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The What

The What: The Budgets of SW CT; Norwalk Residential Parking; and more

The What is your look around southwest Connecticut for the week of February 17.

The What: The Budgets of SW CT; Norwalk Residential Parking; and more
We enjoyed the (slight) warmup this long weekend. (Photo by Kelly Prinz)

Tuesday, February 17

Happy Tuesday! Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. This week, we’re kicking off our budget reporting. See what’s happening around southwest Connecticut this week.  

Highlights 

This section gives a brief overview of the key items in the newsletter.

  • We’ve launched a new page where you can keep up-to-date with budget news from around the region, starting with reporting from Norwalk and Greenwich.
  • Norwalk is hosting three Residential Parking Program Listening Sessions this week as the city is working to develop a new residential parking program. These are a chance for residents to share concerns about parking and provide potential solutions. 

Spotlight

This section features our main reporting each week.

Across southwest Connecticut, each year our communities spend more than $3 billion on schools, roads, police, fire, community services, and so much more. And this money comes from you—it’s your tax dollars at work. That’s why we’re putting together this article to help you understand what’s in your community’s budget, what the challenges are, why your taxes are (probably) going up, and more. 

This week, we started our budget series with Norwalk and Greenwich.

“This is a challenging budget year for Norwalk,” Mayor Barbara Smyth told the Board of Estimate and Taxation on February 9. Her proposed $483.9 million budget would be an overall 7% increase from last year’s approved budget, and includes $226.9 million for the city and $257.1 million for the schools. 

Members of the Board of Estimate and Taxation and City Council said they’re concerned about the large increases. 

“I’ve been on this board for a number of year—the city side has always been the cost of inflation or lower. It is alarming to me seeing this for the first time,” said Troy Jellerette, a member of the BET. 

Meanwhile, in Greenwich, officials are proposing a $543 million budget, up 4.33% from the year before. On the town side, First Selectman Fred Camillo is proposing a $144 million operating budget, with an additional $127 million set aside for fixed costs, which include items like health care and insurance. Also, Greenwich, unlike a lot of other communities, has a capital tax levy baked into its budget, which this year is proposed to increase to $64 million. On the school side, Superintendent Toni Jones is proposing a $207.2 million budget, up about 4.4% from the previous year. 

Camillo, who presented his budget to the Board of Estimate and Taxation in late January, focused on the capital budget items that he said the town needed to invest in. One of the biggest projects Camillo highlighted was the Hamill Rink Replacement project, which he included $41.2 million for in this year’s capital budget.

“When you defer these projects, all you’re doing is passing along the obligations to future residents and future officials to deal with,” he said. 

Dive deeper into our reporting on Norwalk’s budget or Greenwich’s budget. Or explore our landing page of all SW CT budgets, which we’ll be updating throughout the next few months. 

This Week at a Glance

This section aims to highlight the most important meetings and news taking place each week. 

  • In Bridgeport, the City Council will meet on Tuesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. and review multiple items including a request to set a public hearing for March 2 on a development agreement for the former Bassick High School site. 
  • In Stamford, the Operations and Parks & Recreation Committee will meet on Thursday, February 19 at 7 p.m. and review a few items, including a resolution concerning building permit fees on commercial projects that exceed $1 million.
  • In Norwalk, the city is hosting three Residential Parking Program Listening Sessions as the city is working to develop a new residential parking program. These are a chance for residents to share concerns about parking and provide potential solutions. The sessions will be on Tuesday, February 17 at 1 p.m.; Tuesday, February 17 at 6 p.m.; and Wednesday, February 18 at 6 p.m. 
  • In Fairfield, the Board of Finance will meet on Tuesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. and receive its quarterly updates from the town, including an update on payments related to the fill pile case.
  • In Greenwich, the town’s Board of Estimate and Taxation is continuing its review of the budget, featuring Day 3 on Tuesday, February 17, and Day 4 on Thursday, February 19. 
  • In Darien, the RTM Finance & Budget Committee will meet on Tuesday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. and vote on approving $475,702 for design work for access to Great Island and discuss the preliminary budget. 

Plan Your Week

This section includes a list of meetings, events, and programming happening around southwest Connecticut each week.

Bridgeport

Stamford

Norwalk

Fairfield

Greenwich

Darien

Westport

Stay in touch!

As we continue to grow and evolve, please join us! You can do that by:

Please note: All of these agendas and information here are current as of Sunday night. Meeting times and agendas may get adjusted throughout the week.

Have a great week,

Kelly Prinz

Founder, Reporter at Coastal Connecticut Times

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