Ad hoc committee recommends $58.5 million Health, Human Services and Public Safety budget to full council

Chair Frank Salvatore opened the ad hoc budget meeting and presented the Health, Human Services and Public Safety package, saying it “totals $58,507,263.” He asked departments to summarize requests and invited committee members to question staff before opening to ex officio members and a final recommendation to the council.

Health and Human Services director Fernanda Almeida told the committee the department’s request represents about a 2.79% increase over last year and clarified budgeting for grant funds: “It does not take into account the grants that we are awarded,” she said, and added the department keeps state per-capita allocations as a last-resort contingency to shift staff if outside grant funding is reduced.

Committee members pressed for details on homeless shelter funding and eviction support. Staff said the small-cities grant of $300,000 has been exhausted and that the city receives roughly $230,000 annually from the state Department of Housing; eviction-related line items are primarily for storage of evicted residents’ belongings, with items held for varying periods (30–90 days) and auction proceeds used to offset costs. The department said eviction-prevention work is performed by in-house staff and, when possible, tries to identify alternative housing before eviction.

The meeting covered a string of departmental briefings and clarifications: an added program assistant for senior services (to help a Senior Center breakfast program), hiring plans for weights-and-measures after a long-serving inspector retired, and a $330,000 community-services pass-through package managed with quarterly reporting by grantees (United Way, Downtown Council, PAL).

Airport Director Sofranik described continuing federal support and recent capital wins: over the last five years the airport obtained roughly $9 million in federal funding for runway, lighting and taxiway projects, and the city will co-pay annual certification costs for a privately funded LPV approach developed with Reliant Aircraft and Hughes Aerospace.

On records and permitting, the building department described an AI-assisted code-review and permitting software rollout that requires user accounts; staff said a citywide AI policy is in final legal review. Council members pressed on FOI burdens and past records scanning; staff said pilot scanning has been funded with grants but a full archival scanning effort remains expensive and incremental.

Emergency management said contractual services were increased to hedge against uncertainty in the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) and to ensure the program remains fully funded if federal pass-throughs change. “We made sure that the matching funds were in there and we're watching the situation very carefully,” the EMD said.

The ambulance fund (proposed at $5.34 million) was presented as largely break-even; staff emphasized figures are net revenue estimates rather than gross charges. Dispatch, the fire department and police departments each described personnel and equipment requests. The fire budget includes three lieutenants and a captain to prepare for Station 27 and continued investments in EV fire-response equipment; the police budget adds five officers and creates an intelligence-analyst role to convert existing clerk duties into an analyst function. The police chief confirmed use of investigative platforms (Cellebrite, CLEAR) and said professional-services and training costs are partly driven by recertification and testing requirements in the police accountability cycle.

After nearly two hours of review, Councilman Luje Giordano moved the committee recommendation: “I move to recommend to the full council that they approve the Health and Human Services Public Safety budget of $58,507,263 as presented in the mayor's budget.” The motion was seconded, finance confirmed the amount, and the committee approved the recommendation by voice vote.

Next steps: the ad hoc committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the full Danbury City Council for final consideration; no further formal actions were taken at this meeting.