Dear “Honorary” New Haven State Senator: Back Off!

by Thomas Breen | Oct 19, 2018 3:39 pm

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Len Fasano has many titles: Republican president pro tempore of the state Senate; Republican legislator from North Haven; attorney at law.. As of Friday afternoon, he can add one more title to his name: “honorary state senator representing New Haven.” The job comes with some new responsibilities. New Haven Mayor Toni Harp dubbed Fasano with his new title in their latest epistolary fencing. Harp issued a letter to Fasano on Friday afternoon in which she informed the top Republican official that if he wants to scrutinize New Haven finances, then he better be prepared to do his part by advocating for the Elm City up in Hartford. She was responding to a letter Fasano sent on Oct. 17. The letter ramped up his public criticism of the Harp administration in recent months, including calling the city a “place of despair” after August’s wave of over 100 overdoses on the Green. In this latest letter, Fasano called for a forensic audit of New Haven city finances based on embarrassing news stories about Harp administration spending. Harp responded with the letter that city spokesperson Laurence Grotheer passed along to the media on Friday afternoon. In that letter, Harp “thanks” Fasano for his interest in New Haven fiscal affairs. In response, Fasano called the letter “very snarky” and written in “typical Toni Harp fashion: Everyone is to blame but her.” “You have to show me what you’re doing with your money before you can ask me for more money,” he said. He said that the state money already makes up nearly half of the Elm City’s annual budget. “She just wants what she always wants,” Fasano said, “which is more money.” Click here to read the full letter from Mayor Harp. “I welcome what I’d like to think is your intention to serve as an honorary state Senator representing New Haven,” she wrote. “To start,” she continued, “so you’ll have an accurate and complete picture of New Haven’s financial opportunities and challenges, I’ll be happy to arrange a time for my team to provide you with the facts about all it takes to run what is arguably Connecticut’s most successful city in an era of state funding cutbacks.” Harp then writes that she is prepared to consider his request for a forensic audit “as a courtesy” if Fasano in turn advocates for four specific state-led solutions to New Haven’s fiscal crunch. • Introduce and shepherd through the legislature a 2 percent commuter tax to “compensate New Haven for covering the costs to provide assorted regional services to North Haven Residents,” such as transportation infrastructure, public safety, emergency, and other public services that North Haven residents use when they visit the Elm City. • Push North Haven public officials to build more affordable housing projects beyond the 10 percent requirement under CGS 8-30g. • Ask North Haven public officials to support budget allocations from North Haven to New Haven for social and human services. He can start by sending over $250,000 to help pay for New Haven’s homelessness services, and another $250,000 to help pay for the Elm City’s public health services, and another $250,000 to help pay for New Haven’s prison re-entry services. • Help pass legislation that would require North Haven to forward Education Cost Sharing (ECS) monies from North Haven to New Haven. “In addition,” she wrote, “this legislation should include a count of all suburban students so New Haven can recoup education monies from other feeder towns for all their students and have the appropriate resources to serve all students in city schools.” “Since I understand you will need North Haven’s First Selectmen and other town officials to assist you while making these improvements to the benefit of our respective municipalities,” Harp’s letter concludes, “I have copied them with this letter and look forward to their support of New Haven’s expanded Senate delegation for the betterment of the City of New Haven. “Sincerely, Toni N. Harp, Mayor—City of New Haven.” There’s more. “p.s.,” reads the postscript, “Once you’ve completed these items, I trust you to find the money among state funds to pay for the forensic audit you requested.”

