Owner: Lower West Haven, CT Taxes URL:http://lowerwesthaventaxes.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 05:46:30 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Commentary on the politics and the tax situation in West Haven, CT Site statistics:Click here
West Shore Fire District Blog 2006-10-16 12:19:46 Thanks to WSFDFF, a new blog has been created called West Shore
Fire District
which will be devoted to explaining the workings of the West Shore
Fire District.We've gotten a bit off topic here on Lower West Haven Taxes; while the Fire Consolidation is one potential help to tax relief, it's only one segment of a broad spectrum of possible changes.In my sleep-deprived state at the end of last week, I let some posts go through that I now regret, as they seem to have 'fanned the flames'. Many will notice that I have not posted their comments from this past weekend. In doing so, it's not because I'm trying to limit perspective - I'd say that there were equal numbers of posts on both sides of the issues that I haven't put through. Instead, I've decided that posts that are either inflamatory, attacks, or overly defensive aren't going to be posted. We should be discussing ideas, not attacking each other. Additionally, for the Fire Consolidation Good/Bad areas, if the posts were
Short Break until next week 2006-10-13 06:01:00 Hi All -Just wanted to make certain that you all don't think that I've deserted you, but I'll have some limited availabity until next week. That little thing called work is going to take up a good portion of my time, and take me out of town for a bit. I'll try to check in tomorrow (Friday) for a bit, if I can -- if not, keep the ideas on the Fire Districts coming, both for and against... and I'll roll up more of the thoughts.Then, later next week we can get down to the work of discussing those ideas. Read more:Short
, Break
, Short Break
Why Our Readers Feel Fire District Consolidation is Bad. 2006-10-12 19:15:00 PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING:We're trying something new. Please post comments to this blog entry as to why you think Consolidation
would be a bad thing for West Haven. (I've also added some posts from others - my apologies if I haven't attributed these ideas properly.)You'll notice that we've set up a separate blog post for "Why Our Readers Feel Fire District
Consolidation is Good."Unless you can show that something is flat-out untrue, please do not argue points in these comments as they will not be posted. In comments to this entry, only post your thoughts on why consolidation is bad. I will pull these entries up into the main post.Once we have compiled a list of thoughts on why Good and why Bad, we will start a new topic entitled "Weighing the Pros & Cons of Fire District Consolidation" to discuss and debate both sides of the issue, and hopefully to come away with a better understanding of the issues.Summary of Points in Comments:BAD: Response times would increase should fi
Why Our Readers Feel Fire District Consolidation is Good. 2006-10-12 19:08:00 PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING:We're trying something new. Please post comments to this blog entry as to why you think Consolidation
would be a good thing for West Haven. (I've also added some posts from others - my apologies if I haven't attributed these ideas properly.)You'll notice that we've set up a separate blog post for "Why Our Readers Feel Fire District
Consolidation is Bad."Unless you can show that something is flat-out untrue, please do not argue points in these comments as they will not be posted. In comments to this entry, only post your thoughts on why consolidation is good. I will pull these entries up into the main post.Once we have compiled a list of thoughts on why Good and why Bad, we will start a new topic entitled "Weighing the Pros & Cons of Fire District Consolidation" to discuss and debate both sides of the issue, and hopefully to come away with a better understanding of the issues.Summary of Points in Comments:GOOD: Less salaries as some roles (such as f
And now, for something different 2006-10-12 16:42:00 I came up with an idea this morning. What if I create two blog entries:Why Our Readers Feel Fire District Consolidation is Good.Why Our Readers Feel Fire District Consolidation is Bad.Then, under each of those posts, readers can explain their thoughts on the topic. I'll then pull the 'talking points' up into the main post.My thought is that in the arguing back and forth, we're losing the points (good or bad) that people are trying to make.Then, after we've put our points into the two topics, I'll create a new entry:Weighing the Pros & Cons of Fire District ConsolidationWhere we can discuss each side's ideas, and try to come up with points we BOTH can agree on.What do you think? Worthwhile? Or should I just create the Weighing the Pros & Cons of Fire District Consolidation? Read more:something
, different
