New Haven Independent

The city would collect an extra $1 million “if we raise them to $1 an hour” and $2.1 million if raised to $1.50, said traffic and parking director Paul Wessel, earning the full attention of members of the aldermanic finance committee at a second budget workshop in City Hall Tuesday night. Wessel compared the 75 cents an hour for street parking in downtown New Haven to Hartford and Bridgeport’s higher rates, and to the $2.16 an hour lot rates, suggesting that a meter raise to somewhere between $1 and $2 was justified and overdue in the Elm City.

His department is also looking at new, ticket-printing meter models, which serve whole blocks and cut management costs. “We’re trying to maximize every opportunity,” said Wessel.

Finance Committee chair Joe Jolly said the new “smart meters” would be a “key way to increase revenue” in the city. He also cited possible new revenue from the Yale-New Haven cancer center and the accompanying boost in voluntary tax payment the hospital promised as part of its recent deal with the city.

Perez Grills

Before they had time for optimism, however, alderman had work to do. Increasing revenue is just half the battle. “We still have a goal of cutting money out of this budget,” said Jolly. “We have to trim some fat. There’s not much fat there to trim, but there’s a little. We’re going to try.”

“If we’re going to raise taxes for the fifth year in a row, we need to do due diligence,” said Alderman Jorge Perez (pictured), who called the budget workshops a good opportunity for aldermen to hear from departments about their goals and ensure accountability, even if budgets don’t usually change much.

With that, Perez headed up the grilling brigade.

The Small Business Initiative got grilled on efficiency. “I’m saying the numbers don’t impress me,” said Alderman Perez, about the figure for loans actually going through to small business owners each year — one, by his reading of Director Walter Esdaile’s report. Perez requested that a clearer year-by-year report be sent to the committee before their budget vote.

“When I’m spending $100,000, I just want to see where I’m spending my money,” he said.

The Town Green Special Services District got grilled on procedure. “Do you bid out for services, and if you do, what criteria do you use?” Alderman Perez asked Director Scott Healy. Healy said yes he does, for his contracting of Ambassador and Clean Team workers on a multi-year basis, though he’s not required to, since Town Green is not technically a public agency.

“I’m not pushing a particular contract so much as professionalism. I’m looking for best practices,” said Perez, who questioned the Whalley Special Services District, too, on how it awards contracts.

The Peace Commission got grilled on organization. Alderman Alex Rhodeen (pictured at left with Joe Jolly), on the sketchy budget the aldermen were supplied with: “Your treasurer couldn’t find the sheet listing the expenditures for the past year?”

The Commission on Equal Opportunities got grilled on — of all things — equal opportunities: “Can I suggest an effort to reach out to non-Christian clergy as well?” asked Alderwoman Ina Silverman after reviewing the list of religious leaders the commission had recruited to help publicize construction jobs to local and minority workers.

Both Perez and Silverman wondered if the Department of Economic Development needs its $149,000 in lobbyists in Hartford and D.C. They are paid to help New Haven get money for projects, economic development chief Kelly Murphy said.

“Do we get more than the cost of the lobbyists back? This is money we wouldn’t get otherwise?” asked Alderwoman Silverman. Murphy (pictured between City Plan’s Karyn Gilvarg and Town Green’s Scott Healey) said yes.

A Sacred Tweed Cow?

When it was Tweed-New Haven Airport’s turn, Perez offered, tongue in cheek, that maybe those same lobbyists could help make Tweed attractive to the airlines it hasn’t been able to draw in.

“You say the airport is an economic engine. I say it’s an economic something else,” said Perez, though he recognized Tweed as a “sacred cow” to some of his fellow aldermen.

Alderman Rhodeen said he sees the airport as a key to making New Haven a “credible city” and bringing up quality of life here, and seemed readier to accept spokeswoman Susan Godshall’s optimism about a great fiscal start to 2006. “Something is working,” said Godshall.

The night’s round of applause went to Anne Worcester (pictured at right in the photo at the top of this story), chief marketing officer for Market New Haven, a publicity initiative founded with Yale and the city in 2000 to broadcast a positive image of New Haven and attract new businesses.

“All good cities publicize and market themselves. If we don’t, we will fall behind,” said Worcester, who is responsible for the campaign slogan, “New Haven. It all happens here.” A past target of flak from aldermen unconvinced that cities should pay marketers, Worcester was commended Tuesday for delivering on promises to win local business support and bring business to downtown.

As she should be, said committee chair Jolly, “for yielding a lot of return for just a $400,000 city input.” In general, Jolly said he thinks the smaller budgets presented on Tuesday should be given a pass by would-be cutters who imagine bonus programs like the Town Green Ambassadors to be what’s upsetting the balance. “It’s such a miniscule part of the budget,” said Jolly. He painted a dismal picture of a New Haven — for $3 or $4 fewer household tax dollars a month — without its downtown cultural attractions. “The obvious targets don’t cost a lot. If you want to see real reduction, you’ve got to go to the big budgets,” said Jolly.

He cited optimism about the prospective parking meter money, and on the other side added, “The Budget and Finance guys have done a good job tightening the belt, squeezing as much as we can. We’re going to keep that up. It’s not fun, but we’re going to keep doing it.”