The Bridgeport City Council Monday night unanimously approved a city spending plan of roughly $550 million that includes a $1.5 million contingency for additional education funds depending on the state budget that awaits a vote in a Thursday special session. Mayor Joe Ganim had proposed a $560 million budget that flat funded school spending.
The council adopted a number of the changes approved by the Budget and Appropriations Committee in a weekend marathon session, with some exceptions. For instance, the position of former Police Chief Wilbur Chapman, at the urging of Ganim, was approved for another six months at $64,000. Ganim hired Chapman as a senior adviser for public safety. It had been cut by the budget committee. Ganim officials assert that Chapman’s reorganization of public safety departments has amassed a large savings that far outweighs his compensation.
A police recruitment class proposed by Ganim will be delayed by four months under a compromise passed by the council.
City Council President Tom McCarthy said the council will make adjustments accordingly based on the passage of the state budget. The state legislature will vote on the budget in a special session later this week. McCarthy said the city budget relies heavily on state funds.
The council through amendments Monday night increased revenues by roughly $3 million that includes $400,000 for sale of city-owned properties and building permits fees.
The budget now goes back to Ganim for possible veto action for the next two weeks. It then returns to the council for a response and then setting of a final mil rate in June that will likely be north of 50 for the budget year starting July 1 in a revaluation year. Ganim says he expects more than 60 percent of homeowners will receive a tax cut under the adopted budget.
Council members were locked behind closed doors in the Democratic caucus room away from public view until about 8:30. The caucus (or was it an executive session?) had some private intrigue when Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa emerged in and out of the meeting. Several council members chuckled privately that they could not recall a time a party leader sat in on private council business to hash out the budget.
“Mario hasn’t attended a caucus in 50 years,” cracked former State Senator Ernie Newton, an ex council president, an interested spectator from the public pews.
The overall budget passed by the council is $550,382,101. According to an amendment sheet released by city finance officials, the council increased revenues $2,956,950. It authorized revenue decreases of $10,820,028, most of which was anticipated state revenues recently cut in budget deliberations.
If Mario sat in on the caucus, I believe it was illegal based on state FOI rules and regulations. The only individual who can attend a party legislative caucus would be members of the legislative body who are of the same political party.
Correct, Bob. It was an absolute violation of the law.
“Town Chair Mario Testa emerged in and out of the meeting.”
Lennie didn’t say Mario Testa sat in the meeting. The meeting had been over and the long wait was due to the need to type the agreements and changes to the budget. Nestor and Flatto had to fix the numbers to reflect the agreement and changes. It was the first time in eight years I was acknowledged at the city council meeting; while sitting next to Lennie Grimaldi.
My deepest condolences to Councilmen Burns. I learned his father was a retired Judge. How many times didn’t I read his name in the newspaper?
And personally, back in the day I would have walked out of a council caucus if the town chair, whoever it may be, decided to sit in.
But before I did, I would be demanding the Council President have him removed from the caucus.
It shows how little respect council members have for themselves and their positions if they allow this to happen.
Pitiful. Purely pitiful.
Pitifully jumping to conclusion with Maria Pereira not far behind.
Bubba, since they don’t go to him, he has to go to them to be remembered. I served 20 years, and you weren’t far behind me, did we ever see him attend a council meeting let alone wandering into a caucus room? He really is to be pitied!
I am not aware of any authority for the city Council to “conditionally” approve changes to the city budget or for it to unilaterally amend the budget once it is been adopted.
Perhaps someone should remind Ernie during his tenure as Council President the late John Guman, who was the DTC Chairman, regularly sat in the Democratic caucus. Actually, did more than just sit there.
Phil,
Two wrongs do not a right make.
Joel,
Lennie writes “Town Chair Mario Testa emerged in and out of the meeting.”
That is not jumping to a conclusion. That is what Lennie wrote. “In and out of the MEETING.”
And if the door was closed and the public or press were not given open access then the meeting continued.
Lisa Parziale, you nailed it when you said, “This is the way I see it now, the candy store is locked; no access to Mario or for that matter G2; because of the goodies that were doled out in the past, individuals would sell their first born for the opportunity to get the freebies. With nothing to really offer he’s left politically impotent.” In order not to look impotent Mario Testa is now putting on this dog and pony show by showing up going into and sitting in on the Democratic caucus. This was Mario’s backhanded way to scare the City Council.
Ron, read my above comments. You and I think alike!
Now it’s against the law to deliver pizza?
No, take it from me.
I’ve got a pizza pension: it’s only against the law to deliver lousy pizza and I never had that problem.
So what, if anything, did they accomplish? 99% rubber stamp.
So BIG DEAL. We knew all along the budget was going to be around $550 million with almost 50% of it coming from the State and Feds. The Police account for almost half of what is the City’s REAL budget (money raised through property taxes). This not that much different than the Finch budget. THE BIG ISSUE IS THE GRAND LIST. IF THAT CONTINUES TO SLIDE, WITH the new mil rate and the overall perception of this City as taken a hit, IT’S GOING TO BE VERY DIFFICULT TO TURN AROUND THE SINKING GRAND LIST.
