It all comes back to taxes

I had an interesting series of correspondence from a reader who used to live in West Haven, which I'm republishing with his permission. He noted:

Some ideas for bringing down West Haven's taxes.

1. Get rid of the separate fire districts. I know this isn't some new revelation, but it's pretty silly that you still have all those fire districts and fire chiefs. (Not surprising in a town rife with nepotism.)

2. Lower taxes for business and retail establishments. There's a reason why business and industry goes to Milford and Orange instead of West Haven. If you give them tax incentives...they will come. This in turn will increase the city's grand list and eventually lower homeowner property tax.

3. Get rid of more multi-dwelling establishments. Borer had the right idea with the Hilton Drive project. It was a good plan, but it was poorly executed. Apartments drain the towns resources and infrastructure and don't contribute proportionally to the tax rolls.

4. Do not lower the salaries of teachers and administrators. The city needs highly qualified personnel. Remember, good school systems make for a desirable city. This in turn keeps property values high.

Finally, remember that you do get a lot of services in West Haven for your tax dollar.

In [the new town where I live], I estimate that I pay approximately $2500 less a year for a comparably priced home in West Haven. We don't, however, have municipal trash pick-up. We have a volunteer fire department, and we have a septic system and well, instead of sewer and city water.

Shortly after moving from West Haven, property values went through the roof. I really thought that the City had turned the corner and was on the road to prosperity. Let's hope that these tax increases don't retard the town's momentum.

Very astute and interesting observations, and I appreciate the correspondance greatly.

My thoughts:

I agree wholeheartedly about the consolidations of the fire districts. Unfortunately, as I understand it, the town government and the fire districts are entirely distinct and separate - the town council and mayor's office have no control over the fact that there are three separate fire districts.

I agree about lowering taxes for business and retail establishements -- to a point. I think they have to have 10 year incentives or the like. Part of the problem is that West Haven doesn't have a large enough commercial tax basis, and most of its land is used for residential properties. We need to get business into the town to share the tax burden, boost the economy, and attract visitors.

I agree about the multi-home properties statement. As I understand it, the shoreline new building moratorium in part was put into place to prevent Jimmie's from cashing out and relocating, and converting their restaurant into apartment buildings (SIGH!). The West Haven Land Trust's easement for the prevention of development on the shoreline was only chartered for 30 years - and it expired in 2006. (On a similar note, kudos to the city for cracking down on illegal apartments).

I feel that the teachers are (rightfully) well-paid in West Haven... cutting their salaries and benefits would only demoralize the staff, though, and we need to give reasonable cost-of-living increases.

We do get good services in West Haven, but we pay dearly for them.

My better half liked to say that in 1990, our taxes doubled, and all we saw for it was that our trash pickups went from twice a week (in the summer) to once a week.

We pay Regional Water Authority dearly for the water that we receive - it isn't free.

Sewers are included in our taxes, but our aging Waste plant is going to cost us *millions* to bring up to standards, and when we have storms, polutes Long Island Sound. There are even discussions to outsource to New Haven's system.

We do have a very good set of fire departments, but we have three chiefs, and pay much more than we should for retirement and benefits for all the extra administration.

The town that our reader has moved to has a area of just over 150% of West Haven's 10.6 square miles, but a population of about 1/4. For that town, I suspect that it really wouldn't be economically viable to have municipal septic and water for that distribution. Ironically, with such a larger population in West Haven (and theoretically, that means a smaller portion of the costs of the town), our taxes are much, much higher.

The value of residential properties did increase significantly - but we continued to lose businesses, and fail to bring new businesses to town. We spent money like it was going out of fashion, if you can believe the new mayor (who happened to sit on the City Council - why didn't he shout that out then?)