The Sky May Not Be Falling
by | Jan 25, 2013 9:08 am | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
Cameron (l) revises doomsday scenario; Ald. Ernie Santiago (r).
Crippling city budget deficit? What crippling budget deficit?
City Budget
Cops, City Settle Contract
by | Jan 24, 2013 4:41 pm | Comments (3)
Cops would get a 9 percent raise over five years and pay a little more for health care, and new hires would have to wait 25 years to retire, under terms of a tentative new five-year contract their union has struck with City Hall.
Pssst ... Wanna Buy An Empty Undercover HQ?
by | Dec 14, 2012 9:23 am | Comments (6)
Budget Chief Clerkin introduces deficit “action plan” to lawmakers.
Paul Bass Photos
A downtown parking lot and recent secret home to the city’s narcotics squad can be yours — especially if you want to put a new building there and pay enough money to help the city dig out of a budget deficit.
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“Piggy Bank” Emptying Out
by | Nov 20, 2012 4:35 pm | Comments (28)
Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Perez: “We don’t have a cushion.”
The city could end the fiscal year as much as $8.5 million in the red — but have only $1.86 million in its “rainy day” fund to cover it.
Field Rehab On Fourth And Goal
by | Nov 20, 2012 2:44 pm | Comments (4)
Melissa Bailey Photo
With $8 million already approved by the state, city lawmakers now have to decide whether to bond for the last $3.6 million to make renovations to Bowen Field a reality.
Police, Fire Overtime Already $1M Over Budget
by | Nov 15, 2012 5:28 pm | Comments (38)
Facebook Photo
Anthony Capuano’s overtime gravy train has come to an end — and boy is he glad.
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Ratings Agencies Cast “Negative” Eye On City
by | Jul 26, 2012 4:45 pm | Comments (45)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Perez: A warning “not to grow more than you need to grow.”
As New Haven prepares to announce a $7.5 million budget deficit for the just-completed year, ratings agencies delivered a unanimous verdict on the city’s financial outlook: “negative.”
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In 40 Minutes, $486.4M City Budget Passes
by | May 30, 2012 8:00 am | Comments (26)
The ghosts of budget deliberations past — hours-long wrangling over surprise last-minute maneuvers, split votes, angry taxpayers massing with anti-government placards — vanished from City Hall as lawmakers unanimously approved close to $500 million in new spending in less than half the time of a “Saturday Night Live” episode.
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On City Budget, Compromise Wins The Day
by | May 18, 2012 8:21 am | Comments (25)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Aldermen Elicker & Hausladen vote for bigger cuts to the budget, without support from colleagues.
No to new parking fees at Lighthouse Point Park. Yes to Helene Grant School construction and New Haven Academy renovation. No to a new police communications manager and a new home for Hyde School. Yes to a study of the city’s school “configuration.” No to a property revaluation in two years.
Aldermen Seek To
Block New Borrowing
by | May 4, 2012 8:18 am | Comments (30)
Helene Grant, New Haven Academy and Hyde schools may not get new or renovated homes if a new budget-trimming proposal becomes law.
Chief Wants Cops On Facebook; Aldermen Balk
by | May 1, 2012 7:47 am | Comments (23)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Esserman: “I have no friends and don’t want any. I don’t dance.”
In order to make community policing successful, the department needs to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, Chief Dean Esserman told aldermen Monday night. Lawmakers didn’t click the “Like” button.
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Please Do Not Stay On Hold
by | Apr 26, 2012 8:08 am | Comments (1)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
The Finance Committtee takes it in.
Say you’ve got a street light out on your block. You’re not sure what number to call to report it, so you just call the mayor’s office, expecting to be transferred to voicemail limbo. Instead, the person answering the phone immediately punches your problem into a website that automatically issues a work order. What’s more, she calls you back a day later, when the site tells her your light has been fixed.
“Hell No” To Hyde
by | Apr 20, 2012 8:04 am | Comments (9)
Thomas MacMIllan Photo
Cynthia Teixeira is not having it.
