Mayor Justin Elicker appearing Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”
Mayor Justin Elicker warned that proposed changes to his city budget for the coming fiscal year would mean a “very high” number of furlough days for city workers, public-safety layoffs, and a reliance on unreliable new revenues.
Elicker made that assessment Thursday morning during an appearance on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
He was responding to actions taken Wednesday night by the Board of Alders Finance Committee. The committee was considering Elicker’s proposed $569.1 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2021, which starts July 1. The committee voted to halve Elicker’s proposed mill rate increase to 1.81 percent, slash $7.1 million in spending, and demand $2.5 million in additional voluntary payments from Yale.
Now those proposed changes go before the full Board of Alders for a final debate and vote.
In the interview, Elicker took pains to praise the alders for the spirit in which they reviewed the budget.
“I know that members of the Board of Alders are trying to do the right thing” in balancing the need to keep already-high taxes in check while still providing needed public services, he said. “I know their hearts are in the right place.”
But, the mayor said, he’s “very concerned” about the implications of the proposed changes.
“There’s not a lot of magic money out there,” he said.
The new cuts — which the alders proposed that department heads come up with themselves to meet dollar goals — “will certainly lead to layoffs,” Elicker argued. He said that furloughs alone probably won’t add up to enough savings. And job cuts don’t save as much money as people might think, because the city pays 66 percent of the cost of lost salaries through unemployment benefits.
Much of the cost of the budget — debt, pension, and health care payments — is fixed. Those line items can’t be cut. Since police and fire budgets comprise the bulk of the discretionary budget, cuts would most heavily occur in those departments, Elicker said. But because of public-safety needs and fire department minimum-manning contract rules, furloughs or layoffs there could also drive up overtime costs.
Elicker agreed with the alders that Yale should pay much more in voluntary contributions to the city. He disagreed that the city will likely get that money by adding $2.5 million to a “revenue initiative” line item. His predecessor counted on millions of dollars in hoped-for revenue that never materialized in several years’ budgets through that line item. Elicker’s proposed budget this year zeroed out the line item.
All that said, Elicker refrained from threatening to veto the alders’ budget. He said he looks forward to conversations with alders in the run-up to the final vote and debate on May 26.
Most of the episode of “Dateline New Haven” was devoted to the mayor responding to questions from listeners about the city’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Click on the video below to watch the full episode.
I miss Mayor Harp! At least when she raised taxes she managed to avoid lay-offs. (Elicker proposed a higher tax increase six weeks into his administration and pre-COVID than Mayor Harp ever raised taxes in six years.)
Mayor Elicker needs to be much more aggressive in trying to refinance debt and seek aid from the state and federal governments. He needs to set benchmarks and be willing to criticize the higher-ups when they don't get it done. He's got to be smart, tough, and push New Haven to the front of the line.