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Toughest and Best Budget

On April 26, with the passage of my 2017-’18 budget, the Maturo team and Republican-led Town Council enacted its second straight “no tax increase” budget in two years, preserving the historic half-mill tax reduction this same team passed in 2015.

The vote on April 26 went along party lines, with nine Republicans approving and three Democrats opposing the budget, which includes $300,000 in new funding for education. Given the state’s fiscal crisis, I applaud the nine Republican council members for their courage in passing what I consider to be the toughest and best budget this team has ever crafted.

Between 1997 and 2007, the Maturo team reduced debt to a then-historic low, balanced 10 straight budgets, restored our rainy day fund to a $4.1 million surplus, and earned an “A” credit rating. In 2006, following years of hard work, we instituted the lowest effective mill rate in the town’s modern history. Over that same span, we welcomed new businesses like Home Depot, Chili’s, and Car Max to town.

All of that hard work was undone between 2007 to 2011, when the town ran three straight deficits, suffered two credit rating reductions, and saw its debt balloon, leading to a crippling 17 percent tax hike in 2010 by the prior administration.

However, since 2011, despite the state’s dire budget crisis, East Haven has once again flourished. We’ve run five straight surpluses, reduced our debt by 57 percent, allocated $3.3 million in new education monies, and earned two credit rating upgrades, including a historic two-tier upgrade to “A+” in 2016 from Standard and Poor’s.

I’m proud of this budget, and especially the nine Republican Town Council members who approved my plan to hold the line on taxes and increase funding to education, even in the face of petty, partisan opposition.

Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr.

East Haven

Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. (R) is seeking re-election in November.