City Hall critic Alderman Darnell Goldson heard something he liked: The DeStefano administration plans to push for state permission to create a residency requirement for city workers.
That news came at an evening briefing session at City Hall with Adam Joseph, the administration’s legislative liaison to the Capitol. Joseph is charged with lobbying for New Haven in Hartford. On Thursday night, he spoke with aldermen about what he’s going to be working for in the current legislative session.
Among the items on the list is petitioning the state to allow New Haven to make city residency a qualification for employment in collective bargaining agreements with municipal workers.
That was music to the ears of West Rock Alderman Goldson, who has been working on the issue for some time. He’s proposed a system of fees and incentives that would encourage city workers to live in the city. The argument is that workers that live in the communities they serve are more invested in their jobs and return more of their salaries to the city in taxes and local purchases.
The item was not greeted so favorably by another lawmaker, Downtown Alderwoman Bitsie Clark. She said it would be bad for efforts at greater regional cooperation.
In November, the administration released a memo with a chart indicating that most city employees — including most union members — drive out of town to go home at night. Those numbers come amid a fight between the administration and city unions over reductions in benefits during a difficult budget year.
Thursday night’s meeting began at 6 p.m. in a meeting room in City Hall. Joseph passed out PowerPoint print-outs to Goldson, East Rock Aldermen Justin Elicker, and Downtown Alderwoman Bitsie Clark.
“Yeah!” exclaimed Goldson when he turned the page to see the slide on the residency requirement.
Clark wasn’t enthused. “It goes against regionalism,” she said. A residency requirement won’t lead foster cooperation between towns, she argued.
“We’re never going to have regionalism,” Goldson said. “They don’t pay for our homeless services.” Surrounding towns don’t pay for the New Haven social services that benefit the region, he said.
Elicker tried a different argument on Clark, in favor of the residency requirement. He said he’s examined a chart that shows city workers’ residency as it compares to their income. On the low end, most workers live in the city. But among employees with salaries of $50,000 to $80,000, most live out of town. At the top end, in-town residency goes up again, but that’s because highly paid workers like department heads are required to live in town, Elicker said.
With a residency requirement, those higher-wage earners would be spending their salaries in town and paying New Haven taxes, Elicker said.
“I have a different attitude,” Clark said. “I really think town borders are horrendous.”
Goldson was unfazed by Clark’s skepticism. “You have made my night,” he said to Joseph. “I’m going to go home and kiss my wife.”
Clark countered that a residency requirement would be the “kiss of death” for regionalism.