Town Council Votes 12-1 To Approve $93M 2021-2022 Budget

EAST HAVEN, CT — The East Haven Town Council voted 12 to 1 Monday night to pass the 2021-2022 budget. Council member Salvatore Maltese voted against the plan.

The budget funds schools, town government, including police and fire, and also community groups, town beautification, physical plant upkeep and repair and other projects.

The $93,455,354 spending plan matches, down to the dollar, anticipated revenue from tax collection, state and federal education and municipal grants monies, licenses, fees, permits and investments.

The budget allocates $45,411,083 for the town side and $48,044,271 for schools.

There is a zero tax increase, town officials said.

Over the course of the past several months, the budget was tooled, and approved unanimously by the Board of Finance.

“This was a long and detailed process—thank you for your efforts, your bipartisanship, and your participation,” Town Council chairman Joseph Deko said about the months-long effort to get the budget completed.

The work, in large measure, town officials said, is down to East Haven finance director Jim Keely who oversees the annual process.

“I am pleased with this procedure and our budget, and the responsible fashion with which everyone went through this difficult but important task,” Keely said.

Mayor Joseph A. Carfora said that his budget “is a fiscally responsible plan for moving this community forward.”

“My vision is one thing, and I believe in it, but it takes the coordination of an administration and the legislative council to make visions a reality and to do so with no tax increase is responsible and extremely rewarding,” he said.

Carfora noted, and thanked, the three Republican members of the Town Council — Linda Hennessey, Sam Parlato, and Robert Ranfone — "who crossed party lines to vote with the Democrats to endorse this no-tax-increase budget.”

“Town before politics is a must if we intend to move East Haven forward,” Carfora said.

Here is the 2021-2022 budget ordinance:

East Haven 2021-2022 Budget... by Ellyn Santiago

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