Garrett (above), Leng (below) at Wednesday’s debate.
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Over the course of 90 minutes that were largely free of personal attacks, Hamden Mayor Curt Leng and challenger Lauren Garrett did find one theme on which to clash during a campaign debate: how the current administration has handled the town’s budget and pension finances.
Leng and Garrett faced off for a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters Wednesday evening at Miller Memorial Library in Hamden. They talked about how to spur economic development in the town, how to deal with trees, how to maintain a productive relationship with Quinnipiac, and, of course, the finances. Around 250 people showed up to the debate.
Garrett, a Legislative Council member who is challenging Leng in a Democratic mayoral primary this coming Tuesday, has been a vocal critic of Leng’s budgets and his management of the town’s pension fund. That ongoing debate reared its head again at Wednesday’s debate.
The candidates’ differences became clear when, near the end of the evening, Moderator Ray Andrewsen asked a simple question that sent a murmur through the room.
“How are you going to keep our mill rate from going over 50?” he asked.
Neither candidate answered the question directly.
Garrett responded first. “In the last couple of years, this town has kicked the can down the road on debt, pension, infrastructure, and now all of these things are coming due,” she said.
She noted that next year, due to last year’s debt restructuring, Hamden’s debt payment will increase by $4 million, and its pension payment by $3 million.
“The amount of costs that we can reduce are not in the magnitude of $7 million,” she said. “After kicking the can down the road for a couple of decades, this is where we’re at.”
“We learn this back in high school,” she added. “It costs more when you borrow money. It costs more to balance the budget with borrowed money, and it costs more when you’re not investing in your pension because now all of these bills are coming due.”
In order to attempt to balance the budget, Garrett said, Leng has put “inflated” revenue projections in the budget. She also said he has counted as revenue money that was bonded but not used for capital projects.
Later in the debate, Leng countered that in some cases, he did so because he had applied for grants for the projects, and that in other cases it was the only way to balance the budget, which he is required by law to do.
When it was Leng’s turn to address the 50-mill question, he cut to the chase: “The record is clear, and in this election my opponent has voted three times to have higher taxes, substantially higher taxes, than what my position is.”
Garrett has been on the council since 2017 and has voted on two budgets. The third vote Leng referenced came in June when she and other council members tried, and failed, to override Leng’s veto.
In the 2018 – 2019 budget, Leng proposed a mill rate of 47.38. The council raised it to 47.96. This year, Leng proposed a mill rate of 48.73. The council raised it to 49.99, but Leng vetoed the council’s budget because of the increase.
“I believe we can make incremental changes,” Leng said, “and that we are forced to make incremental changes because people can’t afford to have their wallets raided to the levels that have been discussed.”
Garrett maintained that pushing off payments will just lead to higher mill rates in the future. It was a mistake, she said, when the town negotiated a lower pension payment than the state had originally required in 2018.
Leng countered that he had asked for relief from the state because the state had given Hamden several million dollars less than it had promised. “We said, ‘Look, you haven’t given us our money,’ so that’s what they awarded because it made common sense.”
Financial Plan
Wednesday’s crowd.
Leng and Garrett also clashed over a question about whether they would commit to writing a five-year financial plan.
“The answer is that we have a five-year plan,” Leng responded. “The problem with any plan that you write down is that it’s going to evolve year to year. It’s going to evolve when your revenues change. It’s going to evolve when your contracts change.”
“I’m really surprised to hear that there is a five-year financial plan in Hamden because I’ve never seen it, and I read everything that comes through the council,” Garrett countered.
Leng explained that he and the finance department made a plan a few months ago and sent it to the council. Council leadership then made a few changes. “I did not want to stamp it with my name,” said Leng, because he would have wanted to make some adjustments.
The plan Leng referred to was a three-page document, dated April 1, that included projections of expenses and revenues for the next five years. It showed an expense increase of around $50 million and a revenue increase of around $12 million, leaving expenses $38 million higher than revenues by 2025.
Garrett said this document does not count as the financial plan that the council has been asking for. A financial plan, she said, must include steps “to increase revenues in responsible ways and reduce expenses in responsible ways.”
Voters Undecided
Voters who spoke afterwards with the Independent said they had come to the debate undecided and that they were leaving still undecided.
Some said they were not impressed by either candidate, while others weighed the positives of both but had not concluded which side of the scale was heavier.
Burton Levine and Gordon Fain stood on one side of the room afterwards discussing the two candidates.
“I’m not sure. I think she’s probably right about the problems with the budgeting. I’m just not sure if she’s capable of implementing it,” Levine said.
Fain agreed, partly. “What she says is right, but it’s impossible,” he said. She’s right to want to stop pushing off payments, he said. But too many people in town are already moving out because of the tax burden. He added that Leng has extensive experience with Hamden’s finances.
“But Gordon,” Levine cut in, “if we don’t do it now, we have to pay more later.”
Leng and Garrett may address that question and more once again Friday morning at the Whitney Center for another debate before their Sept. 10 Democratic primary.
The full debate footage will be made available by Citizens Television on Friday.
While it's difficult to cut expenses, Leng in particular has sought to add to the tax burden by increasing headcount in areas like police and a dubious "project manager" with no project management experience. Garrett has also supporting increasing expenses by supporting the bonding for school re-alignment. Both are digging Hamden's hole deeper, but Leng is digging faster.