New Haven has a controller controller again.
Since March 2020 the city had an “acting” controller, as in temporary. On Monday Kristy Sampieri moved into the third-floor suite at 200 Orange St. to start work as the new permanent controller, the position responsible for day-to-day fiscal management of city government. The post pays $150,000 a year.
Also Monday Michael Siciliano began work as the city’s new director of parks and public works. He’ll earn $137,000.
Both their terms run through Jan. 31, 2025.
Until Monday Michael Gormany, the city’s budget director, had doubled as controller. A citizen fiscal watchdog named Dennis Serfilippi had criticized the city for not filling both posts and sued the city for having someone fill the role in an “acting” capacity beyond the six months specified in the city charter.
City Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Rebecca Bombero had been filling the parks slot again as acting chief until Siciliano’s hiring. The Elicker administration came under fire for combining the parks and public works departments; the mayor is reconsidering the arrangement and is expected to announce potential changes in his upcoming annual budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Siciliano previously worked as deputy public works director in Hamden. Sampieri listed her most recent job on LinkedIn as a “team financial advisor” at Merrill Lynch and before that an operations analyst at New Alliance Investments in New Haven. The controller oversees payroll, the city’s bank accounts, tax collection, among other daily fiscal duties; the budget director crafts … the budget, oversees financial policy management and grants, and crafts multi-year plans.
And now, the Acting Tax Assessor?