Schools, public safety on minds of Hartford residents at city’s first budget public hearing
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin addressed the city council and a mostly empty auditorium at Weaver High School Wednesday, making the case for both his final budget and his legacy of fiscal responsibility.
“Like all of my administration’s previous budgets, it funds core city services, makes responsible investments to improve quality of life for our community, and at the same time protects and sustains the fiscal soundness we fought so hard to achieve,” Bronin said. “Not long ago the city was bankrupt, we worked hard with our unions and large companies to make some very difficult decisions, to get us on a sustainable path.”
The $619 million budget maintains the property tax rate at 68.95 mills while and includes no new borrowing or debt, parameters Bronin said drove the budget-making process.
The budget does expand the elderly tax relief credit from $250 to $1,000.
“Last year, we were able to reduce the property tax rate for the first time in a number of years,” Bronin said. “We saw some big changes in the value of properties with some going way up and some way down and that provides some real complications to us. What we wanted to do is provide some real relief in lowering and maintaining that rate.”
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Bronin’s proposed budget also includes a boost for public health and safety with three additional housing inspectors, four fire marshal’s office inspectors, four additional 911 dispatchers and one supervisor.
Just five residents spoke, voicing concerns about public safety and education to the mayor and city council.
“I live in the West End and am subject to porch pirates who love to steal things including my $400 catalytic converter off my car, I’m wondering what money is going to be allocated for public safety to help in that area?” said Hartford resident Cindy Dubuque-Gall. “I’m not for over-policing in our communities or anything that will harm our brothers and sisters of color. But at the same time, I feel like I should be able to walk down my street without feeling my car or some important part of my car will be missing when I wake up in the morning.”
The budget allocates $53 million to the Hartford Police Department, a $3.5 million or 7.2% increase over the prior year of $49.5 million, according to Bronin.
In addition to increases in public safety staff, the budget expands public works and recreation in the city, adding 15 new staff for parks, blight remediation, forestry and facilities while also expanding recreation center and library branch hours.
School funding
But Bronin acknowledged there are challenges, particularly around the city’s public school system which has seen a decline in enrollment in recent years.
“We maintained the current level of funding for Hartford schools and I want to stress that for a number of reasons enrollment in our schools has continued to go down,” Bronin said. “In large part, that is the intended and predicted result of the Sheff vs O’Neill settlement as more slots are opened up in magnet and Open Choice schools, there are more students who choose those options.”
The Sheff v. O’Neill school desegregation case, named for Hartford mother Elizabeth Sheff and then-Gov. William O’Neill, began in 1989 with a lawsuit challenging the racial and economic inequalities found in Hartford schools as opposed to those in wealthier, neighboring communities.
To settle the case, the state last year agreed to meet demand for all Hartford students who want magnet school or Open Choice seats by the 2028-29 school year. As part of the settlement, more students are expected to leave the district, with a projected 16,517 students to enter HPS classrooms this coming fall, a 266 decrease from the previous school year.
Bronin said that declining enrollment from students leaving public schools also means that per-pupil expenditures have gone up because many of those students remaining in the district are high needs. The district also relies on grant funding, which is often determined by enrollment.
While the dollars coming from the city have not increased and falling enrollment threatens to decrease grant funding, fixed costs haven’t changed much. Per pupil expenditure is the total cost divided by the number of students.
Education makes up the largest component of the city’s expenses with nearly $284 million allocated to the public schools or nearly half of the entire budget. The second largest expense is municipal payroll at $134 million or 22% of the overall budget.
“I understand kids are leaving but we have a lot of needy kids in our system and we still need to support our teachers,” said Hartford activist Hyacinth Yennie. “They become everything to those children and they need to be compensated much better than what they’re doing in the school system.”
Hartford remains one of the lowest-paid districts in the Greater Hartford area with the maximum salary a teacher can make with a master’s degree in the district is $89,182 compared to suburbs like Glastonbury at $101,000 or Avon at $104,000.
The city’s long-term sustainability depends on “staying disciplined in our spending” and “aggressively attracting investment and growth,” Bronin said.
Bronin has announced he will not seek reelection and has served as mayor since 2016.
“We must remain disciplined. Our progress is real, but fragile,” Bronin said. “If we stay the course, budget with care, recognize that we will always face difficult choices, and make those choices with a view to the long-term health of our city, then we will have done our job of building a stronger Hartford.”
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
