Purely speculation on my part but if it was disbanded I would assume the commission did not find any "fat" last year. By dipping into the reserve to give the residents of Ansonia much needed tax relief, that seems to indicate they could not find any gross offenders when they set the budget for this year. Although a cost cutting commission is a good thing to have all the time, I can only assume this is why it has been disbanded (I've heard the same rumors as you). Hopefully someone can shed some light on this?

Looking like the honeymoon is over.

I find it interesting that none of the Ansonia aldermen have commented on this topic as of yet. If you look at other Ansonia issues that are brought up in this forum, oftentimes you will see one of the aldermen address the issue directly.

Yes, odd. Not a single alderman has a comment to make nor did the Mayor announce the end of the commission that was so loudly promoted. There is no such thing as "no fat". Municipalities should (by referendum?) "You have X to spend this year. Yes, it may be less than you had last year. This is how households and businesses function. They can't just raise their salaries of magically increase sales to bring in more money and the city should not be able to simply up taxes whenever it decides it can't keep within it's means.

I'd love to see Ansonia reduce it's budget by 2-3% a year and keep passing back the savings to taxpayers or invest it in a project that benefits the community approved at the voting booth (Major street repairs, etc.)

People live with less every year. You can always find an expense to trim or something to outsource to save money. ALWAYS.

I agree there is "fat" that can be trimmed but I believe the City's hands are tied until contracts are up for renewal. Example - Ansonia could get with the times and outsource a healthy chunk of Public Works jobs, but they are burdened by a union contract at the moment. But you could contract out many PW jobs and not only eliminate the salary, but the benefits and other such costs.

I saw Mr. Luneski's initial post and made only some casual inquiries whereas I have a pretty full plate. My unofficial input based on unofficial sources is that the Commission is reorganizing, probably with some new folks. I'd guess that they won't meet again until the new year rolls in. My opinion is that people got on board with some ideas and goals and they have run their course. Perhaps some new people with other varied backgrounds will get involved to go down other avenues to probe where savings may be realized. The only fact I can offer is that cost cutting is not an easy task. If it were easy, anyone could do it. I do appreciate the Mayor calling for the formation of the commission originally and hope that it remains an active tool in keeping budgets down. That will take participation. I have to leave it to the current members of the commission for more specifics. When they do start meeting again, public input is important, especially in the way that no one associated with a proposed cut could claim any kind of bias or targeting by a member of the commission if that proposed cut came from a member of the public.
Thanks for the input everyone but keep in mind, probably only 1 of 14 alderman ever check these comments. :)
Pat Henri
Ald. 6th Ward

Thanks for the input Mr. Henri. Much appreciated. Though you do raise one other issue now...there is a charter revision to reduce from 14 aldermen to 9. If you admit to a full plate now, it's only going to get "fuller" :-)
I was not in favor of the change before and now even less so. (Note: I wouldn't mind reducing to 3 or 4 wards, but I would keep the same number of alderman...I would be in favor of that)

Fred- My full plate is in the immediate time frame, although generally speaking, I stay pretty occupied. Busy with Navy Reserve stuff this month. I'm in favor of ward reduction. Makes sense from the Voter Registrars' viewpoint. Makes sense with having to muster up less candidates and probably ensures more dedicated aldermen who will attend more of the BOA and committee meetings. Less cooks in the kitchen can be a good thing. I would have liked to seen minority representation, where each party puts up 2 candidates and the top 3 get in but that didn't fly this time. Dems will regret that one day and so will Reps, depending on which way the tide has turned. We have a proposal in front of us so people need to decide thumbs up or down. The process is in play, we just need people to get involved and voice their opinion with their votes.

If only 1 of 14 aldermen check these comments, methinks we need 13 new aldermen... yes, i'm sure it's a thankless job, but no one is forced to run for the position. Those that do should at least check in once in a while and let us know they are on the job. I also appreciate Mr. Henri taking the time to reply.

I agree my2cents,

If ANY of the aldermen were to answer "What's that?" to the question "Do you monitor Seeclickfix.com to see what is being said about your ward?" they should be forced to resign. UNACCEPTABLE in 2014.

Outdated Issue - Closed