An auditor’s report from accounting firm BlumShapiro shows the municipal fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017 with a surplus of $4.6 million. See audit here. Projections are not as rosy for the current budget year that started July 1, according to Mayor Joe Ganim and finance officials struggling to close a multi-million deficit based on what they say are anticipated state revenues that did not materialize. The city will submit a new spending plan to the City Council in April for the budget year that starts July 1. See video presentation above.
As a candidate for governor Ganim can ill afford to be on the campaign trail raising taxes so he’s juggling a campaign message with some sobering fiscal news in the current budget year as he rolls out a new spending plan in a few months.
Statement from Mayor’s Office:
This clean audit and associated comprehensive annual financial report are positive news and an indicator of city’s financial health. Bridgeport’s surplus was due in part to stringent expenditure controls imposed by the Mayor and City Council that were implemented across all city departments. City department heads contributed to the effort by streamlining expenditures and operations. A portion of the surplus last fiscal year was due in part to the work of our state legislators to secure one-time state aid. Bridgeport Police Chief Perez and Fire Chief Thode both made efforts to control overtime that yielded better results than previous years. Additionally, support from union leadership enabled the city to save money while meeting contractual obligations.
Achieving this surplus for the City of Bridgeport is critical to maintaining stable bond ratings. While last year’s results were exceptional, the current fiscal year has become more challenging due to the state aid cuts this year. The administration is taking necessary steps to control spending and remains determined to attain solid financial results.
Joe Ganim and Ken Flatto are full of it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXHwEfPzWzo
Little Joe certainly knows how to look “gubernatorial” when the news cameras are rolling…
Ernie Newton never metacamera he didn’t like.
What’s with the red jacket???
Is he the new ringmaster of the Barnum Festival Parade or is he just the new ring master of the City Council?
He was on break from his day job as a model for the Walmart men’s catalogue.
I hope taxes don’t go up
Because Ernue’s at the Press Conferencce?
Ernie heard there was going to be a PC about the city being in the red so he figured he’d be in the red too!!
A surplus, sure they have a surplus!
Oh! but next year we might have a challenge. GULP!
Have we been Trumped?
Every week Trump puts up a diversion!
We have a surplus this year, “Oh but next year will have a deficit”!
Is it time for a new outside Audit team?
BlumShapiro will only give you back, what you gave them.
If your cooking the books, just hold back on a few expenditures to create a surplus, its that easy.
Wake up City Council, I think Joe Ganim running for Governor here, at our expense!
This is nothing new with Mayor Joe Ganim, he has done this before during G1. This is something mayors do before their upcoming election and that’s to strong arm unions. The City plays games with negotiation in good faith by prolonging negotiation to allow budget to get passed with the old contracts staying in place or by going into arbitration where there are no time deadlines. At some point the mayor will talk with the union leadership and make promises off the records with nothing in writing in order to get the union to back off demands. Both sides know the money is there for their contract but it allows the mayor to show a slur plus.
I’ll bet the Black Rock feels even worse. They were told there was nothing the city could do about reval except they weren’t told the city would have a surplus.
What were the name of the former alder people from the district?
Oh, forget about it. That’s history.