Referendum On New London Budget, Tax Rate Set For Aug. 6

New London residents will decide whether to approve the 2014 fiscal year budget appropriations as well as the city’s tax rate after the City Council approved a referendum election for the measures.

The Council accepted a petition organized by Looking Out for Taxpayers, also known as Lower Our Taxes, challenging the municipal budget, New London Public Schools budget, and tax rate for the fiscal year that began Monday. The decision to set the referendum came after the Council could not muster the votes necessary to repeal its appropriations and set new measures.

Council President Michael Passero said the registrars of voters informed the Council that Aug. 6 was the earliest date possible for a referendum election to take place.

Councilor Adam Sprecace motioned to repeal the municipal budget after Law Director Jeffrey Londregan said the Council could approve a new budget on Monday without going through the Finance Committee. Sprecace said has previously offered three alternate budgets at Council meetings, saying he is not opposed to the approved tax rate but thinks the money can be allocated better.

“I pushed for an alternate budget from the beginning,” said Sprecace. “I think there’s money in places it need not be.”

Councilor John Maynard said he supported having the Council adopt an alternate proposal by Sprecace rather than set a referendum.

“I support the tax increase. I do not support the way the money is distributed,” said Maynard.

Finance Director Jeff Smith has disputed some of Sprecace’s figures, saying it overestimates the amount of money that can be saved in areas such as employee health insurance.

The vote to repeal the municipal budget failed 2-4, with Maynard and Sprecace in favor and Passero and Councilors Marie Friess-McSparran, Donald Macrino, and Anthony Nolan opposed. Council President Pro Tempore Wade Hyslop was absent.

Votes to repeal the school budget and tax rate also failed 2-4 along the same lines.

The minimum number of certified signatures for a petition to be considered by the City Council is 10 percent of the number of voters in the last election, or 483. LOT failed to meet this threshold within 10 days of Mayor Daryl Finizio’s approval of the 2014 budget and tax rate, but collected a total of 680 signatures after receiving a 10-day extension under the City Charter.

The budget appropriates $41,565,314 for the municipal budget and $40,414,666 for the school budget while setting a mill rate of 27.5. The mill rate, or tax per $1,000 of assessed value, is a 3.38 percent increase from the current rate of 26.6.

Finizio previously said he set the Board of Education’s requested 2.5 percent budget increase as a baseline to craft a municipal budget, resulting in some steep cuts to the municipal budget. The Council restored the funding to several municipal budgets mostly by reducing the school budget increase to 1.5 percent and allocating state revenues restored by the Connecticut General Assembly.

Opponents to the school budget charge that it does not adequately outline where the funding will be appropriated. On the municipal side, the New London Police Department has received a nearly $900,000 cut and Chief Margaret Ackley has warned that 15 layoffs—or three officers per shift—could be necessary to meet the budget. Finizio has said no layoffs would occur prior to the halfway point of the fiscal year so the city could look for additional revenues or savings within the budget.

The Council approved the municipal and school budget in a 4-3 vote on May 21 and the tax rate in a unanimous vote on May 28. 

Democratic Registrar of Voters Bill Giesing previously said his department had included funding for one referendum election in its budget.

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