by | Sep 13, 2022 9:10 am | Comments (17)
Thomas Breen photo
At the main branch on Elm St.
City libraries remain closed on Sundays 11 weeks into a fiscal year in which they are supposed to be open, with the Elicker Administration citing staff shortages as the biggest roadblock so far to realizing a heralded budget promise.
Continue reading ‘Despite Budget Vow, Libraries Closed On Sundays’
by | Aug 3, 2022 12:00 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen file photo
Cracking concrete outside of the boathouse.
Alders signed off on paying outside attorneys $159,000 in total as legal bills keep mounting for an ongoing court battle centered on cracking concrete outside of the Canal Dock Boathouse.
Continue reading ‘Cracked-Concrete Boathouse Legal Fees Increase’
by | Jun 22, 2022 4:46 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen file photo
Cracking concrete outside of the boathouse.
The Elicker Administration is now looking to pay outside attorneys $159,000 in total in a bid to hold a city-hired contractor accountable for cracking concrete outside of the Canal Dock Boathouse.
Continue reading ‘Legal Bills Mount In Boathouse Concrete Suit’
by | Jun 7, 2022 5:06 pm | Comments (12)
Yale's latest voluntary payment check to the city, included in a communication submitted to the Board of Alders.
Serena Cho photo
Yale VP Lauren Zucker: "Historic new partnership" now in effect.
One check, $14.4 million.
New Haven received that cash infusion two weeks ago, as part of a recently inked new agreement with Yale that has now started kicking in.
by | May 30, 2022 10:30 am | Comments (12)
East Rock Alder Anna Festa.
The next time New Haven decides whether to “scoop and toss” municipal debt, a small group of officials will continue to make the call without a broader debate and vote among the full Board of Alders — despite the efforts of a city alder to make a change.
At least, that was the outcome of the latest vote on an effort to change the process by which municipal debt restructurings take place.
by | May 24, 2022 9:03 am | Comments (22)
Thomas Breen photos
At Monday's budget hearing, clockwise from top left: Finance Committee Chair Marchand, Newhallville Alder Avshalom-Smith, city union members filling in the chamber and calling for good contracts, Majority Leader Furlow.
Even in times of apparent fiscal plenty, New Haven’s needs are so great, its fixed costs so persistent, and its coffers so relatively strapped that taxes have to go up.
That argument prevailed Monday night as the Board of Alders approved a final new city budget that cuts the mill rate by over 9 percent, and then phases in new higher property values over two years instead of five.
Continue reading ‘Final Budget OK'd With Cut Mill Rate, Phase-In’
by | May 13, 2022 11:30 am | Comments (28)
Thomas Breen photo
Finance Chair Adam Marchand (center) with Vice-Chair Ron Hurt.
Luxury developers and megalandlords won’t get as bountiful de facto taxpayer-funded tax breaks as originally planned — because an aldermanic committee endorsed an amended new city budget that drops the mill rate by over 9 percent and phases in the latest citywide revaluation over two years instead of five.
by | Apr 28, 2022 8:44 am | Comments (8)
Continue reading ‘Online Tool Helps Residents Calculate Phased-In Property Tax Bill’
by | Apr 26, 2022 3:37 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Construction underway at 101 College St., across from Alexion bioscience building at 100 College.
Mayor's proposed FY23 budget
Projected building permit revenue -- listed as "building inspections."
The Elicker Administration expects a $1.3 million bump in building permit revenue next fiscal year, as city inspectors take on complex — and costly — new buildings like the in-the-works 10-story bioscience tower at 101 College St.
by | Apr 25, 2022 1:51 pm | Comments (7)
Maya McFadden photo
LCI Deputy Frank D'Amore tracking neighborhood blight.
LCI general fund positions in the mayor's proposed budget.
Will two more “neighborhood specialists” help cut down on blight, hold landlords accountable, and build trust in City Hall?
Or does New Haven need to rethink — and potentially overhaul — the structure of its anti-blight and housing-code-enforcement agency, before adding any more “generalist” positions to the city budget?
by | Apr 22, 2022 8:14 am | Comments (6)
Biz-district leaders at Thursday's Finance Committee meeting.
Town Green District image
Town Green's downtown domain.
Downtown’s business improvement district is looking for an extra $60,000 from city taxpayers — and a 7.5 percent surtax hike on downtown property owners — to help fund its ongoing efforts to beautify and liven up the city center.
by | Apr 20, 2022 12:02 pm | Comments (7)
Paul Bass file photo
Educators rally outside City Hall for full school funding.
Mayor's proposed FY23 budget
Expenditure breakdown for proposed schools budget.
Teacher salaries. Student transportation. Building maintenance. Special education.
All of those costs are on the rise — and New Haven’s public schools need at least $5 million more to close the gap.
by | Apr 18, 2022 9:33 am | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
City Youth and Recreation Director Gwendolyn Busch Williams at budget workshop.
The recently reorganized city Youth and Recreation Department is looking to add two new deputy director positions to beef up programming and building maintenance.
by | Apr 15, 2022 10:35 am | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen photo
City Health Director Maritza Bond at Thursday's budget workshop.
