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02/08/2017 07:30 AMDonna Castracane, the new finance director for the Town of Westbrook, wastes no time telling visitors what’s keeping her busy these days: “Budgets, budgets, budgets,” Donna says with a laugh.
Normally, town departments’ initial budget proposals are sent out in November, but Donna didn’t start her job until Dec. 5. Fortunately, her experience as assistant director of management and budgets for the City of Norwalk, overseeing that city’s $400 million-plus annual expenditures, has prepared her to jump right in.
Donna grew up in West Haven, where she attended Lauralton Hall High School. In high school, Donna played soccer and danced, but she also volunteered her time at community events. She read to kids at Head Start programs, as well as volunteered at the West Haven Emergency Assistance Taskforce.
“It was a really rewarding experience,” Donna says of her time as a volunteer.
After high school, Donna went to the University of Connecticut, where she double majored in history and political science. From UConn, it was onto George Mason for graduate school where she earned a master’s degree in public administration. After graduate school, Donna moved home to be closer to family and her then-boyfriend Steven Kapsinow, who is now her husband.
When she moved back to Connecticut, Donna worked for the Town of Norwalk as an internal auditor and budget analyst.
“I had always had an interest in public service, specifically in local government where you can have the most impact,” Donna says.
During her time in Norwalk, Donna put her education and interest in local government to use.
“Norwalk gave me the meat of how to do this job,” she says. “I learned how to work with people and use their knowledge, as well how to work with people with different personalities and sensibilities.”
While the elected official route never appealed to her, the role of being a government servant was right up her alley. One incident that illustrates her love of being a public servant is her experience working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Nothing in her education or previous work had prepared her for the challenges of working with the agency, but she quickly adapted, working to get reimbursements for the town from the federal government for damaged property in the town.
Donna spent 16 years working in Norwalk, time that she says prepared her for the role in Westbrook.
“Government is government no matter where you are,” Donna says.
Donna has spent much of her short time on the job getting acquainted with the specific needs of the town. Since Westbrook is a much smaller municipality than Norwalk, with just under 7,000 residents according to the latest census compared to the more than 85,000 in Norwalk, the items of importance to the two towns are different. For example, rather than operate under its own charter, the Town of Westbrook uses a state model, so the finance office often needs to reference state statutes for guidance in areas that are unclear.
Donna credits her new colleagues with helping her get up to speed, saying the people she works with are “very helpful” and that she has learned a lot from them.
Although planning the town’s $12 million budget has taken up most of her current time, Donna plans on meeting with each town department individually to discuss what the town can afford to give. With so many different departments to meet with, Donna admits that “it’s a balancing act.”
When she’s not at work, Donna enjoys spending time at her home in Guilford with her husband Steven and their two daughters Ella and Talia. Donna enthusiastically points out that the daily commute to Westbrook is much better than the one to Norwalk since she gets to spend more time with her family.
“Ella is a little actress with the Kidz Konnection youth theater in Clinton, so I spend a lot of time there volunteering as a ticket collector,” she notes.
Donna hopes to instill in her children the same love of giving back to the community that she had when she was younger. Instead of asking her guests to bring toys to Ella’s birthday party, the family asked that the guests bring a food item that could be donated to the Guilford Food Bank.
Besides school, birthday parties, and various other activities that the kids have on their schedules, the family also takes an annual trip to Disney World.