Finance Committee hears departmental budget workshops: communications upgrade, $8.45M for engineering, hiring and fleet updates

The New Haven Finance Committee on April 9 held budget workshops with multiple city departments to review proposed FY2026 operating and capital requests and preview planned projects.

Public safety communications City staff outlined a proposed $3 million capital allocation for upgrades to public-safety communications equipment, including replacement of aging fixed radio infrastructure, updated consoles and encryption capability. Presenters said the current system is near end-of-life and requires replacement of fixed equipment, furniture in the dispatch center and redundant radio routing to improve resilience. The department reported it is actively recruiting dispatcher/operators; staffing shortfalls have contributed to higher overtime in recent months, and…