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Rilling reverses Planning Commission’s moves for Norwalk capital spending

March 12, 2015
–
Nancy Guenther Chapman

NORWALK, Conn. – Mayor Harry Rilling stressed the importance of road paving Wednesday night as Norwalk’s tax board appeared set to reverse recommendations made by the Planning Commission when it sets a capital budget cap next week.

Rilling’s capital budget recommendation actually reverses two changes made by the Planning Commission. The Commission cut funding $250,000 from Finance Director Thomas Hamilton’s $5.5 million recommended for paving and designated that amount of money for paving the City Hall parking lot. Rilling also took $60,000 that the Planning Commission added to Hamilton’s budget cap to fund drainage mapping and put it into the Board of Education’s paving and concrete program.

“The mayor felt strongly about increasing our pavement management funding from the current year,” Director of Management and Budgets Bob Barron said to Board of Estimate and Taxation members.

Bottom line, the proposed capital budget cap is now $60,000 higher than that recommended by Hamilton, at the total of $21,822,000 set by the Planning Commission.

Rilling addressed the City Hall parking lot issue.

“I am not sure that it can be done for $250,000, number one,” he said. “Number two, I do know it needs to be done but I also know that there are many, many, many streets, especially after this winter, that deserve attention and I can’t, quite frankly, justify for the citizens of Norwalk that we are paving our City Hall parking lot and excluding perhaps some street paving that we could be doing. I just think it’s important that we get our streets paved as quickly as we possibly can over this period of time, where we are adding $5.5 million to $6 million to get our paving done. I think that’s the smartest way and the responsible way of getting that done.”

“I agree,” BET member Anne Yang-Dwyer said.

“As a body, we just set the cap for the spending that we send to the Common Council. Then they go through and set the awards to the individual project,” Barron said.

The BET will vote to set the cap next week.

“Of the total recommended amount, $4,629,000 will be financed from grants and other non-general fund sources, leaving a balance to be financed and repaid from the general fund of $17,193,000,” Rilling’s Wednesday letter to the BET states. “This amount is unchanged from the total recommended by the Planning Commission and $60,000 more than the Finance Director’s recommendation. To place this recommendation into perspective, the amount of governmental activities debt the city is scheduled to retire in FY 2014-15 is $19,134,110, so the city’s overall level of debt will decrease by approximately $1.9 million as a result of my recommended capital budget.”

Capital budget 2015-16 Rilling recommendation

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Comments

6 responses to “Rilling reverses Planning Commission’s moves for Norwalk capital spending”

  1. EDR

    The strreets are so bad in town after this winter that even the money set aside for paving probably will be short. And yes the city hall lot needs to be repaved. I would suggest that the city increase the paving budget even more since it will be needed. Good roads should not be a campaign issue.

  2. John Hamlin

    Infrastructure investment and maintenance should be a top priority. The roads are in awful shape all over town.

  3. Mike Mushak

    Here’s a subtle hint to Deering Construction, the recipient of tens of million of paving contracts from the city over the years: Considering record low oil prices, and that asphalt is made from oil, and that the cost of asphalt and fuel to run your trucks will presumably be much lower this year, why not donate the repaving of the City Hall parking lot as a gift to the taxpayers who have given you tens of millions in business over the years?

    It would help prevent falls on the uneven broken paving, protecting taxpayers from increased liability, and advertise to all the visitors including new businesses and developers who come to City Hall that we are a well-managed city worth investing in as shown by the fact that we can keep our own parking lot in good shape. I am sure a small sign will be allowed by the city at the main entrance recognizing your contribution.

    As an owner of a small business who donates a large portion of my time, energy, and resources to landscape beautification and cemetery restoration projects all over town, including in Mathews Park and Mill Hill, it is just a good feeling to give back to the city that we love and call home.

    I can also attest to the absolute truth embodied in the concept in western culture that the “more your give, the more you receive”. In eastern cultures its called karma. It’s real, and I am convinced that so many blessings have flowed back and forth in my life from being involved in the community and donating improvements for the public to enjoy.

    I also know a lot of other businesses all over the country who do the same thing and donate back to the city they are located in, although I do not know enough to suggest Deering hasn’t been generous already. They may well have been, but just in case they were looking for a project to donate, what could be better than City Hall? And in a sealed bid process that we have, there should be no fear of undue influence this gift may have.

    I can assure Deering that their generosity, if they so choose this crazy idea, will be appreciated by every resident and business in Norwalk. Just a subtle hint here!

  4. Kathleen Montgomery

    I had a friend visit me in Norwalk and he said that the conditions of the roads speaks volumes to the state of the local government. Additionally, he had a great deal of difficulty noticing the beauty of the town while being jostled up and down as we progressed through our tour. It’s important folks.

  5. Oldtimer

    I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Deering to donate anything. It might be worthwile to consider patching the City Hall lot and then putting a thin skim coat over it, rather than tear it all up and repave. That lot doesn’t get the heavy vehicle traffic a road gets.

  6. Chris

    Mr. Mushak

    My question is why are you signaling out Deering Construction? They are not the only contractor in town that has been awarded “tens of millions of dollars” (grossly overstated by the way) in paving contracts. How about calling out all contractors who have done work for City contracts? Your comment seems a little biased to me. Also, to assume a small business in any town in this great country makes enough money to donate such a vast amount is ludicrous. You cannot get a public job in today’s economy without doing it for cost, this I know for a fact. Your landscaping jobs don’t come close to the cost of paving an area like the city hall parking lot. Not sure what your motive was in signaling out Deering but it sure sounds petty to me, same for Mr. Oldtimer.

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