AFSCME negotiator Kevin Murphy and custodians union President Robert Montuori (foreground) at the mayor’s budget announcement.
(Updated) Parking-meter monetization is dead. Cops are spared more layoffs — for now. The mill rate stays the same. But New Haveners get less from government, and some more tough long-term fights loom, as a result of Mayor John DeStefano’s newly proposed $475 million city budget.
Neighbors from the Hill were at the library Saturday afternoon learning how to become active citizens by using SeeClickFix. Now, thanks to a city budget crisis, they have a concern they can post on that website: The fact that they can no longer gather at the library on weekends.
Economic development officer Richard Yao (pictured), who joined City Hall in 2008, was one of 82 city workers let go Thursday as the mayor sought to close a $5.5 million budget gap this fiscal year.
Hundreds of cops were protesting outside his door. Inside, union brass urged him to declare a two-month time-out. Mayor John DeStefano thought about the faces he’d seen on TV of cops about to lose their jobs. He thought: “This is tempting.”
After standing silently by Mayor John DeStefano’s side at a press conference Thursday, Police Chief Frank Limon broke with the official line and denounced how 16 of his cops lost their jobs.
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Paul Bass and Melissa Bailey
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Feb 17, 2011 5:44 pm
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New Haven’s long-discussed budget crisis turned into flesh and blood Thursday, as 82 city workers lost their jobs — while the mayor vowed that many more will join them unless union officials get serious about health care and pension reform.
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Thomas MacMillan
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Feb 17, 2011 3:25 pm
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Thomas MacMillan Photo
Barber and her philodendron.
(Updated 1:37 p.m.) Kristin Barber, a city government disability worker, made an appointment Thursday morning to help a man who was suicidal. Before she could go to meet him, she was called into an office to learn the city has laid her off.
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Thomas MacMillan
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Feb 17, 2011 3:00 pm
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Police union head Sgt. Louis Cavaliere.
(Updated) City Hall turned down a last-minute offer from the police union to save 16 cops’ jobs following a raucous march by 200 cops through downtown streets.
As private social-service agencies gird for block-grant cuts from City Hall, a city official promised that government agencies would not get preferential treatment in dividing up a dwindling pool of money.
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Melissa Bailey
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Feb 16, 2011 6:42 pm
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(Updated) New Haven and Bridgeport’s mayors joined top state officials on the dais at the state budget address Wednesday for a reason — the governor’s proposal, while it was hard medicine, protected cities and offered unexpected help.
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Melissa Bailey
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Feb 15, 2011 8:21 am
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Sixty teachers and 190 employees in all face layoffs next school year as the district grapples with a $14.6 million budget gap. The challenge, according to the mayor: Find smart cuts that don’t hold back the city’s nascent school reform drive.
In an effort to avoid an unprecedented 16 layoffs, some rank-and-file cops floated a proposal: Everyone work one day unpaid between now and June. It didn’t fly.
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Christine Stuart
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Feb 9, 2011 7:43 pm
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Christine Stuart Photo
Mayor DeStefano (at left) listens as Gov. Malloy vows.
New Haven’s projected budget gap for the coming fiscal year suddenly dropped from $42 million to $31 million Wednesday after a promise from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
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Paul Bass and Thomas MacMillan
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Feb 7, 2011 9:29 pm
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Thomas MacMillan Photo
In his annual “State of the City Address,” Mayor John DeStefano warned New Haven to prepare for tough budget decisions, including a first round of government layoffs by the end of the month.
A big roller on Winchester Avenue and a Haven Street small businessman helped the grand list grow a state-topping 3 percent, cutting next year’s budget gap to $42 million.
Police union members listened in on the mayor’s pension announcement.
City workers may have to give up cost-of-living increases when they retire in order to avoid “bankrupting” the city with rising pension costs, Mayor John DeStefano declared.
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Thomas MacMillan and Melissa Bailey
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Jan 28, 2011 11:59 am
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Top city workers Friday are receiving “longevity payments” for another year despite a mayoral vow to the contrary. But the practice may finally be on its way out, along with a rule that allows assistant police chiefs to retire with pensions nearly $20,000 higher than their salaries.
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Melissa Bailey
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Jan 25, 2011 4:00 pm
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Barnard Principal Mike Crocco and Assistant Principal Yolanda Jones-Generette.
Barnard school has one assistant principal with a salary over $100,000; King/Robinson has two. Those numbers emerged in a new budgeting system that for the first time illuminates how the school district spreads $321 million among its 47 schools.
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Melissa Bailey
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Jan 25, 2011 8:41 am
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Melissa Bailey Photo
FOI Outlaw Will Clark.
Schools will face “bigtime” cutbacks in teachers and other workers next year if the district doesn’t find new money to fill a $13 million to $18 million budget gap in fiscal year 2011-12.
Larry Dorman, spokesman for AFSCME Council 4, which represents five city unions with over 1,500 workers, disagreed with New Haven Mayor John DeStefano’s call for changing state rules on binding arbitration. Following is a statement he issued on the subject. (Read about DeStefano’s call here.)
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Allan Appel
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Jan 20, 2011 8:36 am
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Allan Appel Photo
How does a satellite photo of a permeable brick paver look different from an impermeable one? Members of the City Plan Commission considered that question, then recommended a proposed Stormwater Authority ordinance to the Board of Aldermen. But they attached a condition: Show us the details.
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Melissa Bailey
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Jan 14, 2011 8:51 am
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The mayor may “accelerate” some cuts to city services after learning of a new $2.6 million budget hole due to delayed state repayments on school construction projects.
