New Haveners won’t see their taxes go up, but they will see larger class sizes, locks on the doors of three senior centers, and less-maintained streets as the result of the mayor’s proposed new budget.
Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. revealed highlights of his $464 million FY09-10 budget at an address in City Hall Thursday evening. (Click here to view his presentation.)
The budget slashes 154 filled, full-time jobs. As a consequence, 27 city workers will show up Friday morning to discover a pink slip. The remaining layoffs will come at the end of the academic year, from Board of Education employees.
“Many city residents are going to be devastated by the loss of city services due to the layoffs,” the mayor warned.
The budget, which would take effect July 1 after Board of Aldermen review and approve it, represents a 1.8 percent spending increase over FY08-09. For the first time in four years, the mayor won’t raise taxes to cover expenses. He plans to keep the tax rate even at 42.21 mills, giving everyone an identical tax bill to the current year’s. His budget rests on the assumption that the state will allow the city to freeze the third year of its property revaluation phase-in – which isn’t guaranteed.
The proposal would flatline funding to the Board of Education at $173 million.
In a conversation with reporters, DeStefano said the most frustrating part of the budgeting process was the unfruitful negotiations with unions. In order to close a budget gap without layoffs, he requested $10 million in givebacks. In the end, only two bargaining units agreed to make a deal. A third union, school paraprofessionals, backed out at the last minute, he said.
As recently as Tuesday, AFSCME Local 3429 appeared ready to cut a deal that would save 20 teacher’s aides from layoffs. To save the jobs, the 400 employees were poised to give up longevity payments, the mayor said. The deal fell apart due to statewide union pressure, the mayor reported Thursday. (Union reps couldn’t be reached.)
As a result, some first-grade classrooms will open this fall without teacher’s aides, the mayor said.
“Frankly, it’s mind-boggling to me,” DeStefano said. “These layoffs could have been avoided.”
City-wide, the mayor is cutting 53 vacant positions, 11 vacant part-time and seasonal jobs, and 154 filled, full-time jobs. Of the filled jobs, 27 lie on the city side of the budget. Another 127 will come from the school system, though that number will likely be cut in half due to attrition, DeStefano said.
The result will be larger class sizes, less maintenance of city parks and streets, and more time waiting on the phone to reach city services, the mayor said.
The mayor plans to cut three senior centers. He wouldn’t say which ones, because staff hadn’t been told yet.
No cuts came from the fire or police unions. Instead, the mayor plans to beef up the police force, adding a class of 45 officers this year. His budget also includes $200,000 to make the Street Outreach Workers program permanent.
In his presentation, DeStefano emphasized the national context behind the budget. With an economic crisis putting jobs and homes in jeopardy, DeStefano said he didn’t want a tax hike to send anyone else into foreclosure.
The recession is sapping revenue across the board, from real-estate conveyance, investments, and off-track betting. The city’s grand list shrank by $67 million over the past year.
To offset the losses, the city asked Yale University to increase its voluntary PILOT payment. Yale and the city’s parking authority, which operates at a surplus, agreed to pitch in a total $6 million.
DeStefano is also counting on about $1 million in federal stimulus money, to be used for police. He aims to gain another $3.1 million by selling surplus city schools.
The budget also assumes a $3.5 million increase in state funds over the governor’s budget, from either a boost in PILOT money or state permission to levy a municipal hotel or sales tax. The budget assumes that legislators will put back $3.3 million in PILOT money, leaving the funding level with last year, when surplus funds from the state gave the grant a short-term boost.
State aid makes up 46 percent of his proposed budget.
The mayor noted that his assumption for state funding is “dramatically different” from last year, when he assumed getting an extra $10 million from the state — then had to submit a revised budget, and slash a round of jobs, when the funds didn’t come through.
What will the mayor do if the $3.5 million doesn’t materialize? DeStefano didn’t say.
He did note that the two unions who agreed to concessions have guaranteed themselves a two-year, no-layoff clause. The rest, however, will not be exempt from more layoffs this year.
My first thought is that all these cuts will lead to more money to be thrown down the hole later on when it comes time to repair the damage--in schools, on the roads, etc.
This budget...appears sloppy and not well-crafted, but perhaps that's just the presentation.