Chief: 20 Layoffs Possible Under 2014 Police Budget

A $1.4 million cut to the New London Police Department budget as proposed by Mayor Daryl Finizio would lead to 20 layoffs in the department, Police Chief Margaret Ackley and Finance Director Jeff Smith said on Tuesday.

Ackley said there are some options available to reduce costs, including closing the seldom-used Waterfront Park substation and limiting the use of the Truman Street Substation. She said she was not in favor of layoffs in the department, but that they would be necessary to meet the budget set by the administration.

“The bottom line is I need to come up with the $1.4 million, and there is really nothing left in this budget to cut,” she said.

Finizio’s budget proposal for the 2014 fiscal year is $81,016, 213, with $40,201,547 for the city side—a 2.6 percent decrease in expenditures—and a $40,814,666 budget for the New London Public Schools per the Board of Education’s request for a 2.5 percent increase. Under this proposal, the mill rate—or tax per $1,000 of assessed value—would increase 3.09 percent from 26.2 to 27.42.

The proposal includes a $1,424,567 reduction of the police department budget from $8,249,247 to $6,824,260.

New London Police Department

Ackley said the New London Police Union is starting contract negotiations in May. The non-sworn employees in the department, who are part of the Public Works union, have already received salary increases.

Ackley said there are 81 sworn officers in the department, and that all funding for vacant positions has already been cut. Smith said the budget includes unemployment costs for 20 potential layoffs in the department.

Council President Michael Passero asked if the department would be able to find savings in its support services budget or through anticipated retirements or transfers.

“We’re making hard decisions, and the last thing we want to do is lose a patrolman on the street,” said Passero.

Ackley said there are 10 department employees who are eligible to retire and five who are looking to transfer to other departments. She said the budget would aim to retain the K-9 program and school security services such as the school resource officers.

Smith said the figure for 20 layoffs is a baseline for determining the mill rate and that it could be reduced by finding savings within the police budget or in other areas of the municipal budget.

“I’m not saying this is easy,” said Smith. “In 40 years I’ve never tried to slash budgets like we’ve done in this city in the past couple of years, and it’s been very difficult.”

Councilor Adam Sprecace said he would look to find other ways to save funds to avoid layoffs.

“The handwriting’s on the wall, and the administration or mayor’s office is looking for reductions in personnel, and I can’t live with that,” he said. “So I’ll be on the lookout for money to save these positions.”

During the 2013 budget discussions, Finizio said the Council budget would necessitate laying off 25 firefighters and 10 police officers, with 11 additional police positions and five additional fire department positions to remain vacant. Layoffs in both departments were avoided through union negotiations.

In his presentation of the budget, Finizio said the police budget reduction was “not a posture in order to gain contract concessions, but represents an actual and unavoidable reduction in the number of officers in our department.”

Councilor John Maynard disagreed with this assertion.

“I find it kind of ironic that last year we were talking about 20 firefighters and this year we’re talking about 20 police officers during union contracts,” he said. “I just wanted to get that out there. I think it’s a scam.”

Public Works

Finizio’s budget proposal for the Department of Public Works is $7,400,342, a $1,424,567 reduction from the current fiscal year budget of $8,249,247. The reductions include a $500,000 cut from the department.

“Basically we’re starting in a hole, and we had to fill that hole before we could discuss any options,” said Public Works Director Tim Hanser.

Hanser said that he and Finance Director Jeff Smith came up with a possible way to address this gap by changing garbage and recycling pickup from a tax-funded operation to an enterprise fund to have the service paid for by a user fee. Hanser said the service accounts for about a third of the Public Works budget, and that the expense is fairly level from year to year.

Hanser estimated that the user fee would be $200 to $275 per property per year, with a projected savings of $900,000 in the fiscal year and further savings in future budget years. He said this transition would take time to arrange but could be implemented in October.

Passero was skeptical about the proposal, saying potential issues include how to address properties that become delinquent on payments for the service. Passero also said the switch would not lead to a change in the final tax bill.

“The problem with that is it’s just tax by another name,” he said. “If we’re going to do that, we should just be honest and raise the taxes.”

Hanser said that if the enterprise fund is not set up, other reductions could include cutting funds budgeted for restoring Saturday hours at the transfer station, deferring building maintenance, and minor cuts in areas such as operating supplies.

“That’s still leaving me with $190,000 to find in savings, which would come from layoffs,” said Hanser.

Under the 2013 budget, nine Public Works positions were cut.

Public Utilities

Barry Weiner, chairman of the Water and Water Pollution Control Authority, said the budget includes an anticipated five percent increase in water rates and a seven percent increase in sewer rates. Weiner said the authority is trying to keep costs down in other areas and that the rates remain among the lowest in the state.

Joe Lanzafame, director of the Department of Public Utilities, said the increases would amount to an increase of about $30 per year in the average household. Lanzafame said another increase is likely in 2015, when the city begins repaying a bond for the construction of a Lake Konomoc pump station.

Sprecace asked if the department could work to further bring costs down, saying he understood the need for the rate increases but also felt they would begin to weigh on taxpayers.

“We went years without a rate increase, and that’s probably not what we should have been doing,” said Sprecace.

Lanzafame said he would be willing to look for additional savings within the budget to keep rates down, but Weiner said he thought this would be unlikely.

“The reality is, from the Authority’s point of view, I don’t see anything more that can be cut and have a responsible budget,” said Weiner.

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