Better than I expected but not nearly enough. Bridgeport needs radical reconstructive surgery and the Mayor and Council are engaging in nip and tuck cosmetic surgery. We need an independent Financial Control Board before it’s too late!
Dave Walker, I’m in agreement with the need for an independent Financial Control Board before it’s too late! Mayor Ganim I believe is trying to deal with the problem but since he has been down this road before there is at some point something he might do.
What I don’t see is your Republican Party doing any of things you have suggested for Bridgeport and for Connecticut. I think your efforts would be better used with your Party.
Ron,
I am glad we agree on the need for an independent Financial Control Board. The truth is the Republican Party is not very strong in CT. More important, leadership is done by individuals and not by parties or committees. It starts at the top. That means the Governor and the Mayor.
Historically speaking, Mayor Ganim is predisposed to dislike a Financial Control Board. His record of
NOone tax increase was based on avoiding an FCB.Now let me see if I have this right.
Tom McCarthy hired a budget consultant to come up with this?
Put off hiring a rookie Police Training Class.
Cut Police Overtime.
Eliminate one consultant’s position.
And, contingently, add money to the school board.
What a waste of taxpayers’ money that was.
Bob Walsh: This would be a good time for you to describe your political awesomeness to OIB readers. Start when ready.
Don’t need to, Localized. Those who know me know my awesomeness and appreciate it.
Those who do not know or appreciate it live in Trumbull.
Next …
I appreciate you Bubba, and maybe some have forgotten the experience and knowledge of the City budget you brought to the Council. I didn’t!!!
I remember how his experience and knowledge were meaningless in improving Bridgeport’s fiscal position.
Holding the line on taxes, with a budget of $550 million we would need a mil rate somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 mils, @ ten million per mil.
The median home values for Bridgeport is $152k taxed @ 70% value = $106k x 55 mils you will have a tax bill around $5852.
Only one word to describe this, we be “flucked!”
Sonny, did your home assessment decrease?
Yes, but not that much.
Ron/Dave, what can a Financial Review Board do that the City can’t?
Phil,
Address the structural financial challenges the Mayor and City Council have failed to address for many years. Watch the Puerto Rico debate closely. It may serve as a model for others if they get a Financial Control Board.
Dave Walker, you talk about the need for radical reconstructive surgery but I’m not hearing that from the head of the Republican Party, Donald Trump and in fact Trump said he will increase the benefits for Medicare and Medicaid. What happen to your guy, Republican Governor Mike Pence, who endorsed Ted Cruz for President?
Ron,
Did you see Governor Pence’s statement? It wasn’t really an endorsement. He just stated who he would vote for. He will support Trump and now Donald Trump needs to strengthen his team and focus on the general election. Hopefully the general election will focus on the future and policies rather than the past and personalities. My sense is it will involve both and it will be a close race. It’s way too early though to get a sense of the likely outcome.
David, you’re a rational, evidence-based person, someone who has a public record of leading the charge for governmental integrity, accountability, and reliability (e.g., http://www .gao.gov/about/history/articles/working-for-good-government/08-gaohistory_present.html) You endorsed Mitt Romney in the last presidential election — www .washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/28/walker-romney-independent-choice-president/
Did you see what Mitt Romney stated today re Trump’s refusal to release a tax return before the November elections?
In case you missed it, here’s what Romney wrote:
It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service. Tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate’s representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest. Further, while not a likely circumstance, the potential for hidden inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations, or other unsavory groups is simply too great a risk to ignore for someone who is seeking to become commander-in-chief.
Mr. Trump says he is being audited. So? There is nothing that prevents releasing tax returns that are being audited. Further, he could release returns for the years immediately prior to the years under audit. There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump’s equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it’s a bombshell of unusual size. (Anticipating inquiries regarding my own tax release history, I released my 2010 tax returns in January of 2012 and I released my 2011 tax returns as soon as they were completed, in September of 2012.)
By Eric Bradner, John Berman and Phil Mattingly, CNN Fri April 29, 2016
Pence is politically damaged in his state after battles over same-sex marriage, an LGBT anti-discrimination measure and a controversial new abortion law. But his core appeal has always been to evangelicals who Cruz hopes will carry him over the top in the state.
Virginia KKK Leader Calls Donald Trump ‘Best For The Job’
m.huffpost.com/us/entry/virginia-imperial-wizard-kkk-donald-trump_us_5728e38be4b016f37893bbce
Trump selects a White Nationalist as a Delegate in California
m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/donald-trump-white-nationalist-afp-delegate-california
Mr. Walker, Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States so its debt belongs to the UNITED STATES.
As a
colonyCommonwealth, Puerto Rico has abused their credit privileges and will soon be reprimanded.Connecticut’s debt does not belong to the United States any more than Puerto Rico’s does.
Hector,
Actually not. It is a territory and a sovereign entity like the states. Like the states, Puerto Rico’s debt is not guaranteed by the US and it is not eligible to file for bankruptcy.
