost-cutting measures for the current budget year ending June 30.

The budget projects $5 million in union concessions and attrition; more than $3 million is budgeted for additional police and fire recruits and millions more in pension fund increases.

The city also announced details of a severance package offer for city employees to save money in the long haul. If they accept employees with 25 years of service or 15 years of service at age 55 and above will receive a lump sum of $15,000 and health coverage for one year. The offer expires in May. It is not available for uniformed services or Board of Education employees.

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43 comments

  1. This proposed budget is outrageous, unacceptable and a direct breach of Mayor Ganim’s campaign promise to “hold the line” on taxes. The lower net taxable grand list means the effective percentage property tax rate will increase for ALL real estate property taxpayers! In addition, under Mayor Ganim’s proposed budget, the actual dollar property tax bill would increase for anyone whose property tax assessment did not go down at least 24%. It’s simple MATH!!! Higher property taxes translate to lower property values and more people being forced out of their homes! It also makes Bridgeport a less attractive place to live and to do business. It’s time to get real! The Mayor and the City Council need to cut spending rather than increase it! They need to do many other things too. Bridgeport City leaders are out of touch and out of control! Shame on them.

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    1. Joe Ganim, if you make the mil rate anywhere near 50 or above, you will see the city sink, sink, sink. SINK in foreclosures and mass exodus. Already people are unable to sell their houses or even come close to being able to live here, they are ALREADY deeply struggling. A mil rate of 50 will effectively DESTROY ANY legacy you intend to leave. You will go down in history as literally destroying the city. Digging your heels into the bodies of struggling citizens, destroying their lives and their paltry retirements. Think hard, this is absolutely a death knell to growth. A death knell to revitalization. A death knell to all neighborhoods. Cut the union jobs, make your cuts up there. The citizens will literally be destroyed by this and your reputation along with it.

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  2. *** IT’S TIME TO CUT YOUR LOSSES, SELL AND GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE! NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER FOR THE LONG TERM IN BPT. YOU’LL BE BLOGGING ON OIB WITH THE SAME OLD CITIZEN COMPLAINTS 25 YEARS FROM NOW, FOR THOSE WHOM ARE STILL AROUND, ALIVE AND KICKING, NO? *** WHOOP ***

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    1. My closing is next week. It only took me three years to sell a Black Rock water view income-producing property. I only lost $150k on the deal. Good luck to those wanting to sell in the future.

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  3. Hmmm, a mil rate of 50. Let’s see, Mr. Walker’s home on the water, already nearing $35,000 for taxes, will climb to close to $42,000. This is just a nightmare. AND this is the present appraisal!!!

    Bill Finch, $9,300, up to $11,000, present appraisal!!!

    Appraisals are rising. Ouch.

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  4. Don’t pass this budget without a comprehensive outside audit!

    Who on the B&A has the skillset to know what’s in this budget?

    How in hell can you give Sal DiNardo a $10 million tax forgiveness break and then hit the taxpayers with an increase?

    Don’t approve this budget without first adding an amendment to our city Charter. The establishment of a nine-member elected Board of Finance.

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  5. Jim, the creation of a Charter Revision committee authorized by the Mayor, plus a clear question put out to the voters, can accomplish this. The issue of Council stipends can also be clarified and made a part of the City charter. Gutsy move, you think Joe has the brass???

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    1. Lisa,
      I’m sure Mayor Ganim would despise an elected Board of Finance.

      I’m positive Ken Flatto would go back into retirement if he had to deal with another elected Board of Finance.

      I’m sure Mario and O&G Industries would be screaming from the rooftops “Batstone su per il culo” if they had to deal with an elected Board of Finance! Those no-bid contracts would be a thing of the past.

      I’m sure Mr. Sherwood and Rich DeParle would be in jail right now, if we had a Board of Finance in place, after paying off the Million Dollar loan for the Port Authority and the purchase of two new SUVs and DeParle giving tax breaks to his buddies without permission from the City Council or the Mayor. This could still happen.

      If Joe Ganim really wants to have Open, Accountable and Transparent government (OAT), he would start with a Charter Revision Commission ASAP. Time will tell.

