West Haven public hearing on Mayor Dorinda Borer’s FY27 budget draws praise for no tax increase and questions on school staffing and library funding

West Haven held a public hearing on Mayor Dorinda Borer’s recommended fiscal year 2027 budget and five-year capital plan on May 18 in the Harriet North Courtroom, where residents and local officials gave mostly positive feedback for a proposal that would not raise the city’s mill rate while pressing the council to examine staffing and transparency details.

Mayor Dorinda Borer opened the hearing by saying the budget includes revenue enhancements, expense changes intended for cost savings and government modernization, and that the night’s purpose was to gather public input: "I'm not going to reread the presentation or the budget tonight as tonight is about hearing from our public." The mayor and council emphasized the public hearing will inform the council’s work during a series of workshops starting the following day.

The hearing drew multiple speakers who expressed support for the administration’s fiscal approach. James Celestine of Christen Place told the council he had "nothing more but good things to say" and thanked the mayor for a budget with no tax increase. Gabby Waterfield, chair of the Board of Education, called the plan "a responsible budget that delivers for our community without requiring a tax increase" and urged the council to adopt it as proposed while noting continued education needs.

Several speakers also raised specific concerns the council will likely weigh during budget deliberations. Portia Baez, a West Haven resident, said the district serves "approximately 6,000 students" with "approximately 1,500 of those students [who] have an IEP" and questioned whether the district’s roughly "a total of a 106 paraeducators" is sufficient; she asked whether state aid and a Pequot Mohegan supplement (cited in her remarks as $369,100) were used to avoid raising property taxes. Baez asked the council to reconsider hiring paraeducators and to ensure services for students with individualized education programs are adequate.

Colleen Bailey, director of the West Haven Library, thanked the mayor for support and described the library’s scale and use: "The library's budget is currently 1% of the city's total budget, which works out to be approximately $33 per capita," she said, adding annual figures for visits and reference and technology questions to illustrate community reliance on library services.

Other public commenters urged greater transparency in budget presentation and capital planning. Christian Jacome recommended that any line item with a substantial change (for example, more than 10%) include a plain-language explanation of why it changed and whether the change is recurring or one-time; he also proposed a public-facing grant-and-project dashboard and noted a pending FOI request about ARPA spending.

Speakers who supported the budget repeatedly credited city leadership for turning around the city’s finances. Robert Bruno and Richard Standish spoke in support of the mayor’s stewardship, and Steven Mullins praised the city’s fiscal recovery since earlier deficits, saying he would back a no-tax-increase budget.

The council did not take any formal votes during the hearing. Councilwoman Sarah Akparelli closed the public-comment portion at 6:56 p.m., and the finance committee and council said they will continue reviewing the mayor’s recommended budget department by department and meet with department heads to clarify needs and priorities. Chairman Christopher Vargo thanked residents for participating and formally opened the council’s budget workshop process, after which members moved to adjourn.

What’s next: The City Council’s finance committee will begin line-by-line review of the FY27 recommended budget in scheduled workshops beginning the night after the hearing; no final council votes on the budget were recorded at this meeting.