Your Chance To Air Out Lungs, Public Hearings Set For City Budget

The City Council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee has released a schedule of meetings and public hearings regarding action on Mayor Joe Ganim’s $560 million spending plan. A public hearing on the city’s capital plan will take place Wednesday 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 45 Lyon Terrace. A public hearing on the Board of Education budget is scheduled for April 19, 6 p.m. in council chambers followed by a public hearing on the general budget April 21, 6 p.m. also in council chambers.

See the full schedule of budget committee meetings and hearings here. The budget committee is co-chaired by Scott Burns and Denese Taylor-Moye. Two other public hearings have also been scheduled, according to the timetable.

The budget committee is scheduled to vote on the budget between May 5-7. A full council vote will take place by May 10. The budget is then sent back to Ganim for possible veto action before it’s returned to the council for final action and then setting of the mil rate in June.

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15 comments

  1. Frank,
    If you and others want a motivation to get involved in the budget discussion, then use the below formula to estimate what your new property taxes might be based on information released by the Ganim Administration. In my view, it’s outrageous and unacceptable.

    Estimated New Property = Current Property Tax x 560/533 x (15% reduction in overall grand list compared to your % change in assessment)

    Three Examples based on a current $10,000 annual property tax bill.

    Individual Home Assessment Went Down 15%:
    $10,000 x 560/533 x ((15-15)/100 + 1) = $10,507 (5.1% increase)

    Individual Home Assessment Went Down 5%:
    $10,000 x 560/533 x ((15-5)/100 + 1) = $11,557 (15.6% increase)

    Individual Home Assessment Went Up 1%:
    $10,000 x 560/533 x ((15+1)/100 + 1) = $12,188 (21.9% increase)

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  2. I used to love Public Hearings, especially budget hearings and the Education Budget. Most council members looked at the process of us vs. them; them being the voters who elected them. I looked at it as a way of touching base with my constituents.
    When there was a break in the hearings I would go out into the audience and seek out those who had identified themselves as residents in my district or those, especially the students who would speak about the school system, who made very poignant points just to acknowledge the point someone heard what they were saying.
    I can only hope the chambers will be filled with taxpayers, voters, students, teachers and other interested stakeholders letting the council know how they feel about the Ganim budget.
    If you don’t go, don’t complain afterwards.

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    1. It’s really easy to adopt a slogan like “no new taxes.” It’s a lot harder to actually make the cuts necessary in order to make it reality. So where do people think those cuts should be made?

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  3. Phil. Firstly, Mayor Ganim got elected with his pledge to hold the line on taxes. He provided no more substantive explanation as to how he was going to do this. He has failed to keep this promise.
    Mayor Ganim was elected by promising to provide more funding to the school system. He provided no more substantive explanation as to how he was going to do this. He has failed to keep this promise.
    All the taxpayers have to tell him is they do not like being lied to. Period. He gave the council a budget that doesn’t cut spending enough. =
    Let’s start with all the highest-paid city employees and cut their salaries 15%. And keep them depressed until the tax rate is stabilized for two years. Not taking paid furloughs and other gimmicks.
    How’s that, Phil? Specific enough?

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  4. And Phil, don’t tell me the city could not attract qualified individuals because from what we have seen so far it is all political patronage with quality not a contributing factor.

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  5. Phil. How about NO NEW BONDING for two years. How’s that for specifics? The way the city plays with bond funds, if they only did this for one year there would be no immediate savings. But two years would do the trick. And the rating houses will be impressed with that.

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  6. I generally agree with you. There may be some cases, such as schools, where the failure to act now endangers state funds. Those need to be addressed. But I have no problem with a general bonding moratorium.

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  7. And the other thing Phil, is let’s first make sure we are at the proper starting point. Let’s have an outside set of eyes make sure there is no fluff in the budget from exaggerating how bad the city finances are today.
    If we are looking at a $20 million deficit then maybe the first thing we should do is seeking the state’s approval to bond the deficit and create a financial review board.

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  8. I am not really sure if holding the line on taxes was the primary driving force behind Ganim’s election. The two large ethnic groups in Bridgeport (African Americans and Hispanics) felt slighted by the Finch administration and felt Ganim would pay more attention to their needs. There was a perception crime (the Beardsley Terrace incident) was on the rise and Finch was not reacting well enough and Ganim promised to get tough on crime and this appealed to the same ethnic groups since it was felt they were most affected by crime. Property taxes are always a hot button issue but I really don’t think it was one of the main driving forces behind the election. Not too mention the accusation of returning a felon to the same job where he committed his crimes. As I recall Ganim’s statements on taxes, I always found them vague or even disingenuous. I really felt as soon as Ganim and Flatto announced the $20 million deficit, they were setting up a larger-than-necessary tax increase to blame on Finch. Due to the drop in the re-evaluation, there would have to be a rise in the mil rate just to bring in the same property tax dollars. With Ganim’s budget increase, the mil rate has to absorb both the reevaluation AND Ganim’s budget increase. So we are looking at multiple millions of dollars in budget cuts to main the present mil rate. Any of the suggestions listed here up to this point would just be a drop in the bucket. I don’t see how a moratorium on bonding would have an immediate impact in this coming fiscal year. I just looked through the budget (150 pages, give or take) and I have to admit my eyes glazed over. The budget is there. VERY SPECIFIC items need to be listed, not just a general blank statement. At this exact moment, I.myself don’t have any answers unless we get a huge rescue from the State. If anyone else can list very specific (please list line and page from the Ganim budget), then we can really start talking.

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      1. Phil Smith, that is probably true since the State is experiencing its own daunting budget problems. If I am going to assume anything, I think most if not all Bridgeport property taxpayers will be paying MORE.

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