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      1. Jim, it’s a win-win for Joe. He doesn’t have to rely on an inexperienced council to attempt to understand the budget, he can’t be blamed for deficits if funds are approved by a Finance Committee, he can avoid excessive patronage expectations, the stipend problem would go away, no risk of someone in the administration screwing up while he takes the blame. There’s so much more–help me, Bubba. Independent outside advisors won’t stay independent for long. We know the deal. If Tom McCarthy doesn’t take the ball and run with it, he should forget any hope of one day becoming mayor or seeking higher office. I realize he and Mario are contemplating a challenge against Senator Moore, but if this budget turns into a disaster, Marilyn has her message and it will resonate.

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        1. The plan is is to push through an unnecessary larger mil rate increase RIGHT NOW, three to four months into Ganim’s four years as mayor and then announce a mil rate decrease just before his re-election effort four years from now hoping the people will forget this mil rate increase which of course was very conveniently Bill Finch’s fault. And ALL residents of the East Side of Bridgeport will exclaim ALLELUIA and Joe Ganim will be re-elected the mayor of East Bridgeport. The last thing Joe Ganim wants is some other board he would have to wrestle for power with. After all, all Ganim has to do is go into executive session or party caucus with the City Council and things get done in secret. That’s how the McCarthy affair and the Gaudett fiasco were solved.

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  6. I will repeat what I have been saying for some time now. If the City Council fails to hire independent outside advisors to guide them through validating the current year budget deficit and analyzing the Ganim tax increase, then the total responsibility for this financial mess lies strictly at the feet of Council President Tom McCarthy.
    He is the only constant throughout this debacle and has failed to live up to his duties and responsibilities.
    Even the most recent co-chairs he named to the B&A Committee demonstrate the inability of the unwillingness to tackle this problem head on.
    Tom, are you going to step up big-time and put your big boy pants on or are you going to continue to play politics with the taxpayer’s money? Depends.

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    1. How is the City Council going to get independent outside advice because the clock is ticking as we speak. All of this MUST be accomplished by mid-June at the absolute latest. If The City Council does nothing, Ganim’s budget will go into effect. The B&A subcommittee will try to go over this budget in a pretty quick action because the Mayor has a line-item veto power. And it goes back and forth.

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  7. From the CT Post:
    “There’s such a big gap because we did not get realistic numbers from the previous administration,” Ganim told Hearst Connecticut Media before addressing the council. “They overestimated revenues and failed to budget for required pension payments.”
    Ganim wants to blame the prior administration but I maintain the blame falls clearly on the City Council and its conflicted President.
    All eyes should be on Tom McCarthy.

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  8. At least John Olson was willing to speak to the press. The council leadership chose to remain silent.
    Paging Tom McCarthy Paging the B&A Committee chairs.

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      1. Or maybe he thought the funding would be in the plastic eggs and it is just a matter of finding enough eggs to make up the deficit.
        ‘Egg-cellent’ thinking, council members.

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  9. Dear Mayor Joe, you promised if we elected you, you would hold the line on taxes. You did not place a caveat on that promise. I don’t care if you “found” a million-dollar deficit, you pledged and promised. You asked us to trust you were reformed and now trustworthy. Prove it now by keeping your word. Oh wait, your submitted budget has broken your pledge and promise. Never mind.

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    1. Jennifer,
      A federal judge pretty much accused him of lying on the stand in Federal Court and you expected “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God,” in campaign promises from Joe?
      I think Joe was born with permanently crossed fingers.

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  10. From the CT Post:
    Ken Flatto, Fairfield’s former first selectman and Ganim’s finance director, said the mayor has asked the state legislative delegation for more aid as well as a reduction or modification of the annual required pension payments the city must make.

    Just kicking the can down the road. Playing the blame game. Passing the buck. Pointing fingers.

    The time for the financial review board is NOW. If Ganim wants to put off another dollar in city contributions to the pension plans, he should accept a financial review board a consequence for doing this.

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    1. The pension system for government employees is deeply flawed especially with the latest contract with the Bridgeport Police Union. The explosion of overtime partly fueled by allowing overtime salaries to be used toward pension, allowing vacations, sick days etc. to accrue is an unmitigated disaster. The pension system literally needs to be recalculated.

