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Effects of State Budget on East Haven

The state budget being passed late in the year and recent cuts announced by the governor have had a negative effect on several shoreline towns in the area, but East Haven has come through in relatively good shape. The timing of the budget’s passage has still presented the town with some challenges, however.

While the town charter requires that the town pass a budget by April, the state budget wasn’t passed until six months later. East Haven Finance Director Paul Rizza said the town has already seen a reduction of about $141,000 from the state from last year to the current year.

“We didn’t know that in April,” Rizza said.

The State House and Senate passed the budget with sweeping, veto-proof majorities on Oct. 26. Once the budget hit the governor’s desk, Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed most of the budget into law on Oct. 31. On Nov. 17, Malloy implemented more than $880 million in spending cuts mandated by the General Assembly.

Rizza spoke with the Courier about the state budget effects on Dec. 6, noting that Republican and Democratic legislators were meeting with the governor that day to discuss the shortfall of state revenue.

“Everything that we knew up to yesterday could be changing by tomorrow or the weekend,” Rizza said.

He expected the town would have to make some adjustments. Looking at the options of revenue and expenses, Rizza said it’s easier to control expenses, adding that the town has been in a “soft” spending freeze for a few months.

“We may be trying to tighten ourselves up a little more,” Rizza said.

It hasn’t been easy dealing with the changes at the state level midway through the town’s fiscal year, and Rizza said a lot of things on the town side are fixed, giving an example.

“I can’t go to the police chief and say to him ‘Oh, by the way now that you’ve got your full complement of guys, I want you to lay two off,’” Rizza said, “People would go nuts.”