Asst. Supt. Keisha Redd-Hannans and Supt. Carol Birks.
A planned staffing overhaul in the city school system should result in larger classes, $12 million in savings, and no new layoffs, the superintendent told alders Tuesday night.
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Thomas Breen |
May 1, 2019 12:59 pm
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Damage from ever-more-frequent storms.
Springing for two new tree trimmers and a foreman would help the parks department respond to all 2,300 annual trimming and removal requests and to start chipping away at the city’s tree-request backlog.
The city’s interim police chief promised alders that his upcoming year’s proposed overtime budget is “honest and realistic,” as opposed to the current year’s, which recently required a $4 million-plus transfer from debt service and police salary in order to break even.
He also revealed that the department plans to move its internal affairs office to Sherman Parkway to get closer to the community, and is looking to hike towing fees.
LCI chief Serena Neal-Sanjurjo and deputy Rafael Ramos testify.
Don’t forget neighborhoods.
Alders issued that plea at a public hearing to the city’s economic development team as they pushed for a boom-era strategy for attracting new construction and jobs beyond Downtown.
At the same hearing, a city official made the first public pitch for a plan she said would do just that for Newhallville.
Winstanley Enterprises will pay $815,000 less in property taxes this year for a Yale-oriented Science Park garage it owns.
Winstanley will also pay $2.3 million more this year for the 100 College St. Alexion laboratory and office tower, which has begun weaning off tax deferrals.
Corporation Counsel John Rose Jr. on Monday night.
The city’s top lawyer wants to hire an attorney specifically for the Board of Education so that the school system doesn’t have to spend upwards of $450,000 a year on outside legal fees.
100 College: Bright spot on grand list. Below: Acting Assessor Pullen.
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New Haven’s taxable grand list is worth around $6.6 billion. It’s tax-exempt grand list is worth around $8.2 billion. And the gap between the two is growing.
Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans argued that those two proposed improvements are key to better run elections in the fiscal year to come, and that they are worth a 34 percent boost to her department’s budget.
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Markeshia Ricks |
Apr 3, 2019 7:49 am
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Jones and Gormany.
Elicker.
Mayor Toni Harp’s budget roadshow pulled into Goatville’s mActivity center Tuesday night to face a crowd of East Rockers curious about the state of the city’s finances and what the future might hold.
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Thomas Breen |
Mar 12, 2019 7:48 am
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Acting City Budget Director Michael Gormany and Finance Committee Vice-Chair Adam Marchand at Monday night’s budget workshop.
The city plans to borrow money every two years, rather than every single year, to pay for cop cars, tree trimming, computer upgrades, and other long-term capital improvement projects.
According to the city’s finance staff, that every-other-year borrowing model could save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of staff work hours every biennium.
Acting City Budget Director Michael Gormany at Thursday’s budget presser.
The city’s net taxable grand list shrank by $15 million, or .23 percent, despite the city’s current building boom.
That grand list detail emerged in the mayor’s proposed $556.6 million new fiscal year operating budget, which was published in full on Friday afternoon.
Asst. Police Chief Otoniel Reyes, Chief Anthony Campbell, Payroll/Benefit Auditor Alissa Ebbson, and Asst. Chief Luis Casanova (far right) face the alders.
With a mixture of resignation, frustration, and cautionary instruction, alders unanimously signed off on spending over $3 million reserved for debt service on shoring up the police and fire overtime budgets instead.
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Thomas Breen |
Feb 11, 2019 3:55 pm
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Halfway through the fiscal year, city spending is down in just about every department and in just about every budget line item in comparison to this time last year.
The notable exceptions: Pension payments. Self-insurance. Worker’s compensation. And police overtime, which continues to balloon as officers leave the force.
LCI’s Jeff Moreno at neglected government-owned Rosette Street lot.
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Controller Daryl Jones at brainstorming session.
Nobody likes vacant lots. But publish an online map identifying city-owned lots, and maybe more residents will come forward to buy, build, and return them to tax rolls.
That and other land management recommendations arose during a conversation with city staff about boosting revenue and cutting costs.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 15, 2019 1:31 pm
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The Crown Street parking garage.
The state will fund nearly $11 million in urgent repairs for three downtown parking garages, but only if the city agrees not to sell those garages for a decade.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 15, 2019 8:55 am
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Housing Code Inspector Rick Mazzadra on old-school Hill inspection.
City GIS guy Alfredo Herrera pitches alders Monday night on new-school plan.
A code inspector notices a leaky roof, or a contractor working without a permit. Instead of reaching for a pen and a pad of paper, she uses a tablet and internet-assisted camera to document the problem — which then shows up on a map shared with otherproblem-solvers.
City officials laid out that tech-assisted utopia as they convinced alders to advance two Information Technology contracts.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 7, 2019 8:29 am
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Retrieving salt at DPW headquarters during a snowstorm last year.
The city will likely spend $5 million less than anticipated on a rebuild of the Department of Public Works (DPW) headquarters, even though the projected cost of the project is now $5 million more than originally budgeted.
That’s thanks to $10 million in state bond money for a demolition and construction project.
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Thomas Breen |
Dec 11, 2018 8:33 am
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Health Department’s Pamela DeZutter testifies Monday night.
The city’s Health Department plans to contract with a Middletown-based nurse temp agency to make up for a rash of unexpected vacancies and illnesses among city nurses — right at flu-shot crunch time.
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Thomas Breen |
Dec 4, 2018 1:13 pm
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BOA President Tyisha Walker-Myers, CERF Trustee Cathy Graves, and city Controller Daryl Jones at the first meeting of the Pension Task Force at City Hall.
The two city pensions are each currently funded at around 40 percent, leaving roughly $700 million in unfunded liabilities.
A new task force consisting of alders, city staff, and pension fund trustees aims to try to figure out how that happened, as well as how to get those funding levels up.
Police Chief Anthony Campbell: OT budget “unrealistic” from start.
In its latest financial report, the city projects that police overtime will top $8 million by the end of the fiscal year — nearly double what the officials had initially budgeted.