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  11. I predicted all this back in December when Ganim and Flatto found their $20 million deficit, half of which belongs to the Bridgeport Police Union. Denese Taylor-Moye expressed SHOCK, SHOCK, SHOCK. AND guess who is co-chair of the City Council B&A subcommittee.

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  12. And don’t forget the $177 million spending binge Ganim is proposing to be paid for by bonding/borrowing. And don’t forget the new sewage/shit agreement Ganim has struck with Trumbull. Timmie Herbst did not like Bill Finch’s prices but he seems to be agreeable to Ganim’s prices. Or maybe it’s something in the sauce at Testo’s Restaurant that made Timmie change his mind since he is a frequent patron.

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  13. Maybe it’s time to put in a call to Maria Pereira and start building a citywide slate of new city council candidates for the Council Elections in 2017.

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  14. Why is it so hard for these dopes to understand if they cut property taxes they would generate more revenue because people would stop leaving and more people would move here?

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    1. The way things are structured in Connecticut between the state government and local governments is such that local governments have ONLY the property tax to rely on as income for the budgets the state will or will not take responsibility for. This reliance upon the property tax has been a complete disaster for urban areas with the manufacturing exodus and suburban flight that we have seen over the last 50 years. The present taxing structure in CT will not work.

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  15. Why is every one so surprised about a raise in taxes? Am I the only one who knew the taxes were going up in Bridgeport? If you’ve been around for the past couple of years, we all knew Bill was holding back the revals. And of course he waited until he was out of office to release them. Pay now, pay later; what’s the difference?

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  16. I’m afraid the Trumbull sewer deal will be pushed as the necessary first step in creating a regionalized sewer system that will be presented to the people of Bridgeport as a panacea for our budget woes, but it will result in Bridgeport tax base (present and real) being diverted to Trumbull and Monroe (as well as Bridgeport taxpayers picking up the tab for the new infrastructure).

    The sewer deal will result in Bridgeport getting the “dirty” end of the stick as usual. We will wind up subsidizing Trumbull (and later, Monroe) tax base growth and suburban lifestyle as more of the crushing regional tax burden is shifted to Bridgeport property owners (to pay for the expanded regional sewer system), especially homeowners.

    In the meantime, we will continue to support Trumbull’s tax base and lifestyle, even as they lure more lucrative development to Trumbull by way of access to our sanitary sewer system.

    THE PEOPLE OF BRIDGEPORT NEED TO SEE THE PROPOSED TRUMBULL SEWER DEAL BEFORE THE COUNCIL VOTES ON IT AND THE S*&^ HITS THE FAN!

    LENNIE; CAN YOU PLEASE SECURE COPIES OF THE DOCUMENT CONCERNING THE PROPOSED BRIDGEPORT-TRUMBULL SEWER DEAL AND PUBLISH IT ON OIB FOR US?

    IN A RELATED VEIN; DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING ANY PROPOSAL TO REGIONALIZE OUR SEWER SYSTEM THAT YOU CAN SHARE ON OIB? (THE PEOPLE OF BRIDGEPORT NEED TO HAVE SOME IDEA WHAT HARTFORD AND THE REGION HAS IN MIND FOR US, IN THIS REGARD, BEFORE MALLOY AND HIMES AND BLUMENTHAL SHOW UP FOR THE RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY ON THIS PROJECT.)

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  17. Senator Marilyn Moore has been pushing for a regionalized sewage system on Trumbull and Monroe’s behalf. Perhaps Senator Moore can bring us up to date on this ill-conceived proposal.

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  18. We are repeating ourselves as to this sewer deal. Timmie Herbst is going to get a good deal. Monroe taxpayers are a bunch of cheapskates and they reject budget after budget and Monroe is a fiscal dead end. Perhaps it’s time to talk to Senator Marilyn Moore.

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    1. If the sewer deal benefits Trumbull at the expense of Bridgeport residents and taxpayers, the City Council should reject it out of hand. Voters should settle for nothing less.

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  19. If anyone thinks an elected Board of Finance, nominated and elected the same way as Council members, will change anything they are dreaming. If anything it will tighten the administration’s control over the budget.

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