by | Mar 23, 2018 8:18 am | Comments (21)
Thomas Breen photo
Grotheer pitches alders.
Lawmakers didn’t press “like” as they questioned a proposal to spend $50,000 a year on a new mayoral Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat specialist while raising taxes 11 percent.
Mayoral officials responded that in a social media-saturated era of vanishing news reporters, City Hall must become more of its own news outlet.
by | Mar 20, 2018 8:10 am | Comments (15)
Allan Appel Photo
Birks at first Finance meeting.
On the evening of her first day on the job, new city schools Superintendent Carol Birks got a long earful about deficits, the budgeting process, and whether money might be saved in transportation costs if high schoolers took public transit and routes were reconfigured.
by | Mar 16, 2018 12:18 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
Acting Budget Director Michael Gormany (left) and City Controller Daryl Jones at Monday night’s Finance Committee meeting.
The city is still wrestling with a projected $14.4 million deficit for the fiscal year that ends June 30, according to a recent financial update from the city’s budget director. The projected deficit is evenly split between the city budget and the Board of Education budget.
Continue reading ‘City Projects $14.4M Deficit For Current Year’
by | Mar 16, 2018 7:57 am | Comments (24)
Ricks, Breen Photos
Clockwise from top: Harp, Nemerson, Looney.
According to one new calculation, the state is filling New Haven’s coffers to the brim with cash.
According to another calculation, the state is starving New Haven of cash, leading the city to consider raising taxes 11 percent.
by | Mar 13, 2018 8:18 am | Comments (57)
Thomas Breen photo
Gormany (left) and Jones at Monday night’s hearing.
The Harp Administration pitched alders on granting permission to borrow up to $250 million this coming fiscal year to help shore up an underfunded city employee pension fund that is struggling to keep up with spiraling unfunded liabilities.
by | Mar 6, 2018 8:53 am | Comments (25)
Thomas Breen Photo
Department heads at tax-hike budget announcement.
Whether or not other mayors join her, Mayor Toni Harp has instructed her legal staff to prepare a lawsuit against the state for failing to reimburse New Haven fully for revenue lost on tax-exempt properties.
by | Mar 2, 2018 5:49 pm | Comments (74)
Mayor Harp at Friday’s budget announcement.
Mayor Toni Harp is calling for a 11 percent tax increase and a $1 million reduction in the rainy day fund in a proposed new city budget that she described as the most difficult one she has ever had to draft.
It includes 11 new positions and assumes the city will receive millions of dollars in new contributions from big not-for-profits like Yale and labor union concessions.
by | Feb 27, 2018 8:41 am | Comments (10)
Christopher Peak Photo
James Jeffrey reads about the end of Mauro-Sheridan’s after-school programs.
After weeks of deriding the idea of asking for a $10 million budget increase, the Board of Education voted to send that request to the mayor anyway, without putting a contingency plan in place for making cuts.
by | Feb 22, 2018 6:22 pm | Comments (9)
Christopher Peak Photo
School board members Darnell Goldson, Jamell Cotto and Frank Redente fire questions.
The cash-strapped Board of Ed held off on renewing 11 facilities contracts that would make a major dent in next year’s budget, while it recommended OKing a consultant contract that nicks into this year’s already-overdrawn budget.
by | Feb 13, 2018 9:22 am | Comments (18)
Christopher Peak Photo
Toni Harp: We can’t tax our way out of this.
Expressing a willingness to make tough decisions, the Board of Education voted for staff to come up with $10 million in possible cuts for next year — even if that means closing schools.
by | Feb 6, 2018 3:00 pm | Comments (17)
Christopher Peak Photo
BOE’s Darnell Goldson, Frank Redente, Jamell Cotto at briefing.
The Board of Education will likely request a $10 million dollar budget increase from the city — a bump that reflects the challenge of maintaining current services with diminished revenue.
by | Jan 19, 2018 2:06 pm | Comments (26)
Christopher Peak Photo
Ribeiro, Harp, Cousin at pension vote.
