New Haven Independent

Rusconi served as city controller until 1983. Most recently he has served as managing director of the downtown accounting firm McGladrey & Pullen, in which capacity he has done work for city and state governments, including New Haven’s. He’s a city native and well respected in his field. (Click here to read about his credentials in a City Hall press release.)

Rusconi, who’s 64, begins work Oct. 2. He said Friday he was ready to retire from the firm he built up in town, and do less traveling.

Rusconi will oversee the city’s $416 million general fund budget, $128 million capital projects budget, and $102 million special fund budget. He’ll also deal with tax collections, pension, debt, and labor relations issues.

Rusconi takes the job roughly a year after ethics complaints began in earnest to dog his predecessor, Frank Altieri. As those concerns began to pose a concern for his gubernatorial campaign, Mayor John DeStefano decided to change the conditions of that top-ranking job. It used to be a “consulting” job free of some of the ethics restraints on other city officials. Now DeStefano has made the job an official city position, and Altieri retired.

Rusconi’s firm used to do New Haven’s city audit. The most recent year it did so was 1998, when it earned $332,265, according to figures compiled by the city. It did various other jobs through 2003, including a $179,640 helping the city pare its medical benefit payments by weeding out unqualified beneficiaries. The firm has also conducted the Water Pollution Control Authority’s audit for the past 16 years. It earns roughly $100,000 a year for the job. The WPCA is technically separate from city government.