Connecticut’s new 700-page budget bill contains narrowly tailored language that places the City of Ansonia under Tier 1 state oversight by the Municipal Finance Accountability Commission (MFAC), which could then compel the city to present a five-year plan and adopt the commission’s recommendations.
The budget language states that any municipality that has been on the state’s distressed municipality list for fifteen consecutive years or more and has a population between 15,000 and 20,000 would automatically be referred by the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to MFAC. Ansonia is the only municipality to meet those specifications.
As of the 2020 census, Ansonia had a population of roughly 19,000, and it has been on the distressed municipality list every year since 2010. “It appears that currently only Ansonia qualifies,” the budget analysis states.
Under MFAC’s Tier 1 status, the commission will “review audits, budgets, accounting and fiscal management practices and any other information relevant to the municipalities fiscal condition,” according to state statute. The commission will also require the municipality to develop a five-year plan for approval by the eight-member commission and can penalize the chief executive officer of a municipality with a fine up to $10,000 for failing to provide that information.
If the commission determines the municipality requires a higher level of state oversight, the municipality can be placed under the Municipal Accountability Review Board, which has overseen financially distressed cities like Hartford, and West Haven.
Ansonia is not the only municipality to have been designated as distressed for 15 years in a row; other cities and towns like Torrington have also been on the list for fifteen straight years, are not subject to either MFAC or MARB, but their populations fall outside the range designated in the budget bill.
The Department of Economic and Community Development compiles the list of distressed municipalities every year based on the municipal tax base, residents’ personal income, and residents’ need for public service, according to the state website. The designation allows for state funds to be targeted toward municipalities that have the greatest need.
Reached for comment, Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti, a Republican, said the bill language “makes zero sense for Ansonia,” which he says has “a very strong fund balance and a good rating from S&P.” Ansonia’s credit rating is listed as AA- with a stable outlook.
“I am very concerned this is an attempt by Democrats in Hartford to SPIKE Ansonia’s tax rate, like they did in Derby – 43 mills!” Cassetti wrote in an emailed statement. “Over my dead body will I let Hartford bury Ansonia residents in taxes as they have done with this state.”
The nearby City of Derby voluntarily placed itself under the purview of MFAC after a history of submitting late audits to OPM and “budget blunder,” that left the city in a budget deficit in 2019, according to the Valley Sentinel. Derby then became a designated tier 1 municipality in 2023 when city officials revealed a multi-million-dollar discrepancy in the city’s budget.
Derby had also been on the list of distressed municipalities for fifteen consecutive years, but only has a population of 12,400, according to the 2020 census.
Current statute indicates that OPM shall refer a municipality to MFAC if the municipality has a negative fund balance, reported a fund balance of less than five percent each of the last three years, reported an operating deficit and a fund balance of less than five percent the last two years, issued tax or revenue anticipation notes to meet cash liquidity, did not file an annual audit, or received a bond rating less than A.
Rep. Kara Rochelle, D-Ansonia, nor Sen. Jorge Cabrera, D-Hamden, both of whom represent Ansonia, did not respond to requests for comment. Mayor Cassetti appeared surprised by the budgetary language.
“I fought to keep taxes as low as humanly possible for 12 years,” Cassetti said. Even now – with a proposed 2 mill tax increase it will only be in the high 20s. Very low compared to most if not all others.”
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