Budget Road Show (Down) Lands In Goatville

Mayor Toni Harp’s budget roadshow pulled into Goatville’s mActivity center Tuesday night to face a crowd of East Rockers curious about the state of the city’s finances and what the future might hold.

Harp along with city Controller Daryl Jones and acting Budget Director Michael Gormany delivered a presentation at the Nicoll Street facility on what they’re calling the ​“people’s budget” to a packed room of neighbors and one mayoral candidate, Justin Elicker.

The trio has been making the rounds to community management team meetings since last year pitching people on Harp’s proposed $556.6 million operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year and about why a city that is the ​“economic engine for the state,” as Jones put it, still remains so cash strapped. (Read more about the tour here, here and here.)

The point of the presentation is also to press home the point that New Haven’s taxes still remain lower than surrounding cities and that the mayor’s proposed $556.6 million operating fiscal 2019 – 2020 budget does not raise taxes.

From the high cost of pensions and medical care for city employees to the lack of state funding and the inability to levy other kinds of taxes beyond property taxes. Jones and Gormany told neighbors there’s no shortage or pressures on the city’s budget. But they argued that the Harp administration had made smart steps to weather those problems and is continuing to work toward more efficiency by leveraging technology and changing the culture of government.

As at presentations past, neighbors peppered the finance team about everything from how to squeeze more voluntary money out of Yale University to reconsidering tax abatement for deep-pocketed developers. Jones told neighbors that the city is always at the table with Yale and Yale-New Haven Hospital pressing for not only more financial support but also opportunities to partner and maximize resources. And the administration will soon be working with alders on revisiting the city’s tax deferral plan.

Elicker, who is seeking to unseat Harp in a Democratic mayoral primary this year, wasn’t buying it. He urged people not to leave the meeting ​“thinking that we’re in good shape.” He said he felt that the presentation gives the impression that the city has a hold on its finances, when, in his opinion, it doesn’t.

He mentioned, for instance, the city’s decision to refinance $160 million of debt for up-front operating money in return for larger longer-term debt payments.

“We are not addressing the underlying problems with the budget,” Elicker said. ​“We’ve refinanced our debt. That should have been an opportunity to have additional money to address some of the structural problems in the budget and that’s not being done in this budget. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

Jones disagreed, arguing that the Harp administration is being proactive and strategic by developing a five-year budget plan to better anticipate budget trends. It’s also sought to move to two-year capital borrowing to meet the city’s needs and save money.

“We are being fiscally responsible,” Jones said.