A quest to better fund city cop and firefighter pensions collided with a quest to hire more female and minority-owned investment firms, putting two unrelated issues on the same table.
by | Dec 6, 2017 1:13 pm | Comments (28)
Thomas Breen photo
Alders prez Walker-Myers breaks news to neighbors Tuesday night.
New Haveners will receive a slightly higher mid-year car tax bill in January 2018 as the city looks to stay within budget without cutting social services, in the face of reduced state aid.
by | Aug 21, 2017 8:10 am | Comments (10)
New Haven has three extra months to catch its breath as the state continues to try to pass a budget.
Continue reading ‘Harp: State Coming Through With School $$$’
by | Jul 31, 2017 1:04 pm | Comments (11)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Mayor Toni Harp.
Mayor Toni Harp has instructed city department heads to come up with plans to slash spending in order to avoid tax hikes in the event the state can’t pass a new budget by September.
by | Jul 11, 2017 8:30 am | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen Photo
Clerkin at a June City Hall meeting.
Joe Clerkin announced that he’s leaving the city, while attending to a final piece of business — helping to shepherd through approval of two more municipal labor contracts.
by | Jun 27, 2017 8:21 am | Comments (15)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Paolillo: Leading the charge.
The Board of Alders handed the Harp administration a resounding defeat Monday night, voting 25 – 0 to override mayoral vetoes of policy amendments of the new city budget that takes effect Saturday.
by | Jun 25, 2017 3:42 pm | Comments (8)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Mayor Toni Harp.
A showdown looms between the Mayor Toni Harp and the Board of Alders, with the mayor vetoing portions of the legislature’s final version of the city budget.
by | Jun 15, 2017 8:14 am | Comments (11)
DANIELA BRIGHENTI PHOTO
High-schoolers help prepare the Escape before work stopped.
A new report estimates that it could cost about $185,000 to finish work on the overdue teen Escape Center and that the city might have some grounds to renegotiate its lease and find new uses for space that will soon be vacated by a senior center.
by | Jun 14, 2017 7:44 am | Comments (5)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
State Senate votes displayed on the final night of the regular session.
Mayor Toni Harp sent a message to state lawmakers struggling to pass a new budget: If they bail out near-bankrupt Hartford, they shouldn’t endanger New Haven’s finances in the process and punish the city for having been more fiscally responsible.
Continue reading ‘Harp To State: Don’t Bail Out Hartford At New Haven’s Expense’
by | Jun 6, 2017 12:56 pm | Comments (13)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Anna Festa, who limited open-ended new Tennis Open money.
The Board of Alders gave final passage to a new city budget that shaves another $2.4 million off Mayor Toni Harp’s original proposal — and acknowledged that what happens in Hartford might force more cuts mid-year.
by | May 18, 2017 7:50 am | Comments (15)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Board President Tyisha Walker: tennis tourney brings jobs.
Mayor Toni Harp’s proposed new city budget shrank by more than $13.2 million Wednesday night, and may shrink more by the time it gets final approval.
by | May 16, 2017 12:39 pm | Comments (6)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Harp Monday at a Chinese restaurant ribbon-cutting on Orange Street.
In the wake of a last-minute $1.9 million cut in state aid, Mayor Toni Harp Monday announced a “hard freeze” on city spending through the last six weeks of the fiscal year.
by | May 15, 2017 3:20 pm | Comments (6)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
Westvilians make their top picks.
Before Westville and West Hills neighbors decided on how to spend an annual allotment of $10,000 from the city, they asked themselves a bigger question: Should they even accept the money?
by | May 9, 2017 7:43 am | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
Alders at Monday night’s budget hearing at City Hall.
Weeks before the city has to finalize and approve a new fiscal year budget, a handful of government watchdogs expressed their deep concerns that the proposed budget relies too much on expected aid from a state on the brink of financial disaster.
Continue reading ‘Budget Critics Warn Against Reliance On Struggling State’