Coming Soon: Ganim’s Budget Submission To City Council

File image: Budget committee public hearings won’t take place in council chambers.

If all goes according to the plan, within the next week or so Mayor Joe Ganim is expected to propose a budget that holds the line on taxes or provides a small cut with more money for education as the City Council prepares to review the spending plan via virtual meetings.

Ganim, by City Charter, will present his budget prior to the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting April 6. It will be referred to the Budget & Appropriations Committee co-chaired by Scott Burns and Michael DeFilippo where most of the grunt work is done, voted on and then sent to the full council for approval for the budget year starting July 1.

In this surreal world of Corona, for now anyway, traditional public input at public hearings is an exercise in the unknown. The council conducted its first virtual meeting on March 23 by remote video with the public allowed to listen in by a telephone coded patch-in. It was a strange texture of dog barking, echo chambers, screechy feedback and jumbling of voices.

Uniformity may come as members navigate virtuality. It should be easier to juggle at the committee levels with seven members.

For Ganim this budget document represents matching what he promised on the reelection campaign, a slight tax cut and more money for schools. It’s also a spending plan in the age of Corona and its influence on household income. Will it hurt the tax collection rate that drives revenue projections?

City bean counters are putting the final touches on the spending plan.

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31 comments

  1. Let’s see if the virtual meeting on the City budget has a open debate, we all know that Maria Pereira will rightfully question items in great detail but I don’t see any other City Council members really questioning the mayor about the budget unless they are given a few setup question to ask.

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  2. I predict a Caronavirus tax increase this year. I’m watching Gov Cuomo giving a briefing now and it seems a perfect time for a tax increase. Now watch the shell games begin.

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  3. I am hear it now.
    This is without a presidencies. I do not want to do this but I am required by the City Charter to submit a balance budget. I will hopefully submit a budget adjustment when we have a clearer picture but this is something beyond my control.

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  4. Also
    I am requesting from Gov Lamont permission to put off indefinitely reval. With all of the unknowns it would be unfair to the property owners in the majority of the city to adjust property values now when they may dramatically shift in 6 months. Steady as we go.

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  5. Wouldn’t mind an update of the on going cost Joe is paying the lawyers to get his friends out of their situations. Last we heard before the pandemic took over the country, Joe gave the lawyers $ 300,000 and counting…it has to be up to $400,00 by now, if not more..

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  6. Just checking on Joey G’s Coronavirus update from yesterday. He says the city is short $10M between revenue and expenses.
    Coronavirus tax.
    He will probably have the beencounters figure out who will make out between the state unemployment and the federal bonus so that he looks good to the employees.

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  7. Im curious is this is going to include another cut in the budget for public safety, and then have council members like Eneida, Ernie, and Jorge Cruz beg for “Special Patrols” in their areas. I find it kind of funny that Black Rock and the North End don’t get the special “patrol” privilege that the east end does. Talk about
    “Privilege”. Stealing patrols from other neighborhoods because of they believe they’re entitled to them.

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    1. Jo Salling, don’t blame Eneida Martina, Ernie Newton, and Jorge Cruz for seeking more police service for their district, instead you need to find what Scott Burns and Matthew McCarty, your two council members and what are asking for with police service for the 130ty district.

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      1. They deserve the same respect and attention. They pay more taxes in their district than anyone else. They deserve equal protection and help in their communities. Because of black rocks middle class status they are prime targets for robberies, carjackings, and assaults. Jorge cruz eneida and Ernie just have Lonnie Blackwell on speed dial when they need something unlike the other council members. That’s not fair

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          1. They’re not my council members. I don’t live in those areas. However, they didn’t have to tell me when I’ve watched it happen before my very own eyes.

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    2. Jo
      First of all you don’t know what you are saying. Most of the major killings have happened in Councilwomen Ms Martinez and my district and councilman Cruz’s district. It’s our job to fight for the people we represent. You mention Blackrock area why didn’t you mention for many years BlackRock always had a separate Mill rate lower than any other side of town in the city of Bridgeport and because the City never did a revaluation BlackRock never paid its fare share in property taxes.Please do me a favor thanks for showing we are fighting the quality of live in our Community. Thanks for your endorsement

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      1. Ernie
        Let me explain to you what happened.
        First of all, reval was performed every 10 years not every 5 years. This was a state law. The municipality could only extend it with the state’s OK. Prices on real estate were fairly stable back then and the state determined 10 years was often enough.
        Maybe it was 1990 that reval was supposed to be done every 4 years. But the city could get permission to put it off. And Bridgeport did. This was when maybe you thought Black Rock was paying a separate tax rate. Also when it was finally decided to implement it, maybe 4 years later, it was phased in. Again the city sought the state’s permission and they received it. You should remember this. You were a State Rep and State Senator.
        And the difference was not geographically defined but more the type of residence. Condo owners were paying in taxes as much as their mortgage was.
        So yes Black Rock got a tax break but not in a different rate just putting off reval and then phasing it in.
        Ganim was Mayor and lived in the Black Rock. I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. And you were a state legislator and went along with.

