by | Apr 21, 2023 5:24 pm | Comments (4)
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A hundred people attended Thursday's public hearing.
Jobs. Education. Climate change mitigation. Libraries. Housing. Traffic safety.
The Board of Alders Finance Committee heard over 50 last-minute pitches for more funding for these critical needs as they wrap up their review of next year’s city budget.
by and | Apr 21, 2023 3:37 pm | Comments (14)
Laura Glesby Photos
Myra Smith: "Even those who have affordable housing are living in deplorable conditions."
Around a hundred education, climate, library, transit, and housing advocates sat through hours of public testimony on Thursday night.
A resounding call for more affordable housing and better housing code enforcement filled the Board of Alders’ chambers, as roughly 100 community members gathered for a final round of public testimony on next fiscal year’s proposed city budget.
by | Apr 18, 2023 3:42 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen file photo
Brennan (right) with Fabian Menges, Max Choulideer, and Dave Cruz-Bustamante.
Don’t rely just on bashing Yale and begging the state when it comes to raising enough money to fill city budget gaps.
Liam Brennan offered those words of caution as he pitched his mayoral campaign’s vision for how best to craft a “fair share,” pro-housing budget that rethinks the bounds of permissible local government action.
Continue reading ‘Brennan Looks Beyond Yale, State For Budget Boosts’
by , and | Apr 18, 2023 2:18 pm | Comments (4)
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LCI's Javier Ortiz on a recent housing code inspection.
If Mayor Elicker wants to improve public health and safety in New Haven, he must invest in stronger housing code enforcement in this year’s budget and increase tenant oversight of the Livable City Initiative (LCI).
by | Apr 14, 2023 9:08 am | Comments (11)
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Librarians Soma Mitra and Phillip Modeen at a November City Hall rally.
The main library at 133 Elm.
Pay the city’s top librarian a higher salary. Pay every library worker a higher salary.
Interim City Librarian Maureen Sullivan made that funding pitch as she detailed the budget asks for one of New Haven’s most cherished and nationally celebrated public services — which, she argued, could do with a little more city fiscal love.
by | Mar 31, 2023 5:34 pm | Comments (22)
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Supt. Tracey: "I might be leaving here not closing a budget" if full $207M is not approved.
NHPS slide
Top school-district officials pitched alders on sending the Board of Education $207 million next fiscal year — as they made their case for why rising teacher salaries and special education costs warrant $4 million more than what the mayor has proposed.
Continue reading ‘Schools Seek $4M Above Mayor's Budget Rec’
by | Mar 23, 2023 10:16 am | Comments (0)
NHPS slide
The school district's FY24 budget request.
The Board of Education voted unanimously to approve a proposed $207 million schools budget request for next fiscal year, teeing up that financial plan — which is more than $3 million above what the mayor has proposed sending the district’s way — for review by the Board of Alders.
by | Mar 14, 2023 2:43 pm | Comments (24)
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Acting Assessor Alex Pullen and Acting Budget Director Michael Gormany Monday.
More than 55 percent of New Haven’s $17.9 billion in real estate value is currently off the tax rolls, according to the city’s top property-monitor.
Continue reading ‘55.53% Of City Real Estate Now Tax-Exempt’
by | Mar 1, 2023 2:29 pm | Comments (74)
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City Budget Director Gormany and Mayor Elicker on Wednesday.
Revenue summary for mayor's proposed FY24 budget.
Many New Haveners would see taxes increase again — and the city’s budget grow by less than the rate of inflation — according to a $662.7 million general fund budget newly proposed by Mayor Justin Elicker.
Continue reading ‘$662.7M City Budget, 37.2 Mill Rate Proposed’
by | Feb 9, 2023 8:53 am | Comments (9)
Monday's FRAC meeting, complete with active public-attendee chat.
City government still has 112 full-time non-cop vacancies — while the city’s revived fiscal watchdog commission still has three empty seats — as the Elicker Administration continues to struggle to fill job posts so that overtime doesn’t spike and current workers aren’t overly stretched.
Continue reading ‘City Vacancies Dissected As FRAC Comes Back’
by | Jan 27, 2023 10:02 am | Comments (15)
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At a 2019 Financial Review & Audit Commission (FRAC) meeting at City Hall.
The following opinion essay was submitted by Dennis Serfilippi, a certified public accountant who works as a chief financial officer consulting for early- and late-stage technology companies.
New Haven is flush with $188 million in funding — $115 million from the feds, $50 million from the state, $10 million from Yale, and a $13 million tax increase.
by | Jan 27, 2023 9:07 am | Comments (17)
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Kim Harris (center) & students, speaking up for tutoring plan.
The Elicker Administration’s bid to spend $3 million in federal aid on a new math and literacy tutoring plan moved ahead — against a backdrop of questions and concerns around how exactly the city will find the hundreds of volunteers needed to make this program work.
by | Dec 23, 2022 1:08 pm | Comments (42)
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360 State St.: Sold for $160M, appraised at $115M.
