The new mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, has released a transition plan for his administration. Justin Elicker was sworn in last week.
The plan covers areas like the city’s budget, education and relations between police and the community. Its authors wrote they drew inspiration from the Green New Deal proposed by congressional Democrats last year in recognizing that issues like housing, health care and the environment are interconnected.
Co-chair Kica Matos said the team based its recommendations on feedback from two community meetings.
“We kept coming up with systemic issues across the board…things like the need for transparency in government, increased access to government, and this is not gonna be a surprise to anyone, revenue generation. Everyone agrees we need to generate more revenue for the city of New Haven.”
Mayor Justin Elicker said interest groups throughout the city are largely on the same page on what they’d like to see from his administration.
“And of course there are disagreements, but those disagreements are small compared to the vast consensus of the direction that this city needs to head in.”
One disagreement: relations with Yale University, the city’s largest employer. Yale says it contributes more than $15 million a year to the city in taxes, fees and voluntary payments. Elicker has called on the university to contribute $50 million a year.
“There’s some transition team members that feel like the relationship with Yale should be very, very positive and collaborative all the time. Other members of the transition team members feel like it should be more of an aggressive push to hold Yale accountable.”
Elicker said he thinks every member of his team wants Yale to give more to the city.
“The question is how far to push that, and how to get to that point. I think that the vast majority of New Haven residents feel like Yale can be doing much more to contribute to the city. Yale does a lot for the city, but Yale can be doing much more.”
The report says the university’s untaxed property in New Haven has been assessed at more than $6 billion. Elicker says the city has to find new money sources. The city’s deficit could be as high as $50 million for the next fiscal year.
“We’re in a serious financial situation right now, in a crisis. And a component of the report addresses that. And particularly calls out our goal to identify additional sources of revenue.”
Elicker said some of his administration’s goals will be harder because of that financial crisis. For example, he said he’d like to increase funding for libraries to 1% of the city’s budget.
“And I think that will be challenging in the short term to implement because we’re already facing a very challenging budget year, indications show.”
State Representative Robyn Porter, a co-chair on the report, said one of her top goals is getting jobs for people in the city.
“The people that live in New Haven need to be employed. It is my priority to see that the people that live in this city are put at the top of the list, and that they are provided pathways in which they can get to where they need to be in order to prosper and live fully and freely, fully liberated.”
Elicker said he asked department heads within his administration to analyze the plan and tell him how feasible its suggestions are. The full plan is available on the city of New Haven’s website.
