Mayor Picard alleges that Mill rate cannot be changed

From today's New Haven Register article entitled " W. Haven tax petition may be in error", Mayor Picard states:

Mayor John M. Picard is hard-pressed to comprehend how hundreds of dissatisfied taxpayers who rallied Monday night on the Green expect the city to lower the budget based on an initiative petition they supported, but in any case he believes the petition is a misinterpretation of the city charter.

In the article, Mayor Picard alleges to have attended the rally from start to finish -- which I find rather ludicrous.... if he was there, why didn't he step up to the microphone?

He is quoted in the article as saying:

"I would have loved to have a chance (at the rally) to explain it,"

Well, if he was AT the rally, I'm SURE that it would have been allowed. People are angry - we shouldn't have to incur increases at a level that will make this town a ghost town.

Town counsel Peter Barrett is paraphased in the article as saying (in part):

the initiative provision is designed in part for taxpayers to petition the City Council to approve a new line-item allocation, not an entire budget, which comes under the referendum option.

It's also revealed that West Haven Taypayer Initiative co-leader, Robert Symmes, tryed and failed to get enough signatures within 30 days of the budget was adopted on May 4.

According to the article, another WH Taypayer Initiative co-leader, Brent Coscia, is already talking about starting a further initiative should this one fail -- this time to remove Picard and Barrett.

According to this article, we have $265 million in debt, and will be facing a $11.2 million budgetary shortfall. I've now downloaded the budget, and I definitely will be reviewing it.