Long Island Sound Stewardship Act awaits President's Signature; Sandy Point in West Haven named as stewardship site 2006-10-12 00:47:00 According to an article in today's Westport News, Sandy
Point in West Haven
is named
as one of the stewardship sites that would benefit from the $25 million of federal funding. However, the Long Sound
Stewardship Act still must be signed by President
Bush.According to the article:It is a bill authorizing $25 million in federal funding annually to further the goals of an initiative that includes purchasing land and development rights to properties along the Sound.(...) Linked to the Senate action, environmental officials from Connecticut, New York and the federal government have agreed to designate 33 areas along the Sound's coastline as ecological or recreational assets needing restoration, protection and research -- with 17 of them in Connecticut. They have established a committee to oversee spending $6 million to restore coastal and river habitats on both sides of the Sound.The surprising wording above is about the "purchasing land and development rights" - I'm not certain that Read more:Island
, Signature
, Long Island
Latricrete International ... possibly coming to West Haven? 2006-10-11 22:55:00 ... ok, it's a long shot, and depends upon Bethany not keeping the manufacturer of ceramic tile and stone installation systems who has been doing business there for 50 years. Basically, a proposal to offer competitive tax incentives to area businesses has been proposed in a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectman; ultimately this must be approved at a town meeting, and the Board of Finance must approve the incentives on a business by business basis, which I suspect it is likely to do for a business of this longevity.However, Laticrete is/was looking at West Haven
as an alternative. From an Orange Bulletin article:"Laticrete came to me because it wanted to expand and was looking at other areas specifically the Bayer site in West Haven
and Progress Industrial Park in Waterbury because those sites are close to major highways," [First Selectwoman Derrylyn] Gorski said."Those towns were offering them tax incentives of a 50 percent abatement for five years. We're offering them 30 perce Read more:International
Gingsburg West River Crossing presentation not made; Picard to visit Haverstraw; City Council reconsidering West River Cross Project 2006-10-11 14:04:00 Unfortunately, I was unable to attend last evening's City Council
meeting, which accord to today's New Haven Register article entitled "Restless W. Haven taxpayers wonder: 'Why so many Obstacles?'" was attended by 133 people, crowded into the little City Hall meeting room. Therefore, the discussion below is second hand, and I invite anyone who was there to add to the comments, and I'll pull them up into the top level of the post, if they help enlighten us about the meeting.Residents who attended the meeting were very interested in hearing what Ginsburg and West RiverCross
ing.htm">Crossing
LLC (who have a tentative partnership agreement) had to say about his plan for developing a $225 million housing project in West River Crossing. However, the slideshow that Ginsberg had prepared was not seen, as apparently the City Council had previously contacted the presenters, suggesting an appropriate time for a presentation
, other than the City Council meeting. It's not clear if that presentation wo Read more:Picard
, visit
, Project
Columbus Day Parade not particularly Italian or Columbus-related 2006-10-10 16:56:00 I attended the Columbus
Day parade on Sunday; it was a beautiful day, and a nice parade, well attended, and a nice showing of communities in the Greater New Haven area. It showed the diversity of the area, and as best I know, went off without incident (outside of the fact that the Allingtown fire department had to leave part way through the parade for a call).I had a few concerns, though:There was a decided lack of Columbus-related
floats. In fact, I counted two.I felt that the politicians who marched and blared their political messages marred the day - this was supposed to be a celebration, not a political statement.I wonder how much this cost the West Haven taxpayers? Read more:Parade
, Italian
6 to be promoted in West Shore Fire Department 2006-10-10 14:02:00 The New Haven Register reports "Burns, 5 others to be honored" in West Shore
Fire District's largest-ever promotional ceremony to be held on Sunday at 10:30 am outside district headquarters at 860 Ocean Avenue, with a reception at the Italian American club to follow. The following department members are to be honored: Fire Chief Harold C. Burns Deputy Chief Clifford T. Burns Assistant Chief David A. Collins Administrative Capt. Gary N. Bloomquist Capt. Daniel P. Potter Lt. Glen J. MurrayWhile I expect that with promotions, comes raises - does anyone know if this was part of the citizen approved West Shore
