Lower West Haven Taxes: City Council Meeting Part II

So, here's another day, and I wanted to highlight a few of the more interesting public comments. Remember, these are one person's statement - and they haven't been checked or verified by the town council (which is a very frustrating thing).

First off, I had made the comment in my last post that the West Haven Taxpayer Initiative vote was probably a moot point -- here's why.

The public comments section started with a bit of a bombshell. Chuck Marino, who works for the West Haven Voice, and who is the Democratic registrar of voters for the town of West Haven, dropped the following doozy. He stated that 3 circulators of the petition for referedum for the West Haven Taxpayer Initiative were no longer electors of West Haven, as they had registered in another jurisdiction, and effectively were on two voter rolls (sp?) at the same time (which is illegal, for obvious reasons). He stated that dual registration is a serious matter, as they swore under oath that they had properly completed the petitions, and that . As this might affect as many as 1/3 of the signatures, the petition would not have had enough voters to
force entry onto the city council or to force a referendum. He cited the following sections of code: 9-21, 9-21(a), 9-21(c), 9-357, 9-360, and 9-361. Finally he stated that he would be turning over the results of his investigation (once completed) to the Secretary of State for legal review.

I didn't stay for the final vote on the West Haven Taxpayer Initiative requests last evening, but I suspect that it was basically voted down.

Here are some other interesting (but unverified) points raised during the public comment section of the meeting (note this is roughly chronological, but isn't a full play by play - there's just too much to weed through for that):

Paul Scanlon (head of an effort to increase arts in West Haven) discussed the potential city purchase of the Masonic Lodge, which apparently the city has received some grant money from the state in order to convert into an Art Center, and urged the council to approve the purchase at a minimum, so that the monies wouldn't have to be returned. He talked about making the Art Center into a destination 'anchor' that would attract businesses (such as boutiques, cafes, etc.), to spread the tax basis to business, and would attract people downtown. He also discussed his idea of Summer Theatre for the kids of West Haven, so that they'd have something positive to do.
Three of the four questions that Brent Coscia raised were intriguing:
1. If expenditures that are more than $3500 are supposed to go out to bid, why was the audit with Checkers not put out to bid?
2. Why would the city idemnify Checkers from lawsuits to the City of West Haven?
3. Did the city council understand that they were granting Checkers indemnification?

