Wallingford Council Overrides Mayor's Veto, Restores Budget

WALLINGFORD, CT — For the second year in a row, the Wallingford Town Council overturned a veto by Mayor William Dickinson Jr. to restore its budget.

While the result was the same, the path may have been unexpected with Republican Councilor Craig Fishbein changing positions and supporting the budget he initially voted against.

The Town Council voted 7-2 Tuesday night to override Dickinson’s veto of the council's budget for 2021-22. As a result, the council’s amended budget with a slightly lower mill rate has been restored, the Meriden Record-Journal reported.

Council Chairman Vincent Cervoni and Vice Chairman Tom Laffin voted against overriding the mayor’s veto.

Last week, Fishbein joined Cervoni and Laffin in voting against the council’s budget that made several amendments to Dickinson’s $177 million spending plan and moved money around within it. The council’s budget, approved by a 6-3 vote, uses $1.5 million more of the town's financial reserves than Dickinson proposed to reduce the mill rate by an additional 0.3 mills, the Record-Journal previously reported.

Dickinson, who authorized spending $6.4 million from the reserves in his proposed budget, called the council's increase to $7.9 million the "most aggressive amount of reserves ever adopted as a component of the town budget."

Dickinson’s veto was expected and the council needed seven votes to override it. If the override failed, Dickinson’s original proposal without any of the council’s amendments would have gone into effect.

“Last night, we were presented with two choices: sustain the Mayor's veto and tax increase (by voting no), or appropriate more money for improved community amenities AND REDUCE the tax increase (by voting yes),” Fishbein wrote in a post on Twitter. “I am glad to have voted YES!”

Last year, Dickinson vetoed the council's budget that kept the tax rate flat at 29.19 mills. Dickinson's proposed budget called for a 1.06-percent tax increase.

The council then voted 7-2 to override Dickinson's veto.

Read more at the Meriden Record-Journal here.

Watch the full council meeting below:

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