Council Members Chastise City Hall Over Unimplemented $4 Million Allocation for Flooding Improvements

Members of the New Britain City Council chastised city officials over an unimplemented $4 million budget allocation for Allen Street flood control project, calling the actions of the Mayor Erin Stewart (R) and allies an election year trick to placate vocal community members calling for action to address neighborhood flooding.

Last September, a month before the city elections, the then-majority Republican Council unanimously approved a resolution to allocate $4 million for improvements to address flooding experienced by residents of the Allen Street, Roxbury Road and CCSU area.

The resolution had been introduced by former Ald. Luz Ortiz-Luna (R-AL) and former Ald. Desiree Costa (R-AL), who advocated for its approval. After the resolution was also approved by Mayor Stewart, Ortiz-Luna said that she had received assurances from the Stewart administration that the money was, in fact, in place for the project.

Members of the incoming Democratic-majority Council, who took office in November, continued to follow-up on the matter, seeking to verify that the $4 million was available for the project. In April, New Britain city Finance Director Jonathan Perugini responded to the Council’s inquiries.

But members of the public and Council were shocked to learn that Perugini said he did not implement the budget transfer, saying that the resolution to approve it had, “deficiencies.”

The Council referred Perugini’s report to its Committee on Administration, Finance and Law and Public Services, which discussed it at its meeting on Wednesday.

At that meeting, Perugini repeated many of the points he raised about $4 million allocation in his April report, including that it did not refer to specific accounts, that it would have had to be done as part of the regular budget process and that it would go against the city’s Fund Balance policy, causing city hall to declare a fiscal emergency.

But former Ald. Ortiz-Luna told the Council committee on Wednesday that none of those issues were raised when she proposed and advocated for the resolution in September. She said that the members of the Republican caucus agreed that it was a good idea, and the resolution was then approved unanimously.

She added she made the resolution to be for up to $4 million toward the project, which is expected to cost more than that, because that was what she was told was available under the city’s Fund Balance.

Council President, Ald. Francisco Santiago (D-5) pointed out that, while city officials are now saying the allocation did not follow proper procedures, its approval had, in fact, followed proper procedures and concerns about how it was worded were not brought up at the time.

Council Majority Leader, Ald. John McNamara (D-4), whose district, the city’s Ward 4, includes the neighborhood affected by the flooding, said that its unanimous approval by the Council and signature by Stewart was, “placating a room full of people,” upset about the Allen Street area flooding. No-one, he said, raised a “red flag” about whether the $4 million allocation was legitimately done at the time.

Ald. Wilma Barbosa (D-2) questioned Perugini on where the money allocated by the Council was, now. Perugini said that was in the General Fund and not used.

Ald. McNamara called the matter, a “transparency issue,” and said that it was important for the Council to discuss how the matter was handled to ensure that it does not happen again. “People,” he said, “should not be misled.”

The report was voted by the Committee back to the full Council, with a neutral recommendation.