*** That is correct Mr. Walker, however is there not a territorial commitment by the Main Island Host (USA) to intervene in matters that affect by law its American Citizens living in American Territories? ***
Phil, when we had them here before, they had to approve our labor contract and the City had to have balanced budgets. Seeing we couldn’t get a pay raise then we wanted and got contract language. Now we were mad as hell but we had trust in the process and not with the mayor and the City Council.
The process of promises leaves a legacy that threatens today and tomorrow.
Promises from City Councils as to contracts and benefit plans. Price tags and payment terms not shared with public for comment after fiscal analysis. Promises from State Legislature as to agreeing to defer current payment terms in a deferral format for six years that adds $57 Million of Bridgeport taxpayer money with no local vote or notation of said decision. This is the process. These are the subjects of second, third and later “legislative promises” over which you have no vote or note. Secret? Almost. Time will tell.
Make tough unpopular decisions regardless of political fallout.
I’ll take that one: Make changes legislators have not made.
A financial Control Board turns legislators into spectators.
When it comes to the status quo, that’s the way things should be in Bridgeport!
The question as to whether the city council can adopt a budget contingent on State funding has been asked and answered in past years. The answer is no. The city charter requires a budget be adopted and mil rate set by given dates. Period. Given that State budgets are typically adopted after municipal budgets is a long-standing issue and municipal budgets are compiled with known revenue, not revenue contingent on a State budget not yet approved.
Municipal budgets are based on anticipated revenue. This seems like an example of how the City Charter is violated on an annual basis.
Sports fans, take a look at the most current monthly City financial report. It has excellent narratives for both revenues and expenses.
Among comments on the FINCH/SHERWOOD adopted budget revenue streams are located MUNI VIDEO COMPETITION TRUST REVENUE ($150,000) and MANUFACTURING MACHINERY&EQUIP ($896,106) with the following declarations in May 2016: “The City did not receive any revenue in this account in FY 2015 and will not receive any funds in FY 2016.” Isn’t that interesting?
So when the dust settles on the current operating budget lists of revenues and appropriations, let’s check to see no categories are included at this time to balance the budget TODAY, but of which we should have no expectation of them showing up in actuality. Perhaps Tom Sherwood can answer that one. Does anyone see the rationale of Open, Accountable, Transparent and Honest reporting? And people who read the reports and seek out the truth? Time will tell.
I read the sports pages. Here’s why I write: I’m all alone in the end zone. Hit me.
Actually we know where you are. And end zone is a reasonable statement, although you are actually outside the markers and off the playing field. We see you waving for the QB “to hit you,” to throw the bomb.
Just one problem Local, you fail to huddle up with the rest of the team, and we already have eleven on the field. You are going to get offside called on us and a penalty. But perhaps you can redeem yourself and suggest some “metrics” from your sports page inventory that might explain the “fumbles,” dropped passes, and offsides so frequently observed with this new team on the field. Time will tell.
The end zone is fair territory. “Huddling with the team” is not a requirement here. We pontificate here. The new team is still devising their playbook. The new metric is somebody blew their coverage and now I’m all alone. No need to throw the bomb when I’m wide open.
Why is the hiring of police officers on the table anyway? I’m sure the city is hiring new officers under the COPS Program administered by The Justice Department, which helps pay the salary and benefits for new hires.
The COPS Program provides 75 percent of the approved entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of each newly hired and/or rehired full-time officer, up to $125,000 per officer position, over the three year (36 month) grant period.
What if there is such a program for which we qualified at one time? Do we qualify today if we are hiring for positions that were allowed to decrease by attrition (and management and Police Commission inattention)? Don’t those grants call for filling new positions? But why expand a Police Department when crime statistics have been decreasing for some time? And why worry about 100 that cannot be practically fulfilled in FY2017 anyway? So will we have two classes of 32, but only 23 in the first class or are numbers provided to B&A on new hires since 12-1-15 in error? And how will you train the new recruits on the firing range when slots for firing are at least one year away in the City when looked at most optimistically and very scarce in the region (according to PD at budget hearings)? Donald, were you aware of some of this coming from the Department itself in the hearings? Time will tell.
If you want to hold the line on taxes, you’d better know how to tame the eyes of a tiger. I’m an expert on the local eyes of a tiger–the type that just escaped from Beardsley Zoo!
(wink)
Did someone say “Mike Pence?”
It’s largely thanks to Mike Pence Gov. Malloy was awarded the JFK Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage award this year.
What?
Indiana Governor Mike Pence ordered a ban (later reversed by a federal judge) on state officials from helping Syrian refugees resettle in the state of Indiana last fall, after the Paris attacks. In response, Governor Malloy invited a family of Syrian refugees refused entry to Indiana to settle in CT instead. Voila.
From Reuters:
“The State’s conduct clearly discriminates against Syrian refugees based on their national origin,” U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said in a ruling granting the preliminary injunction.
www .reuters.com/article/us-indiana-refugees-idUSKCN0W22RD
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Malloy-to-get-Profile-in-Courage-Award-7226499.php
Great that Pence seems to be a good bean counter; would be nice if he also had an ounce of empathy.