The City Government of West Haven, Connecticut

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Budgetary Process for the West Haven’s City Government
Recommendation

Introduction

The City of West Haven is found in the New Haven County, which is only 65 miles from the New York City. It has a population of about 55,046, with a majority of its population being white Americans.

The proportion of the whites is about 65.7%, while the population of the black Americans and Asians is 19.6% and 3.7% respectively. Initially, this city was a European-settlement area, whose occupation dates back to 1648.

It started with dissociating itself with the formerly British colony known as the New Haven and acquiring a new name, which was the Parish of West Haven in 1719. It was not until 1822 when it officially detached itself from New Haven. In 1784, this city tried to be incorporated into a city without much success.

This prompted it to unite with the New Milford, and was then incorporated in 1822 as Orange. It again separated itself from Orange in 1721. The successful recognition of West Haven as a city happened in 1961.

City Government

The City Council government of West Haven was constituted in November 1961, where the following positions were created: the Mayor, City Council Members, a City Treasurer, a Town Clerk, a Treasurer, a City Clerk, a Tax Collector, and Tax Review Board Members.

The current Mayor, City Clerk, and Tax Collector of West Haven are Edward M. O’Brien, Deborah Collins, and Marianne E. Gambardella respectively.

The City Council of West Haven has 13 Council Members, each representing a district.

The current members are Nicholas A. Pascale, Nicholas W. Ruickoldt, Ralph A. Eberle, Mitchell L. Gallignano, Brent Watt, James P. O’Brien, Nancy R. Rossi, Tracy A. Morrissey, Michael P. Last, Gail S. Burns, Ronald M. Quagliani, David Riccio, Sean P. Ronan, and Charles A. Marino, who is a non-voting member.

The Budgetary Process for the West Haven’s City Government

The budgetary process of West Haven is initiated by the Director of Finance, who prepares a draft budget for the Mayor. The draft from the Director of Finance contains the financial estimates for that particular fiscal year that the budget will address.

The heads of each department or office in the city’s government files with the Mayor the relevant forms that detail their annual estimates and the anticipated sources of revenue, as well as tax collections for that year. This presentation is done on the first Thursday of February every calendar year.

The Mayor then presents the draft budget and other departmental estimates as a proposal to the council members, who deliberate on the presented budget proposal. If approved, a final ‘approved operating budget’ for the particular fiscal year is prepared, with amendments that were proposed in the deliberation stage included in the final approved budget.

Typically, a budget for West Haven would include details of expenditure, operating charges, contingency expenses, capital expenditures, fund revenues, and allocation of tax collection, among other details.

All details of government spending are given under the expenditure clause, including the costs of the City Council, Mayor’s Office, the City Clerk, the Probate Court, corporation counsel, and telephone administration.

In addition, expenditures on public works, planning and development, human resources, library, and public safety are included in the total cost.

The budget for West Haven for the fiscal year 2014-2015 was a grand total of $560,994,311, with a collection rate of 98%. The total expenses amounted to $5,599, 626, while non-tax revenue, back taxes, debt reduction, and tax collections amounted to $654,036, $200,000, $150,000, and $4,745,590 respectively.

Operating and Capital Budgets

The operating budget of West Haven has to be approved by the Council Members before being put into use. Taking, for example, the operating budget for the fiscal year 2014-2015, the first part of the operating budget is a breakdown of the general fund revenues.

This section encompasses the current property tax levy, non-current taxes, interest, and lien fees. It also entails licenses and permits, fines and penalties, use of money, property, charges for current services, and revenues from other sources. All the fund revenues amounted to $151,784,760 for the fiscal year 2014-2015.

The distribution of the income from the current property, grants, another revenue, prior year property, and licenses was 56.8%, 36.9%, 3.8%, 1.8%, and 0.7% respectively. The capital budget for the fiscal year 2014-2015 for the government of West Haven City is $976,000, which is generated at a mill rate of $0.35.

Its non-recurring capital budget is divided into general government, which accounts for $125,000, public safety, accounting for $396, 000, public works with $400,000, and information technology, which is allocated $55,000. All these amount to a non-recurring capital budget of $976,000.

Operating and Capital Expenses

The costs that West Haven incurs are broken down into personnel spending, maintenance and equipment expenses, administration expenses, and field expenses.

Personnel expenses include the costs that are associated with the management salaries, employees’ uniforms, firefighters’ salaries, life insurances, holiday pays, medical expenses, education incentive, and pension plans.

Costs due to maintenance and equipment are the expenses incurred in maintenance, purchase of equipment, capital improvement fund, radio expenses, purchase of new vehicles, and repayment of the new tower loan. Administrative costs include the expenses incurred in conducting trainings and the expenditure on the commissioners.

The operating and capital expenses emanating from personnel costs, maintenance and equipment, administration, and field expenses for the fiscal year 2014-2015 are $4,675,702, $137,404, $44,800, and $741,720 respectively. In total, the expenses amount to $5,599,626.

Revenue Sources

The City Council of West Haven has numerous sources of income, which help it in mapping its annual financial budget. The primary sources of income for the city are the current property and grants, which account for 56.8% and 36.9% respectively of the total revenue.

Other sources of income include the non-current taxes, interest fees, licenses and permits fees, fines and penalties, and charges on the current suits. Revenue from licenses and other revenues account for 0.7% and 3.8% of the total revenue respectively.

Revenue from licenses and permits includes the licenses for animals, marriages, sports, building permits, electrical permits, excavation permits, zoning permits, plumbing permits, and licenses for alcoholic beverages.

Other sources of revenue that West Haven relies on include telephone access fees, fees from the sale of properties, taxes collected from sewer collection, and fees from the recycling of compost, among other sources.

In the 2014 to 2015 fiscal year, the amounts of revenue emanating from noncurrent taxes, licenses and permits, and charges for the current services are $2,075, 000, $1,122,900, and $1.019,800 respectively. The total revenue for the 2014 to 2015 budget is $151, 784, 7609.

Shortcomings of the Budget Development, Approval, and Implementation

There are several shortcomings that the government of the West Haven City faces during the development and implementation of its annual budget. One of the challenges is the delay in the submission of the draft budget and the estimates of the various departments.

Although the deadline is given as the first Thursday of the month of February each year, there are sections that fail to make submissions within the stipulated time. Another challenge occurs in the deliberation of the proposed budget.

Each Council Member has his preference; thus, they do not submit to the other members’ choices as easy as the members would require. Finally, the government faces shortcomings in the collection of taxes. There is the expected amount of revenue that the government anticipates collecting at the beginning of each financial year.

However, challenges arise in the collection of the revenue if some businesses avoid paying taxes and others give false financial accounts.

Recommendation

Improving Budget-Implementation

The implementation of the yearly budget for the city of West Haven can be enhanced by addressing the various shortcomings that are facing the current implementation. All the departmental heads should be penalized if they fail to submit their estimates and revenue projections in time.

Each Council Member should be provided with the draft budget proposal 2 months prior to the date of deliberating it in order to avoid many disagreements among the members. Each member should then go through the proposal and present their views one month before the actual deliberation date.

That way, the Mayor will be able to identify the contentious clauses and address them in good time.

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