budget? I must plead ignorance in terms of knowledge of the budget and whether or not said promotions are deserved; unfortunately, information is less available for the fire departments than even for the city.On the other hand, the article spoke of Harold C. Burns vision and plans for the department, including a committee to update the district's web site to "better serve the pub Read more:promoted
, Department
Nearly $17,400 sought from Bomb Hoax Participants 2006-10-10 13:49:00 (As an aside, I first heard about this today on the news on WFSB, but I'll be darned if I could find it on their site. I did find a New Haven Register article entitled "Restitution sought for bomb hoaxes". )Someone is listening and understanding; West Haven taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for the actions of a few. The Board of Education and West Haven Police Department are jointly going to seek $17,398.90 to cover the costs of emergency personnel ($8149.95) and the lost revenues from West Haven Food services, and the extra bus service from Winkle Bus Company ($9248.95) from the 16 students who have been accused of creating the three bomb scare hoaxes late last month. Of these students, 13 student juvenilles and 18 year old WHHS graduate Thomas Griffin have been arrested and charged with felonies; two more student juvenilles are expected to turn themselves in today, and will likely face felony charges.Our police chief, Ronald Quagliani, is quoted in the article:"I can't drive i Read more:Nearly
, Participants
2007 Connecticut Firefighter's Convention... in West Haven? 2006-09-09 04:28:00 An article about the 2006 Firefighter
s Convention
in yesterday's Valley Gazette makes mention that next year's convention will be held in West Haven
... I wonder who PAYS for that? This year's hosts are Ansonia, Derby AND Shelton... I guess because we have 3 separate departments, they won't need to team up with anyone... sigh. I guess I should look forward to the parade... Read more:West Haven
, Connecticut
Images of Beach erosion 2006-09-05 16:20:00 Beach Erosion Damage from the remainder ofTropical Storm ErnestoPhotographed on 9/2/06 Read more:Images
, Beach
West Haven Tax Rally 2006-07-25 15:05:00 We went to the West Haven
, CT tax rally last night; we were astonished to hear that:The Mayor of West Haven
doesn't own property in West HavenThe former Superintendent of schools, Paul Tortora, was given a pension worth something to the effect of 80% of his $140,000+ salary after only working as superintendent for 4 years. [NOTE: Further research has revealed that Mr. Tortora has worked for the school system for 30+ years - our apologies to Mr. Tortora, who clearly has earned his dues.]That because our educational budget has been slashed, that we are going to pay 6-figure penalties to the state of Connecticut (Why not spend this money on our kids - our future - instead of giving this money to the state of Connecticut?Are these statements rumors or propaganda? Truthfully, we don't know... yet.If West Haven has financial problems, sure, we have to fix them. But we CANNOT do this in one year. I look up and down the streets, and roughly 20-25% of our town appears to be up for sale Read more:Rally
Bayer is gone 2006-11-09 21:04:00 Bayer will be consolidating operations, and will be out of West Haven by mid 2007, according to the Connecticut Post. Ugh. There goes $2.2 million in tax revenue..(all, I'm sorry that I've had little time for blogging lately... I know there's a bunch of comments to moderate, etc. I'll try to get caught up soon.) Read more:Bayer
Tom Conroy offers a few suggestions on the West Haven Voice 2006-10-10 22:31:00 Tom Conroy, in a letter to the editor of the West HavenVoice
, has offered some suggestions to save property taxes.First, to summarize (I urge you to read the full letter as I have made this very brief):increase the minimum amount of property required to build to 1.5 acres, or eliminate the ability to build new single family homes, as he feels single family homes crowded into properties are a drain on services.move the train station to Morgan lane, after leveling the Sikorsky building, and add a convenience store and a Dunkin Donuts.Buy the property on Prindle Hill (?) and make a 9 hole golf course.Instead of buying the Masonic Temple, build a new high school by the Nike site next to the new soccer fields, and instead of revamping city hall, move it to the existing high school, and put the art center in the existing city hall.rebuild the area along the shoreline to be full of little cafes and specialty shops, like Mystic Seaport (?)I applaud Mr. Conroy for taking the right attitude of
More about the Bayer move... 2006-11-13 17:31:00 The Stamford Advocate article on the Bayer
move gives a few different details than I've previously read: Company spokeswoman Susan Yarin said most of the West Haven oncology research operations are expected to cease by the end of March 2007, with any remaining operations slated to end a few months later.Other functions will end after that, with the entire site expected to close by early 2008.
