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Danbury ad hoc committee unanimously recommends general government budget to city council
Summary
On Tuesday, April 8, the Danbury City budget ad hoc committee voted unanimously to recommend the mayor's proposed general government budget to the city council, endorsing increased actuarial pension funding, $1.5 million in one-time reserve use for health insurance, and a $500,000 contingency reduction compared with prior years.
The Danbury City budget ad hoc committee voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend the mayor's proposed general government budget to the city council.
Chair Andrea Gardner opened the meeting and framed it as a focused budget hearing; the committee moved to consider the city treasurer and finance items in detail before reviewing other departments. Finance staff told the committee the mayor's proposed pension funding was adjusted after the final actuarial report and the budget reflects that higher contribution.
The recommendation includes an increased actuarial pension contribution that finance staff said was set after the actuary's final report: "we got the final report from the actuary," a finance representative said, noting that the updated numbers increased the recommended funding to approximately $18,000,000. Finance staff also said the city would use $1.5 million from health insurance reserves this year to smooth a self-funded renewal and lower near-term taxpayer pressure.
Committee members asked for clarifications on the pension and the city's funding posture. A finance official explained the pension contribution combines headcount changes and market-driven actuarial adjustments and that the city is "funding the 18,000,000 as proposed," saying the increase was not solely due to new hires.
On contingency and capital, staff said the mayor trimmed the capital program and presented departments' full capital requests so the city can seek grants when appropriate; contingency was shown at $500,000 in the proposed budget with capital reductions elsewhere to keep the levy stable.
After discussion, Chair Andrea Gardner moved that the committee recommend council adoption of the general government budget "as presented" with the proposed pay-date schedule and 2% raises. The motion was seconded (Justin Dennis Berg was named as the seconder) and passed on a unanimous voice vote. The committee then adjourned.
The recommendation now goes to the full Danbury City Council for consideration; the ad hoc committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript beyond the unanimous voice vote and therefore did not publish a numeric vote count.