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posted by: 1644 on October 19, 2018 3:59pm Harp’s pleas for more money will fall on deaf ears so long as she and the BoA continue to waste the money she is given on: police drivers for the mayor, trips to China for multiple, favored persons, illegal pay raises for the mayor and others, meals and entertainment for the mayor and other favorites, a bloated mayoral and BoA staff, “uniforms” for the mayor’s staff, etc., etc. As it is, North Haveners and other suburbanites already pay a very large share of New Haven’s budget, primarily through ECS and PILOT, but through other state aid programs as well. Meanwhile, New Haven fights development proposals which will increase its own revenues, and engages in absurd tax abatements that lock-in reduced city revenues.

posted by: robn on October 19, 2018 4:15pm Mayor Harp and the BOA treat New Haven taxpayers (homeowners and renters) like a piggy bank in order to claim success. Taxes are at an all time high, the city is distorting housing prices (and rental incomes that many long time homeowners rely upon to pay those taxes) by randomly subsidizing politically favored developments. They’re strangling us and Sen Fasano knows it because the legislature is paying half of the bill for misused funds.

posted by: JoshuaVanHoesen on October 19, 2018 4:26pm Another example of our Mayor not taking responsibility for the financial concerns expressed, Mayor Harp goes on and on about where she would like more money to come from but does nothing to address how money the city already had was mismanaged.

posted by: AverageTaxpayer on October 19, 2018 4:33pm I’m no Republican, and I live in New Haven. But I’d like to know that all of those Strange credit card expenditures were legit City business, and that taxpayer monies weren’t being used for personal or campaign expenditures. What does Mayor Harp have to say to me? Nets tickets? Jets Tickets? Three weird identical $505.95 expenses at a Madison Stop & Shop? Over $6000 to a collection agency? T-Shirts? Stickers? All those $150-$200 Xfinity accounts? We deserve a fair accounting, which means a report with what all the credit card expenditures were actually for. We’re there purchase orders attached? Was Ms Bowles the only one misusing the city credit cards?

posted by: Dennis Serf on October 19, 2018 5:33pm Harp and the BOA who voted for the draconian 11% tax increase need to go. Help me show them the exit by

joining the movement to replace them. Dennis Serfilippi

https://newhaven.nationbuilder.com/

posted by: Noteworthy on October 19, 2018 8:40pm Arrogant and Entitled Notes: 1. Mayor Toni Harp strikes again with another example of how demeaning and dismissive she can be when somebody questions her judgment and spending. 2. Her demands are interesting and just as ignorant. How or better why, should money be diverted from a small town like North Haven, population 23,700, to pay for extravagant spending in New Haven? 3. Why should North Haven pay for prison reentry in New Haven? Does North Haven have a lot of felons released in New Haven? Why does Harp care about more affordable housing in North Haven? 4. ECS Funding? North Haven gets next to nothing in support of their schools; got no state money to build it’s new high school but their citizens are certainly paying for all of ours; and for the state money that was spent to redo the track and football fields at Hillhouse. 5. Does North Haven have a homeless problem they send to New Haven? lol Has Harp ever been to North Haven? 6. And the 2% commuter tax - that’s rich. So all the money the state sends in here - that 40% which is covered by North Haven and every other community - and the millions the state sends in to make repairs to our parking garages because the nitwits who run the Parking Authority are forced to give all their cash to City Hall to cover its deficits - none of that counts. They should pay more. 7. This letter is insulting and frankly, just the kind of pathetic, shrill attack that brings disdain to this mayor, her senior staff and is an embarrassment to those of us who live here. Just stop it. 8. And by the way - North Haven funds their pensions at 100%. Balances their budgets too. Perhaps Toni Harp could try delivering basic requirements of her job before she starts to tell others about theirs, or before she tries to pilfer the pockets of her neighbors. That’s just BS.

posted by: fcastle1984 on October 21, 2018 12:38am I think everyone needs to be kinder to Mayor Harp. I don’t know how Len Fasano can call New Haven a place of despair? We have buttered truffle rolls!

posted by: 1644 on October 21, 2018 9:45am fcastle: If New Haven does has truffle butter, why did Harp, Jones & Scott need to travel to Miami? From the website of the conference they attended, it seemed like Miami was “party, party, party.” Only three prosaic panels are mentioned on the website. None are on gun violence, but there is one on rural health care, which is an odd topic for urban mayors. NHI reports she goes to these “conferences” twice a year. BTW, Nemerson promised us an accounting for his last Atlanta trip, for which we are still waiting.

