On May 4, the East Haven Town Council voted 12-1 to adopt the proposed 2021-’22 budget of $93,455,354. The budget, which is the same overall spending as the current year, will result in no tax increase, keeping the mill rate flat at 34.25.

“Coming out of COVID and the impact that it has had on our residents and the economy, we tried our best to keep costs down throughout the town and avoid any additional financial impact on the residents,” said Mayor Joesph Carfora. “The main goal was to keep taxes the same and no increases while enhancing the services throughout the town. This goal was accomplished which I would like to thank Town Council for their bipartisan support of the budget I presented to them.”

Finance Director Jim Keeley reiterated the importance of the administration’s goal of increasing services without an increased tax burden on residents.

“It was a hard task to be able to deliver a flat budget with no tax increase to taxpayers while also providing so many additional services, but we worked really hard listening to the Board of Finance, the Town Council members, and the taxpayers in providing a stable and very fiscally responsible budget that works for the Town of East Haven and its residents,” said Keeley.

Of the $93.4 million budget, $48,044,271 is allocated for the Board of Education (BOE), an increase of $50,000 or 0.1 percent. The BOE’s original request was for $49,021,836, a $1,027,565 or 2.1 percent increase.

On the town side, which totals $45,411,083, a $50,000 or 0.1 percent decrease in spending, about one-third of the budget is allocated to public safety with the East Haven Police Department (EHPD) and East Haven Fire Department (EHFD) both seeing an increase in their budgets from 2020-’21. Both departments also saw cost savings in salary. While the Public Services Department’s budget was slightly decreased, there were no changes made to staffing or town services.

“There have been no reductions to personnel in Police Department, Fire Department, or Public Works; conversely, each of these departments have more employee than ever before,” said Keeley. “Due to many retirements in these departments, especially fire where we have had eight so far, employees are at a much lower step coming in than their counterparts that left.”

With the migration of community services and counseling services to BHCare, the town saw a significant cost-savings and the three town employees who were employed in that department were transferred to the Finance Department and Senior Center. The retirement of the former assessor also allowed for cost-savings as the new assessor will be hired at “the bottom step,” according to Keeley.

While the ice rink is currently offline, Keeley noted that the town hopes to have it running by the end of 2021 or early 2022. A majority of the costs associated with the necessary repairs will be made from capital funding due to the nature and costs of repairs in question.

Keeley also said that “we were very happy” to factor in the purchase of a vehicle for the animal shelter rather than bonding the purchase, which would be paid for over 20 years.

Carfora noted that another priority of the budget was to increase outdoor activities for the community and continue with other improvements throughout town. The adopted budget allocates $129,268 for community services, which supports things such as holiday celebrations, East Haven Land Trust, the historical society, Old Town Cemetery, Shoreline Greenway Trail, the Fall Festival, Channel 20, the East Haven Garden Club, the Arts Commission, the East Haven Food Pantry, and green restoration.

“We made it a priority [to] increase community outside activities so the residents can come together and reconnect safely,” said Carfora. “This budget has funds that will improve the aesthetics throughout the town [and] physically improve the parks, fields, and playgrounds to increase use by the residents.

“I can proudly say we met all objectives with this budget,” added Carfora. “With that being said, however, there is still a great deal of work to be done. My administration will continue to work towards making East Haven a community of choice and having an improvement of the quality of life for the residents.”