Laura Glesby Photo
The Legislative Council.
Hamden’s Legislative Council members failed Monday night to override the mayor’s veto of their proposed budget for the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year.
Council members voted 8 – 6 to override — short of the needed two-thirds majority vote.
In May, the Council had passed a $236,866,474 operational budget for the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year in a narrow vote of 7 – 6. Mayor Curt Leng vetoed the Council’s budget, declaring the proposed hike in property taxes too high. (Read more about the differences between the two budgets here.)
The Council convened Monday night at Memorial Town Hall for a special meeting in order to decide whether to overturn the veto and pass the budget they had proposed, missing the 10-vote minimum needed to override.
The Council’s budget would have raised last year’s mill rate of 47.96 to 49.99. Instead, Leng’s $235,998,505 budget will increase the mill rate to 48.73. In a chart that Leng published on Facebook, he outlined that the average tax increase from his budget would be $110, while the council’s budget would lead to a $291 increase on average.
At the meeting, Republican Representative-at-Large Marjorie Bonadies cited vocal reactions from her constituents about the proposed tax hike as the reason she would vote against the Council budget.
“I’ve heard from my constituents loud and clear: ‘Do not raise my taxes,’” she said.
Reps. Marjorie Bonadies and Elizabeth Wetmore.
Democratic Representative-at-Large Berita Rowe-Lewis agreed. “I’ve never gotten this many calls before, and I’ve been here for quite some time,” she said.
After the meeting, Bonadies argued that the Council’s proposed mill rate of 49.99 — nearly 50 — would harm the real estate market, devaluing Hamden residents’ homes. “To me, it says ‘Don’t show me any houses in Hamden,’” she said.
“Fifty is a tipping point, psychologically,” she said. When her constituents hear 50, she added, they hear “the beginning of the end.”
“It’s a hard thing to go knock on the doors of your community and explain that to them,” conceded Democratic District 9 Rep. Brad MacDowall. But the mayor’s non-tax revenue projections were unrealistic, he said. “We chose to make a more honest budget.” He and other critics of the mayor’s budget argued that it set unrealistic revenue goals, therefore setting up a potential mid-year shortfall.
District 5 Rep. Justin Farmer echoed this sentiment. “We know what our jobs are,” he said. “We’re asking people to trust us. And in order for people to trust us, we have to be honest with them.”
He argued that the mayor’s lower mill rate would necessitate “gutting our budget.”
Representative-at-Large Lauren Garrett, who is running against Leng in an upcoming Democratic mayoral primary, suggested that Leng’s budget would require the town to operate on a deficit, which she said would be detrimental for the town’s long-term fiscal welfare.
It would be “irresponsible to force that cost onto our children,” she said.
“It’s really a question of whether we want to pay it now or generationally,” MacDowall agreed.
Farmer at one point during the debate called the budget a “moral document,” saying, “I think people forget that this is real for people, this is tangible. It’s not just a ton of numbers.”
Bonadies responded that she “resented” the notion that “if I vote for it, I’m moral. If I don’t, I’m not moral.” Farmer said he didn’t intened to question other members’ moral character.
Rep. Justin Farmer: Budget a “moral” document.”
Towards the end of the discussion, District 2 Representative Harry Gagliardi, Jr., called for unity among council members.
“We have our arguments. We have our disagreements now,” he said, but he expressed hope that the Legislative Council will “stick together as 15 votes” in the future.
Council President Michael McGarry affirmed this call.
“We got into this ‘our vs. their budget’ dichotomy, which is unhealthy for the town,” he said. “We should have created the budget, Hamden’s budget.”
An hour into the meeting, the legislators voted. Jody Clouse, Harry Gagliardi, Athena Gary, Eric Annes, Justin Farmer, Cory O’Brien, Brad MacDowall, and Lauren Garrett voted in favor of the budget. James Pascarella, John DeRosa, Marjorie Bonadies, Elizabeth Wetmore, Michael McGarry, and Berita Rowe-Lewis voted against the budget. District 7 Representative Michael R. Colaiacovo Jr. was absent.
McGarry had been in favor of the Council budget in May. He voted against it this time around.
“Turn back time, I probably would have voted no” in May, McGarry said after the meeting. He acknowledged that the mayor’s revenues were “a tad optimist,” but said, “we cut a little too deep on revenues.”
In a statement, Leng lauded the outcome of the vote. “I am thankful that I was able to take action to stop this harmfully high tax increase with a Mayoral Veto,” he wrote. “Tax increases without thoughtful consideration of their vast impact are harmful to our citizens and would have sent a terrible signal to families and businesses looking to invest in our community.”
Now, as per the town’s charter, Hamden residents can petition to hold a referendum on the town’s budget within 20 days of the meeting. The petition would need the signatures of 15 percent of voters on the last official voting list in order to yield a referendum. This is unlikely to occur, McGarry said. Barring a successful petition, the Council will likely soon amend the mayor’s budget to cut costs, including seven new police officer positions that the mayor had sought to add, according to several representatives.