A new $41-million school attached to Hillhouse will bury the neighborhood in traffic and might lead to “gang rivalries,” Beaver Hills neighbors warned Thursday night.
Elicker: Don’t Kick The Can
by | Apr 16, 2012 4:04 pm | Comments (14)
In a new web video, East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker breaks down the mayor’s proposed $486.8 million budget and says the city is going about it all wrong.
Clock Ticks On Stymied Reval Rescue
by | Apr 12, 2012 3:07 pm | Comments (51)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Megna: “Concerned.”
Time’s running out on New Haven’s proposal to cushion East Rock homeowners from tax sticker shock, as hometown legislators hold out for key changes and the mayor accuses them of “myopia.”
Buy And Hire? Or Rent And Contract?
by | Apr 4, 2012 8:18 am | Comments (8)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Acting City Controller O’Neill at Tuesday night’s hearing.
It will suddenly cost $118,000 more to lease a warehouse to store evicted people’s stuff this coming year. That number — and a few others, including the cost of outside city lawyers — prompted a broader fiscal debate about how New Haven spends its money as lawmakers scrutinized the fine print of a proposed $486.8 million city government budget.
A Response Comes By Cell
by | Mar 29, 2012 2:11 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Jorge Perez wanted to know why the fire department just filled a position that, according to the proposed budget he was looking at, would soon be eliminated.
The man making a presentation to his committee, New Haven government’s budget director, didn’t know the answer. Then Perez’s phone rang.
Ouch!
by | Mar 8, 2012 9:35 am | Comments (5)
Caitlin Emma Photo
Mayor John DeStefano heard tales of woe Wednesday night from East Rockers like Karen, who said she and her retired fiance don’t have the money in these hard times to pay a big new tax bill.
“I’m heartsick about it,” said Karen, who declined to give her last name. “I feel like we’re being pushed out of our homes.”
City Cashes In On Rising Recycling
by | Mar 7, 2012 12:04 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Rafael Rivas and Lonnie Shepard load recyclables on Marion Street.
Trash is down. Recycling is up. And the city is reaping the benefits — to the tune of $2 million.
Rob Smuts Explains The Thermostat
by | Mar 2, 2012 12:16 pm | Comments (5)
Rob Smuts’s title kept falling down. When he figured out why, he realized it meant good news for the taxpayer.
Mayor Reveals A Sunnier Budget
by | Mar 1, 2012 4:10 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Buoyed by grand list growth, Mayor John DeStefano proposed a $486.8 million new city budget that he said would add cops and firefighters while cutting most homeowners’ taxes — a more optimistic scenario than last year’s unveiling.
2011: The Year Grassroots Challenged Power
by | Dec 29, 2011 9:00 am | Comments (2)
From the police department to the schools to neighborhood voting precincts, New Haveners made new demands on entrenched power this past year, and now face the challenge of translating protest into palpable change in 2012.
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Midnight Parking Plan Squeaks Through
by | Aug 10, 2011 8:21 am | Comments (75)
Allan Appel Photo
It’s official: Downtown visitors will need to feed meters like this one for an extra five hours, thanks to a vote that went down to the wire at the city’s traffic commission.
Privatization Baby Split In Half
by | Aug 1, 2011 8:14 am | Comments (17)
Last August’s AFSCME message.
The first aftershocks of the labor debacle in Hartford may have been felt in New Haven, where City Hall and negotiators for school custodians have stopped fighting and managed to reach a long-elusive contract agreement that includes a Solomonic solution to an outsourcing dispute.
TD Securities Snags $44.5M Bond Sale
by | Jul 20, 2011 3:44 pm | Comments (16)
Paul Bass Photo
A little-known government committee reviews bids.
In New Haven, some people heard alarm bells. In the bond market, underwriters heard opportunity knocking — so six of them lined up for the chance to buy bonds from the city.