State and City officials look for Bayer Replacement 2006-11-14 16:27:00 According to a Veteran's Day article in the New Haven Register:State
, regional and city officials
will put their heads together to develop a strategy to replace Bayer
HealthCare and its 1,000 jobs.Interesting in the article is that 300-350 of the 1000 employees to be affected will be offered positions in New Jersey - that's a large amount of jobs that will be laid off.According to all involved, they are hoping to find another biotech company (or two or three) to fill the 125 acre site.
More problems at the Tax office 2006-11-14 16:16:00 The New Haven Register reports on more problems
at the West Haven tax collector's office
... Revenue Collection Clerk Kristy Gargiulo was suspended without pay for 5 days for removing what apparently she perceived as a large sum check (> $2 million) from the city vault without proper supervisor authorization back on November 1. Apparently, she had removed what turned out to be a copy of a check deposited back in 2005 to bring it to the attention of the mayor's office and the finance office, because she thought it was undeposited. Tax Collector Christopher V. Valente now wants her fired because he feels "I can't trust her".The article makes this sound like perhaps it is a witchhunt. The Mayor's office had a meeting on Nov 2 where it was determined that it was a copy of a check, not an actual check. On Nov 3, Valente "documented the issue with the police", but there is no formal investigation by the police on this matter. Not surprisingly, the Union which represents Ms. Gargiul
West Haven Asks UI to consider Bayer Site 2006-11-15 13:36:00 In today's New Haven
Register, there is an article that explains that West Haven
officials have approached UI to look at the Bayer
Site.Ironically, I was just saying this to someone the other day. UI was looking at the West River Crossing site - but this might be an even better place for them to house their head quarters - 125 acres! If they come to town, earlier reports said it would be about $4M to us in taxes...
Selective leaf vacuumming practice unfair 2006-11-22 15:46:00 Today's New Haven Register has an article on the unequal leaf collection practices of West Haven. I had no idea that some people get the leaf vacuuming - and the rest of us are forced to bag ours. I'd prefer it if ALL OF US had the vacuuming - it would save countless hours of work, and save money on purchasing those lousy paper bags... Read more:Selective
, unfair
Politics or Problems? 2006-08-21 13:22:00 On August 17th, the New Haven Register article entitled "W. Haven official seeks probe of incident", talks further about an incident that I had bypassed, due to time contraints, which was assault allegation against the Finance Director Nalini Srinivas. If you missed the complaint which was filed with the West Haven Police by Benefits Administrator Yvette Cintron, she alleges that "Srinivas grabbed and shook her after she misunderstood a departmental policy."Whether or not this incident truly happened, this alleged incident has now become political fodder. Councilman Stuart Arotsky, a member of the independent "A Better Future-4" party which former Mayor Borer had run under, apparently has contacted the police regarding concerns that Major Picard didn't report this incident of abuse citing employment harassment laws and the city's no-tolerance rules.Mayor Picard indicated in the article that he offered to involve the police when meeting with Cintron; Cintron responds that "she be
Statement from the source RE: the West Shore Fire District Blog 2006-11-23 05:03:00 I received an email today from WSFDFF regarding the West Shore
Fire District
blog. I'm republishing it (with permission) exactly as it was sent to me.We tried to provide what we thought was aneducational site for the West Shore taxpayers andothers as well. It turned into a pissing contest withevery explanation that we tried to provide beingturned around into a challenge of the facts. We onlywrote true facts. We never tried to mislead anyone. Itwas so bad that I started to take it very personnaland that We felt was a bad thing and defeated thewhole purpose of the site. The site wasn't intended toprovide a spot for people to type false and misleadingstatements. It wasn't a site to provide space forstiring the pot. After seeing the enormous amount offalse and misleading information that was written notby you but by many others we wanted to try to providea place where people could ask us questions. It neverhappened. So we decided to take the blog off for awhile and let all cool down. I
UI asks for 38-50% increase 2006-11-28 16:08:00 UI is asking for a 38% increase for residential customers, and up to a 50% increase, for business customers, according to this New Haven Register article...