Timothy Writington (sp?) mentioned that from 1998-2001, the city was working from a "False" grandlist, as $2M of the property listed included the already destroyed apartments on Sawmill Road.
Timothy also stated something to the effect that the Police Retirement Fund budget was $55 million, but $78 million was allocated, and as only $55 million went to the fund, what was the remainder used for?
Finally, he asked for the town council to address the large quantity and expenditure of overtime for the city since July 1st to the present date, where some individuals had already received as much as $6300 in overtime.
One commentator mentioned that city council meeting minutes should be placed on the internet on a more timely basis, and that he felt that not enough information was being distributed to taxpayers so that they could make good decisions.
The resource website of Connecticut Public Notices was mentioned (which I'll add to the useful resources on the right hand side). This site pulls public notices from local area papers, and includes tons of useful information about upcoming meetings - well worth while to look at.
The budget cutting idea of reducing bulk pickup to twice a year was brought up, as well as eliminating the beach cleaning (personally, I think that the beach may be our greatest resource - we need to keep it clean).
It was mentioned that New Haven charges its residents $100/day if junk is dumped on the curb, and that we needed to more rigorously enforce the 24 hour rule about putting garbage by the curb, and limitations of bulk pickup.
An idea of restricting parking outside of the paid lots for 1000 feet from the beaches was brought up, as it was mentioned that many out of towners use our beaches, and don't park in the lots. Instead, only residents with stickers would be able to park on side streets for 1000 feet from the beaches, and that the stickers should expire every 2 years instead of 5 or 6.
Paul Kaplowe (known as one of the leaders of the West Haven Taxpayer Initiative) brought up the Haverstraw (sp?), NY project as an example of what would be great for West River Crossing, that would move the tax basis from homeowners to businesses, and presented his writeup to the council. I am working phonetically on the town name, but I think he is referring to the Haverstraw, NY 'Encore Palisades' project.
Paul Kaplowe also indicated that everyone should support thte town counsel, and we should all work together instead of fighting. This is significant, because of Robert Symmes' statements later on; one wonders if there is a split in the initiative, or if Mr. Symmes was reacting to the allegations of Chuck Marino.
Paul Frosolone, of Citizens in Favor of Fire Consolidation and also the Republican town committee chairman, thanked the 8 of 13 city council members who attended the fire consolidation meeting, and mentioned that the next meeting would be on September 18th. He urged that we all become better educated on the pros and cons of the consolidation of the fire departments, and mentioned that ultimately, whether or not West Haven changes, at least those involved will have a better understanding of the situation. In addition to the consolidation of the 3 departments, he stated that they are also looking into whether or not control of the fire department should be under the City Council, or if they should continue to be separate. He mentioned that he respects every city fireman and their families, and asked them to respect him and his organization, too. He indicated that no one is out to hurt firemen, or look at individual pensions, etc., but instead that they are looking at the big picture.
One point that Mr. Frosolone made was flawed, though. He indicated that although there are three fire chiefs, each individual household only payed for one fire chief. The flaw in this logic is that if there was only 1 firechief, and all of West Haven was paying for that chief, that the amount each of us would pay for a fire chief would be less!
Curtis Jordan, the Finance Director, pointed out that the Allingtown fire district in 1998 increased their tax rate by 2.5 mills, clearly a sore point. He indicated that the 1996 study of fire district consolidation showed that we would save money, solve staffing issues, and solve the pension funding problem.
Mr. Alan B. Toles (sp?) mentioned that there are $6M in delinquent taxes - or roughly 2 mills worth, and wanted to know why the tax collector wasn't doing his job. He indicated that the tax collector is an elected official, but only sent out 3 tax warrents in the past 2 years. (all facts unchecked).
Marty Northum asked why the budget went up 5% but the taxes went up by an average of 20-40% .
He also pointed out that businesses property taxes weren't re-evaluated -- only personal property owners, and that while businesses can raise rates to generate income, individuals can't! He called for the business taxes to be revaluated by October, to put them on the newest grand list.
One speaker poignantly pointed out the frustration of the format of the City Counsel meeting, where questions can be raised, but there isn't a provision to answer the speakers -- so all questions tend to go unanswered.
Mr. Robert Symmes stood up with some fairly strong statements directed at Mayor Picard. It's clear that he feels betrayed by him - that after he and Mr. Kaplowe sat down with him on July 29th, that he felt that certain information would be granted to him so that they could try to find common ground for a solution. By the time he sat down with the Finance Committee on 8/9, his FOI (freedom of Information) requests had not been granted, so they couldn't make a full recommendation.
Mr. Symmes indicated that he would be filing a suit against the City of West Haven to force the mandates of the West Haven Taxpayer Initiative. He announced his frustration with the existing budget, saying that the current numbers do not properly add up, and that he found nearly $5M of income not stated, which he would provide to the Secretary of State.
Another person read Curtis Jordan's letter to the city council regarding the West Haven Taxpayer Initiative, urging the counsel to turn down the initiative, stating that it called for the elimination of 28 jobs which were protected by agreements with the unions (local 681 and local 1103), which conceded raises to job protection. It was also mentioned in the letter that it is highly unlikely that any tax relief will happen this year.
Sandy LaRusso, who appears to be a dis-enchanted former executive secretary for Mayor Borer (1991-1996), mentioned that Mr. Charles Marino and Picard were 'ousted' by Mayor Picard for not agreeing with bonding issues. She mentioned that she, her sister, and Mr. Marino also visited Haverstraw, and were also impressed.
A woman from Allingtown wants to know why the Forest School project went from 8 classrooms to 6, and mentioned that she would welcome the state stepping in.
A man who works nights mentioned that recently when going to the Walgreens on Campbell Avenue at 3am after his shift, he saw 13 teenagers out on the streets. When he talked to a policeman in the Walgreens parking lot, the police officer indicated that there was nothing he could do about it - that the parents didn't want them brough thome, and that there are no city ordinances regarding kids out at nighttime. He expressed great concern that the police have no control over 13 and 14 year olds in the city.
A anecdote about paying taxes was also relayed, where 6 weeks after the taxes were paid, the motor vehicle department indicated that they were not, and a registration could not be renewed. The man relaying the story said that he went down to the tax department and asked to speak to the tax collector (who wasn't in), and that his payment was not in the computer. The women in the department had to look through two large boxes containing 100's of payments that had not yet been processed... he wondered how much interest was being lost.
Councilwoman Nancy Rossi expressed concern that neither Levitsky & Berney nor Checkers are coming before the Council to answer questions about their findings. She also expressed concern that Levitsky & Berney were not releasing documents to Checkers. This was also echoed by Councilman Arutsky.
Nancy Rossi also seemed to indicate that Corporate Counsel advised the City Council not to raise personal property rates for vehicles and businesses.
Councilwoman Tracy Morrisey indicated that it was brought to her attention that a contract that went to Pittney Bowes for more than $3500 did not go out to bid. She wants both this fact and the the fact that the Checkers contract didn't go out to bid to be brought before the city council.

Again, just from these notes on the Public Commentary, I have no way of knowing what is fact, and what is fiction...

More on the Notice that was handed out will come later... got to get SOME work done today!