New Haven land records database
New Haven cut a $166 million break for out-of-town investors in the 10 biggest real estate deals of 2022 — leaving local taxpayers with the bill in a year that was supposed to start seeing the real estate boom pay local benefits.
The break came in the form of real estate tax appraisals that ended up far lower than the prices that buyers actually paid when they determined what the true values of high-end properties should be.
Continue reading ‘Whose Boom Is It? City Cut Top Investors $166M Break In 2022’
by | Nov 11, 2022 3:00 pm | Comments (14)
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360 State St.
The city has received a one-time windfall of $2.7 million in deferred building permit fees from the now-former owner of 360 State St., thereby closing out two parallel developer deals that date back more than a decade.
by | Oct 6, 2022 10:12 am | Comments (9)
City Budget Director Gormany and Mayor Elicker on Wednesday.
City of New Haven FY22 data
Last fiscal year's budget surplus data.
Increased state and Yale aid — along with vacancy-induced salary savings — helped propel city government to a $16.9 million budget surplus as well as a slightly higher credit rating.
by | Sep 13, 2022 3:38 pm | Comments (7)
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Ed board member Darnell Goldson at Monday's alder hearing.
Board of Education member Darnell Goldson took on the role of whistleblower as he criticized the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) contracting process as unduly shielded from public oversight, and as overly favorable to the current school bus provider.
by | Sep 13, 2022 9:10 am | Comments (17)
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At the main branch on Elm St.
City libraries remain closed on Sundays 11 weeks into a fiscal year in which they are supposed to be open, with the Elicker Administration citing staff shortages as the biggest roadblock so far to realizing a heralded budget promise.
Continue reading ‘Despite Budget Vow, Libraries Closed On Sundays’
by | Aug 3, 2022 12:00 pm | Comments (4)
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Cracking concrete outside of the boathouse.
Alders signed off on paying outside attorneys $159,000 in total as legal bills keep mounting for an ongoing court battle centered on cracking concrete outside of the Canal Dock Boathouse.
Continue reading ‘Cracked-Concrete Boathouse Legal Fees Increase’
by | Jun 22, 2022 4:46 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen file photo
Cracking concrete outside of the boathouse.
The Elicker Administration is now looking to pay outside attorneys $159,000 in total in a bid to hold a city-hired contractor accountable for cracking concrete outside of the Canal Dock Boathouse.
Continue reading ‘Legal Bills Mount In Boathouse Concrete Suit’
by | Jun 7, 2022 5:06 pm | Comments (12)
Yale's latest voluntary payment check to the city, included in a communication submitted to the Board of Alders.
Serena Cho photo
Yale VP Lauren Zucker: "Historic new partnership" now in effect.
One check, $14.4 million.
New Haven received that cash infusion two weeks ago, as part of a recently inked new agreement with Yale that has now started kicking in.
by | May 30, 2022 10:30 am | Comments (12)
East Rock Alder Anna Festa.
The next time New Haven decides whether to “scoop and toss” municipal debt, a small group of officials will continue to make the call without a broader debate and vote among the full Board of Alders — despite the efforts of a city alder to make a change.
At least, that was the outcome of the latest vote on an effort to change the process by which municipal debt restructurings take place.
by | May 24, 2022 9:03 am | Comments (22)
Thomas Breen photos
At Monday's budget hearing, clockwise from top left: Finance Committee Chair Marchand, Newhallville Alder Avshalom-Smith, city union members filling in the chamber and calling for good contracts, Majority Leader Furlow.
Even in times of apparent fiscal plenty, New Haven’s needs are so great, its fixed costs so persistent, and its coffers so relatively strapped that taxes have to go up.
That argument prevailed Monday night as the Board of Alders approved a final new city budget that cuts the mill rate by over 9 percent, and then phases in new higher property values over two years instead of five.
Continue reading ‘Final Budget OK'd With Cut Mill Rate, Phase-In’
by | May 13, 2022 11:30 am | Comments (28)
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Finance Chair Adam Marchand (center) with Vice-Chair Ron Hurt.
Luxury developers and megalandlords won’t get as bountiful de facto taxpayer-funded tax breaks as originally planned — because an aldermanic committee endorsed an amended new city budget that drops the mill rate by over 9 percent and phases in the latest citywide revaluation over two years instead of five.
by | Apr 28, 2022 8:44 am | Comments (8)
Continue reading ‘Online Tool Helps Residents Calculate Phased-In Property Tax Bill’
by | Apr 26, 2022 3:37 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Construction underway at 101 College St., across from Alexion bioscience building at 100 College.
Mayor's proposed FY23 budget
Projected building permit revenue -- listed as "building inspections."
The Elicker Administration expects a $1.3 million bump in building permit revenue next fiscal year, as city inspectors take on complex — and costly — new buildings like the in-the-works 10-story bioscience tower at 101 College St.