Should the city add two new public health nurse positions to the budget … at a time when 25 already-existing nurse positions are vacant?
by | Apr 1, 2022 3:51 pm | Comments (33)
Paul Bass Photo
Cop recruits take oath in November: Preparing to hit streets, cut OT costs.
The police overtime budget is slated to top $10.6 million next fiscal year, as the department grapples with its lowest number of sworn officers in decades.
Continue reading ‘Police OT Costs Keep Rising Amid Vacancies’
by | Apr 1, 2022 9:23 am | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
City Department of Community Resilience Acting Director Carlos Sosa-Lombardo presents at Wednesday night's Finance Committee hearing.
The Elicker Administration’s long-delayed plans to set up a non-cop crisis response team inched forward, as committee alders endorsed a $3.5 million contract with Yale and receipt of a $2 million federal grant.
Continue reading ‘Crisis Response Plan Contract, Grant Advance’
by | Mar 16, 2022 3:53 pm | Comments (39)
Thomas Breen photos
Fair Haven Alder Ernie Santiago, Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter, and Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers at budget workshop.
How low could the mill rate go if the mayor scraps his planned reval phase-in?
36? 32.7? Somewhere in between?
Top city budget officials and committee alders debated that question during the first “workshop” on Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed $633 million budget.
by | Mar 15, 2022 9:15 am | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photos
Hailing Yale-city deal, clockwise from top left: Dolores Colon, Jahmal Henderson, Abby Feldman, Alejandro Rojas, Ken Suzuki, Rebecca Corbett.
A deal for Yale to increase voluntary payments to the city by $52 million over six years — and design and control a pedestrian plaza on High Street — won a key preliminary aldermanic approval, as supporters hailed a potential turning point in town-gown relations.
by | Mar 10, 2022 4:39 pm | Comments (30)
Emily Hays photo
Patricia Wallace: Seniors, renters feeling the squeeze.
Even if the city phases in higher property values over the next five years, landlords will likely pass along higher rents next year — if the mill rate doesn’t drop further.
New York-based developer Nitsan Ben-Horin offered those words of caution during a virtual “town hall” about the mayor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2022 – 23 (FY23) budget. And he wasn’t alone, as landlords sounded an alarm.
by | Mar 4, 2022 2:38 pm | Comments (41)
The Corsair: FY23 tax bill with phase-in: $1.1M. Full FY23 tax bill at lower mill rate without phase-in: $1.6M.
Thomas Breen photo
360 State. Phased-in FY23 tax bill: $2.2M. Full FY23 tax bill at lower mill rate: $2.4M.
Mandy-controlled four-family home at 310 W. Division. Phased-in FY23 tax bill: $6.3K. Full FY23 tax bill at lower mill rate: $7.8K.
(News analysis) A tax-assessment phase-in aimed at helping struggling homeowners would end up reaping some of the biggest bucks for two other groups in town: luxury housing developers and poverty megalandlords.
Continue reading ‘Reval Phase-In Winners: Developers, Megalandlords’
by | Mar 1, 2022 4:00 pm | Comments (36)
Thomas Breen photo
Budget Director Gormany, Mayor Elicker at Tuesday reveal.
Elicker's FY23 general fund budget revenue.
Libraries open on Sundays.
New neighborhood specialists, police supervisors, school nurses, and city tech staffers.
Higher “fixed-cost” payments around pensions, debt service, and utilities.
And a shaved mill rate — along with a tax-bill bump for most New Haven property owners.
Those are highlights of a $633.1 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2022 – 2023 (FY23) proposed Tuesday by Mayor Justin Elicker.
by | Feb 18, 2022 1:39 pm | Comments (26)
Emily Hays file photo
Computer work in class, now monitored ...
GogGuardian image
... thanks to NHPS's adoption of GoGuardian.
Watching YouTube or surfing the Web during class? Better watch out: New Haven public school teachers can now look at what students are up to on their computers when they should be doing school work, thanks to a recently adopted classroom online surveillance program primed for a three-year run.
by | Feb 16, 2022 1:03 pm | Comments (0)
Maya McFadden photo
Inside Adult Ed at 540 Ella T. Grasso Blvd.
The city’s Adult Ed program is likely staying put in its rundown Ella T. Grasso Boulevard building through 2025 — as alders reluctantly advanced a renewed lease that would see rent jump by tens of thousands of dollars each year, and that calls on the new landlord to repair an old HVAC system, leaky ceilings, and damaged carpeting.
Continue reading ‘Controversial Adult Ed Lease Deal Advances’
by | Jan 17, 2022 1:34 pm | Comments (25)
Thomas Breen photo
High at Elm: Slated to become Yale-controlled ped plaza.
A deal for Yale to increase voluntary payments to the city by $52 million over the next six years — and design, convert, and control a publicly owned pedestrian plaza on High Street — has taken its first formal step towards potential approval, in the form of a package of legislation newly submitted by the mayor to the Board of Alders.
by | Sep 24, 2021 9:59 am | Comments (13)
City of New Haven slide
Dept. of Community Resilience pitch from August.
And just like that, there is now a new city department — charged with finding a data-driven, coordinated response to a vast array of social issues, from homelessness to mental health disorders to drug addiction to prison reentry.