http://www.miamibeachuscm.com/main-events/

posted by: Sean O'Brien Fasano doesn’t just represent North Haven… why target that town? While Harp could be forgiven for not mentioning Durham, which isn’t generally considered Greater New Haven, Wallingford and East Haven are. Even if you leave out Wallingford, why forget East Haven? I can think of one big reason why being snarky with Fasano and cc’ing politicians in East Haven would be a bad idea…

posted by: Brian McGrath Commenters have no clue what expenditures a city must make to comply with all the unfunded mandates put upon the city by state law. Towns north of New Haven do not have tax exempt hospitals and universities occupying at least 40% of the taxable property in their town. They do not complain when their residents use the hospitals in New Haven. They do not say anything when New Haven is forced to feed and house the homeless in New Haven some of whom who came from North Haven but their familes refuse to help them. Although New Haven loses hundreds of millions of tax payments from exempt property,as dictated by state law, the annual Payment in Lieu of Taxes returned by the state approximates a stingy 33%. This is because the legislature is dominated by small town legislators like Fasano who throw smokescreens and criticize city expenditures but they do not want to pay their fair share. I doubt if Fasano ever once voted for an increase in the PILOT payment. These suburban towns know that they are screwing the cities of Connecticut and they don’t care. They find it easier to blame the cities. Collectively, because of the dominance of small town thinking, the legislature does a poor job guiding state economic policy, which remains in the 18th to 19th century.

posted by: Gimp on October 21, 2018 1:02pm Senator Fasano is correct. New Haven’s finances are in disarray, and need to be at the very least audited by a third party, and not the Democratic Party. Some of the problems are hidden in plain sight. In the last two weeks the following items have appeared on Board of Alders meeting agendas. https://newhaven-ct.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx The 10/1/18 meeting had under item 35c on page 8 a requirement for more funds for Fire Overtime, and item 35d on page 9 had a similar requirement for police overtime. What is going on here? Has the entire year’s budget already been spent, just four months in to it? At the very least this confirms my suspicions that Carter didn’t just resign, but was given an almighty great shove. The Police and Fire Chiefs have some serious explaining to do. Even worse is the agenda for the 10/18/18 meeting. Item 21 on page 3 indicates the transfer of $5.5 million from the Debt Service Account. $4.5 million went to the General Pension Account, and $1.0 million to the General Fund Litigation Account. What is going on here? In previous stories in the NHI we were all told that pension payments had been made by the city. Were they lying? Is the $1.0 million for the litigation account for a settlement, and if so what? Is it for legal fees for on going litigation? If so, the city must be defending itself against an enormous suit. What is it? Are the Turkey’s who recently bought $150 million of city junk bonds going to get stiffed on the interest payments they are owed? That would cause a little consternation, wouldn’t it. A dribble of truffle butter here and there is going to be a drop in the ocean compared to this lot. Having read Mayor Harp’s letter to Senator Fasano, all I can say is she must be living on Fantasy Island. I really do think all we have to look forward to is a doubling of property taxes in 2012. Someone, somewhere will have to pay for the bailout at the end of the day.

posted by: 1644 on October 21, 2018 3:21pm Brian: About 10% of North Haven’s Grand List is tax exempt. Its state PILOT payment has been cut by about half in recent years. Has New Haven’s? Fasano is not saying that New Haven shouldn’t get more aid than North Haven. He is just saying that New Haven could address many of the issues you mention were it to spend the money it does have more wisely.

Moreover, many of the areas of spending you cite are not state mandates. New Haven meets the 8-30g requirement for deed-restricted affordable housing, yet it continues to suppress its revenues through measures like the North Square tax abatement for section 8 voucher holders. There’s no mandate to have police drivers for the mayor, subsidize professional tennis, have a mayoral spokesman, or travel to China, or much of the other travel & entertainment spending the city does.