Nepotism in the Board of Ed? 2006-11-28 15:53:00 Today's New Haven Register has an interesting article entitled "Ed board hiring raises question of nepotism". In a nutshell:City Councilwoman Nancy R. Rossi, A Better Future-7, said Monday despite her request to table the measure, the board voted unanimously last week to hire Rose Palmieri, the mother of board member Mark Palmieri, as a cashier at St. Lawrence School. Though Palmieri has served as a substitute cashier at Seth Haley School, Rossi said she wanted the board to table the vote until it could research whether Rose Palmieri's hiring was inconsistent with the board's past practice of hiring the longest-serving individual on the substitution list for a particular position. Read more:Board
More on Bayer... 2006-11-28 15:47:00 Today's New Haven Register article entitled "Bayer
profit drops 35% in 3Q, beats forecasts" reveals that the company had turned down a $60 million state incentive package that they would have received if they stayed, and that there are 1000 workers affected (some of whom may transfer to New Jersey).
WHVoice: Penske truck terminal to occupy Bowl Drive-In 2006-11-29 04:56:00 See "City to get revenue from registrations" (Nov 16, 2006). Planning and Zoning was expected to approve the subdivision of the former Bowl Drive-In site on the Boston Post Road, so that Lawrence Mall of New Haven could put an estimated $4 Million Penske
truck terminal
. Chick Celentano is a part owner of Lawrence Mall, and is apparently insisting (along with Mayor Borer) that the trucks be registered in West Haven, so that there will be registration income as well as tax income.
WHVoice: Mayor Picard to have 3 step deficit reduction plan 2006-11-29 04:38:00 The November 23 West Haven Voice contains an article entitled "Picard
points to 3-step deficit
-reduction
". This article focuses in on three income components to reduce the indebtedness and to offset the shortfall:The recent sale of the city tax lien list for $1.05 on the dollar. (I find this surprising - why would a company pay MORE than what the outstanding taxes are worth? I think this must mean that West Haven will not get the interest or other penalties).Selling a second older tax lien list (will get less on the dollar, and apparently this contract is in the works - but if it is hard to collect money, anything is better than nothing, I suppose).Audit the city's business personal property list, and collect monies from businesses that are re-evaluated. (This is currently only in the RFP for the auditor. I wonder if this might be of limited use - too many businesses are really small potatoes in this town).Other items discussed:Building Oversight Committee has found $4 million to Read more:Mayor
A more positive spin on the Bayer news 2006-11-29 04:25:00 Business New Haven has a slightly more positive spin in the article "Bioscience Czar Sees Silver Lining in Bayer
Closing".Paul Pescatello, president of Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE), says he's already gotten a dozen calls from rival companies looking to hire Bayer workers. And the pharma giant's facility, which has been underutilized since Bayer first hit a rough patch in the 1990s, could be subdivided into a research park to attract startups and diversify the local industry.(read the article for more on the property, and tax incentive deals from CT and NJ).
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