New Haven Independent

Terence Dinnean with other finance officers delivered huge binders detailing the budget to Finance Committee along with a challenge: how to come up with an extra $19.6 million without raising taxes by 9 percent or firing 250 police, firemen, and teachers.

“We have to find ways to cut spending, but so much of it is personnel. We’d need to fire 200 to 250 people to close the gap. That’s a lot of police, firemen and teachers — and obviously not in our interest,” said Alderman Joe Jolly, the committee’s chairman.

A nearly 5 percent boost in the budget accounts for “significant increases” in public works, debt service, and medical benefits, new 2007 classes for police and firefighters, plus their gas and overtime, and also new extras like funding for community gardens, soup kitchen administration, and an early childhood initiative.

Speaking for his committee, Jolly said, “Most of us are concerned that state aid is not as high as we’d like, and that tax revenue is not as high as we’d like. We’ll have to raise taxes, unfortunately.”

Dinnean pointed to a .46 percent growth in Grand List tax revenue, calling that a big plus to offset the past year’s expensive court cases, and toward recovery, still, from the deep dip into rainy day funds in ‘01-‘02. He highlighted an increase in revenue from motor-vehicle taxes — but recognized the car tax as the hardest of all to collect. Moving targets. Most of the tax increase will come from regular property owners, at a projected rate hike of 4 mill.

The main worry was about the projected state grant of $128,491,056 for Education Cost Sharing (ECS) — $3,151,651 short of what the city figures it needs. It would take a strict diet of cost-cutting and revenue-raising to balance that budget, and the city hopes for more from the governor. “[Superintendent of Schools] Dr. Mayo is going up there to talk to legislators about ECS, Paul Nunez goes up there every day to tell them what’s going on. Hopefully we’ll have that money,” said another representative of the finance department.

Dinnean compared counting on the state to fulfill its funding promises to Charlie Brown believing Lucy will really keep holding the football. He pointed to the regular discrepancy between the reimbursement the state promises for the city’s lost revenue and what actually comes through. “You learn to be cautious,” he said. But he said he was pleased with the results of city efforts to find new sources of revenue, including upped voluntary tax payment from non-profits like Yale.

Aldermanic Finance Committee member Alderman Charles Blango said it would be premature to get worked up over what is still just a projected budget. “The contracts aren’t all sealed,” he said, citing Wednesday night’s agreement over the Cancer Center as one “big breakthrough” and suggesting other deals in the works to combat the rising city costs. “We have to find a way to bring in the revenue,” he said. “Before we blame anybody else, let’s blame ourselves as legislators. Our work is cut out, but I’m optimistic we’ll find a solution if we work together.”