by | Jan 30, 2020 1:36 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photo
Demolition wrapping up at future Hilton hotel site on Elm Street.
The city’s building boom is bearing financial fruit, with nearly $7.5 million in permit fees flowing into city coffers so far this fiscal year
That’s 150 percent higher than at this time last year — as New Haven heads toward what the city’s top building official expects will be “our biggest year yet.”
by | Jan 10, 2020 9:39 am | Comments (40)
Thomas Breen photo
2 of city’s 3,000 meters: 300 are usually out of service at any given time.
Parking meter revenue collection is down by over $600,000 in comparison to this time two years ago, and by nearly $150,000 in comparison to this time last year.
A dispute with one of the city’s mobile-phone-app contractors may partly explain the drop.
by | Dec 10, 2019 4:50 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photo
Alders Abby Roth and Steve Winter pitch colleagues.
The five words are buried on page 398. They matter a lot when the city borrows money.
Now two budget-watchdog alders are trying to change them.
by | Nov 15, 2019 1:31 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photo
Acting Budget Director Michael Gormany and Controller Daryl Jones.
The city saved $3 million in debt service — and pocketed nearly $5 million — by refunding decade-old bonds. Without playing politics.
by | Oct 29, 2019 1:16 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
City Acting Budget Director Michael Gormany.
An aldermanic committee signed off on transferring $75,000 from the city’s rainy day fund to cover the cost of a mayoral transition team — with the caveat that that final dollar amount will likely drop, maybe even by half, before the full board grants its final approval.
by | Sep 16, 2019 10:36 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
City police officers listen in on the Board of Alders vote.
Alders unanimously approved a new police union contract that will grant city officers their first pay raises in over three years, and that will also cost the city around $834,000 more in annual pension contributions.
Continue reading ‘Police Contract Passed; $834K Pension Hit Expected’
by | Sep 16, 2019 10:34 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
Dixwell Alder Jeannette Morrison: “Support this ordinance. Support the children of New Haven.”
Alders voted overwhelmingly to transfer $365,000 from various department budgets to the Health Department to fund the creation of five new full-time lead inspector positions.
by | Aug 12, 2019 8:27 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Harp and Controller Daryl Jones announce plan on Monday.
City finance staffers and attorneys plan to take a larger role in helping the Board of Education cut down on legal, technology, and human resources costs, according to a newly published five-year financial plan.
by | Jul 30, 2019 8:14 am | Comments (25)
The city is projecting it will bank a $14.6 million surplus as it closes last fiscal year’s books, thanks to lower-than-expected medical costs, higher-than-expected tax collection revenue, increased contributions from Yale, and — most significantly — a delay in paying off its debts after last year’s massive refinancing.
by | Jul 16, 2019 8:01 am | Comments (17)
Christopher Peak Photo
Resigning deputy Evie Velazquez: Keep slot empty?
A budget-balancing task force said that the school district should begin cutting at the top by eliminating six-figure positions in Central Office like the deputy superintendent.
Continue reading ‘Citizen School Budget Review Starts At Top’
by | Jul 15, 2019 2:26 pm | Comments (10)
Christopher Peak File Photo
NHFD’s Keith Kerr treats man who overdosed on heroin.
The city and the firefighters union have reached an agreement that would allow department minimum staffing levels to drop from 72 to 69 per shift, if the chief is open to scrapping all of the department’s ambulance units.
by | Jun 28, 2019 7:57 am | Comments (21)
Thomas Breen photo
Independent mayoral candidate Seth Poole.
• At budget forum, mayoral candidate Seth Poole calls for leaving prison reentry to nonprofits.
• Backs gov’t tree-trimming, street repair, fines for litterbugs, 25 year-old minimum for cops.
• Elicker: Ban towing for parking tix.
by | Jun 26, 2019 12:21 pm | Comments (20)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayoral candidate Justin Elicker at a recent Democratic Town Committee meeting.
Limit Yale property acquisitions through changes to the zoning code by encouraging vertical, not horizontal, expansion of its university and medical campuses.
Continue reading ‘Elicker: Use Zoning Code To Slow Yale’s Roll’
by | May 31, 2019 1:42 pm | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photo
Toni Harp and Justin Elicker at second mayoral candidate forum.
Ship shape? Or the Titanic?
by | May 29, 2019 7:25 am | Comments (31)
Thomas Breen Photos
Big-picture values-vs.-responsibility debaters at budget vote (clockwise from top left): Festa, Marchand, Morrison, Roth, Winter, Brackeen.
Alders overwhelmingly passed an amended version of the mayor’s $556.6 million operating budget for the next fiscal year, but not before engaging in an hours-long debate over the proper function of city government in times of fiscal distress.
by | May 16, 2019 8:05 am | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
Alders Adam Marchand, Chair Evette Hamilton, and Alder Sal DeCola at Thursday night’s session.
Police and fire had their overtime budgets slashed, the city’s health care fund got a $1 million boost, and a permanent affordable housing commission was born in an amended city budget Thursday night approved by the Finance Committee.
Continue reading ‘Amended Budget Moves $1M From Police OT To Health Care’
by | May 13, 2019 3:53 pm | Comments (26)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Yale should scrap its daytime shuttle service and buy public bus passes for its students and employees.
Democratic mayoral candidate Justin Elicker listed that policy priority in a newly released “Jobs/Economy Platform” that envisions structural changes to the relationship between Yale and the city it calls home.
by | May 3, 2019 6:40 am | Comments (13)
Scooter share, coming soon to the Elm City?
Thomas Breen photo
Acting TT&P deputy Karla Lindquist and director Doug Hausladen at Tuesday’s budget workshop.
Scooter share is coming. And with it, according to the city’s transit chief, will come upwards of $300,000 a year in new permit revenue for the city.
Continue reading ‘Hausladen: Scooters, Residential Parking Permits Will Bring In $400K’
by | May 1, 2019 3:38 pm | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen photo
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.
by | May 1, 2019 12:59 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
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.
by | Apr 30, 2019 12:31 pm | Comments (13)
Thomas Breen photo
Interim Chief Otoniel Reyes testifies.
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.
by | Apr 29, 2019 7:06 am | Comments (26)
Paul Bass Photo
At work on Audubon Square, downtown.
Thomas Breen Photo
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.
by | Apr 23, 2019 12:53 pm | Comments (23)
Thomas Breen photo
Acting City Assessor Alex Pullen.
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.
by | Apr 11, 2019 7:40 am | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photo
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.
by | Apr 9, 2019 5:36 am | Comments (19)
Yale University photo
100 College: Bright spot on grand list. Below: Acting Assessor Pullen.
Thomas Breen photo
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.