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        1. Bob
          My mind is not playing tricks on me. Jo made a point about BlackRock not getting police coverage. My point is this Bridgeport has put off revaluation for a long time. Many of the properties homeowners in BlackRock never really paid what their properties was appraised at for at lease 10 years or more. Bob you do the math.

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      2. That’s beyond my point. It’s not safe, the city doesn’t want to spend money to hire more cops on overtime, but you want to pull cops from other parts of the city which endangers other officers in that area. There is a reason why certain areas have that many cops allocated, it’s for their safety. Nobody in the state faces more danger than YOUR cops. Yet by making a weasel phone call, you pull them from other districts endangering their respective residents and their fellow officers by reducing their coverage. All because you got cheap pockets. Btw, have you thanked any of them after they’re now continuously getting sick from the nonsense spreading? I’m sure some of them are sick as it is. I hope you have ghostbusters on speed dial, because this coronavirus is going to wipe out your public safety real soon. If they call out and refuse to work to protect their kids and families, I don’t blame them.

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  8. C’mon Jo Salling, just because Ernie, Enida and Jorge advocate for their communities and the rest of the City Council refuses to do so doesn’t make them bad people it just makes those other City Council people negligent in representing their constituents! That’s why you elect your Council people, to advocate on your behalf. Good job Ernie, Enida and Jorge. Jo, find something else to bitch and moan about because this ain’t it!

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  9. Jo
    For the 17 years I was on the City Council I always had the commanding officers cell phone number in my sector of the city. I used discretion in calling it but whenever I called it was answer or quickly the call was returned. I can not speak as to what AJ does and the decrease in community policing but I am sure it is similar today.
    Whenever I had an issue in the neighborhood I could call the Police Dept and get a representative at a community meeting.
    Whether it was a spike in serious crimes or complaints over illegal dorms.
    If a council member doesn’t do this they’re not their job.

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  10. Come on men????!!!!!
    “Extra” patrols are added, (if they’re added), in the areas that most need them for whatever the special need is. Other neighborhoods are not stripped from their “regular” assigned patrol units due to the “extra” patrols in other areas. If they are stripped from other areas then those area citizens would have a case against the city-(should anything really serious occur)- for the failure of the city to “provide equal protection under the law.”
    The problem that I’ve ran into in the past is that politicians tell you that there are extra patrols when in fact there are not. Back around 1990 Stamford had a serious robbery and assault problem in the train station area. At a crime forum that the mayor held in the lobby of City Hall he stood in front of the entire gathering and informed everyone that under his direction there were 4 to 6 Unmarked units patrolling that area to keep the area safe and under surveillance. When it was my turn to speak in front of the crowd that was gathered there I informed them that that was an absolute lie because I absolutely knew that there weren’t any “extra” patrols of any kind especially unmarked units in that area, as I was assigned to the plainclothes division that handles those particular areas. So just be careful when they tell you that they have extra patrols out there. Usually the only way that you could have extra anything from ANY police department is on an overtime basis. Bottom line: areas with more severe crime should have “extra” patrols for the safety of all the decent people living in those areas.
    Cheers!!!!

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      1. Well that’s the thing. They’re not “Extra” patrols they’re “existing” patrols that belong to other districts. The city doesn’t like hiring “extra” patrols because then you guys bitch and moan about the budget. You can’t have both, you can either hire “extra” patrols or you can do your budget cuts and decrease patrols and chance yourself at increasing crime. That’s my point, I wouldn’t have an issue if this help was coming from “extra” patrols but it’s not. When I call for service in my area and I find out it took them so long because they don’t have the bodies in my area to respond to all emergencies and they had to come from other sides of the city. Thankfully my emergency wasn’t a life or death situation, but I felt bad for the cop because he couldn’t throw anyone under the bus but gave me a clear picture he was relocated to another part of the city leaving his district with nobody but maybe one other officer who was on a priority already.

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  11. Right now there should be TWICE as many patrols without extra labor cost. I read the article in the CT Post that patrol cars now have one officer because of the virus and social distancing.

    It’s about time Bridgeport [permanently switched to one officer patrol cars as most municipalities have.

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    1. It wouldn’t matter if all were 1 man cars. “Hot” calls demand backup and responders should wait for that backup before going in anyway. In Bridgeport, many calls are hot so a backup is dispatched routinely anyway. People are dreaming if they think they will have guaranteed great response times in a crime ridden city such as Bridgeport.
      Many towns have more 1 man cars than not but in higher crime neighborhoods there would be 2 man cars.
      Keep dreaming. Like I said many many times, you want good police protection and response times, hire about 100 more cops. That’s what’s called for and you’ll never see that so you can keep bitching about the overtime costs.
      Cheers!!!

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  12. @Rich
    The discussion was about extra patrols, NOT Hot or any other calls. Patrols are the equivalent of a beat cop driving a route instead of walking. No one mentioned response time either.

    You addressed your reply to the wrong person. I have never bitched about the overtime costs, so I can’t keep bitching.

    As Bridgeport taxpayers, my wife and I feel the city is poorly run and wastes lots of money, but as nonresidents we don’t have a vote, just pay the tax bills.
    There are municipalities where all taxpayers have a vote on the budget, a much fairer system.

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