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What Excuse for Next Year?

I am sure, like me, when you got up on the morning of May 9, you read that East Haven will be raising the mill rate to 33.44, up 2.24 mills.

Like me, you read that all sorts of reasons were given by the administration. Most I found humorous. But before I get into those, let’s go back to the beginning of Mayor Joseph Carfora’s administration.

In his first budget, he needed to raise taxes by 1.86 mills. He blamed the increase on the previous administration, claiming all sorts of financial problems were uncovered. In his next budget, no tax increase was needed, so I guess the financial ills of the past administration were resolved. The same went for the next budget: the mill rate stayed firm at 31.20.

Now, let’s get to this budget. Mayor Carfora is once again blaming the Maturo administration for the financial problems of East Haven. They are also blaming the need to raise your taxes because of “contractual obligations,” millions in lawsuits against the town (two totaling $13.97 million), and the need for those special airport attorneys. The funny thing about those lawsuit payouts is that a substantial amount was paid by the town’s insurance. How much was actually on the backs of the taxpayer?

So why the need to raise the property tax? When will they stop blaming the past administration? What excuse will they use next year? Oh, that’s right; next year is an election year, and everyone knows you don’t raise taxes in an election year.

Richard Poutlon

East Haven