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05/31/2022 12:31 PMOn May 17 voters passed the proposed North Haven town and school budgets of $116,023,597 by a margin of nearly 4:1 across all districts. The budget marks a 3.7 percent spending increase compared to the current year. Of the 503 votes cast, 366 voted for the proposed budget and 137 voted against the budget. The budget passed by 229 votes, according to the town website.
Now that the town budget is set for the 2022-’23 fiscal year (which runs from Jul 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023), First Selectman Michael J. Freda spoke with the Courier about the town government side of the budget—which amounts to $55,857,267, a $3,074,403 or 5.9 percent increase—and how the town residents will benefit in the coming year.
Freda said he had something to benefit everyone, starting with a zero-mill rate increase for the fiscal year.
“We are adding three police officers and two firefighters to enhance public safety,” Freda said, “and we fully supported the education request in this budget.”
The approved Board of Education budget is $60,166,330, a $1,695,600 or 2.9 percent increase.
To help with traffic safety, Freda said that 10 miles of town roads will be repaved this year as part of ongoing road maintenance.
“We will be improving all of our parks and playscapes over the next 12 months,” Freda said. “As our citizens look to recreate at the town parks, I want to make sure that all the playscape are updated for the children.’
Freda said the North Haven running track will be upgraded with a new track, and plans are underway to improve the high school baseball field and the girls’ softball field. The refit “will include dugouts, press boxes, bullpens, and batting cages,” Freda said.
“I am trying to ensure that North Haven is portraying excellence at all levels,” Freda noted, which includes improvements for the seniors in town. “I’m adding two brand new senior citizens buses to ensure that our seniors can be transported for medical [appointments] and even food shopping.”
While these improvements to services, infrastructure, and equipment in town provide something for everyone, the first selectman said he will also continue to push forward his plans for continued economic development, to increase the tax base for the town.
“We will be bringing a lot of new business in,” Freda said. “When you bring new business in, it grows the top-line [tax] revenue to support some of these things that are a part of my goals and objectives.”
The idea of attracting new business activity does not always equate to a need for new construction to accommodate these businesses. Filling a vacated facility with a new corporate tenant is often possible.
“A good example of that is when Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us went out of business [due to] national bankruptcy,” Freda noted. “I’ve got a major retailer going into that 80,000-square-foot building at the end of June called At Home. And when Sports Authority went out of business because of national bankruptcy, we partnered and collaborated with Hartford Healthcare, which is in that building right now.”
Freda said he spends a good deal of time trying to determine which businesses and retailers he can bring into town, “whether they be manufacturers or businesses that want to go into commercial buildings, and then coordinating meetings between property owners, prospective businesses, and developers,” he said.
“I take a page out of my baseball career,” Freda noted. “Baseball is a sport that teaches you how to deal with failure. So, I don’t get discouraged when [commercial development] deals fall through, I just keep moving forward.”
While increasing top-line tax revenue via commercial development helps ease the property tax burden on homeowners in town, Freda noted that he is also aware that more commercial development means more traffic.
“It’s a delicate balancing act,” Freda admitted. “But my philosophy on this is to utilize the major arteries, like Universal Drive, State Street, and Washington Avenue, and try to develop these areas so that we’re maximizing the opportunities to fill empty buildings but also protecting the integrity of neighborhoods so there’s no intrusive development inside the neighborhoods.”