Press Conference Where: Sidewalk, Carriage Hill Condominiums, Whalley Ave at Ella Grasso Blvd.

, New Haven What: Candidate Kerekes To Announce Major Tax Policy When: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 1:30 pm Who: Jeffrey Kerekes, Democratic Candidate for Mayor Contact: Jeffrey Kerekes 203-676-0880 New Haven With Independence Day fresh in our minds and the state budget woes compounding our own DeStefano-inflicted financial mess, its time to declare our independence from the tired old way of budgeting and taxing, says New Haven mayoral candidate Jeffrey Kerekes. This last budget year, DeStefano started the foreclosure process on 429 homes, several of which were begun just a week or so ago and are located right behind me on Whalley Avenue. While we do not know every individuals story, we do know that DeStefano doubling the taxes in the last seven years is pushing families not only into foreclosure, but forcing people out of their homes and out of New Haven. We as taxpayers and residents are tired of lurching from one financial train wreck to another and in the process, spending massive amounts of manpower and money on bail-out scams and schemes. This has been going on for years. We have to transform our entire budgeting into a process that works for the people of this city and not for the comfort of those that run it, says Kerekes. And it is time the people who pay the bills have a greater voice and responsibility in this process. As mayor I will institute a three tier system for departmental budgeting. Tier One will be the critical core responsibilities of this city things that have to be funded at 100% within each department. Tier Two will be activities, programs and initiatives that are not critical for our well-being, but are worthy of continued funding because of specific, accountable results they provide to some segment of New Havens population. The emphasis will be on results, goals and impact. Tier Three is everything else. And its this Third Tier, that does not meet critical and near critical standards that will be cut. There has been very little if any programmatic review of non-critical spending, Kerekes charges. Every year every department tries to fund every program they funded the year before regardless of efficacy or efficiency, often just with an adjustment upward. Cost Plus Budgeting has to stop. Consider LCI Livable City Initiative. Well intentioned and poorly managed. Never properly reviewed. It costs over $3 million in personnel costs to run and includes a director, multiple deputy directors and many supervisors. One Deputy Director supervises 3-4 people. They started out with about 70 employees and now down to about 30 but only eliminated one Deputy Director over time. Thats not a management structure, says Kerekes. Thats day-care. If our employees need that type of supervision, which I seriously doubt, we are hiring the wrong people. This process of setting priorities and properly funding them like pensions and healthcare for our employees will force city departments to analyze what they do and in the process, create a results based budget that really works for the people. At some point though, we run out of money and certain things are still unfunded. What to do? It is decision time. And those who pay the bills will have to participate. No they dont have to attend hearings. No they dont have to wait hours to testify for three minutes or be rudely treated. The public will have to vote. Every two years, when faced with a shortfall in revenue, the public will be given an option: More property or other taxes to pay for unfunded items, or understand those programs will be dropped.

This vote will not cost anything and will not require any additional expense. But what it will do is transform the publics voice. Everyone will have an opportunity to weigh in via their vote. On the off years, there will be no possibility of a tax increase under my administration. We need to move towards a more inclusive participatory budgeting process, such as in Chicagos 49th Ward, where neighbors are deciding how to invest $1 million in their neighborhood instead of politicians seeking higher office. What has been done in the past is to go to the human ATMs those taxpayers who have seen their taxes double in the last seven years under DeStefano (who just demanded more money). To make sure he wrings every dime out of them, he hires an abusive tax assessor who assumes you are a lying cheat and holds you to a standard he doesnt hold himself! And then DeStefano sends the same guy to go mug small businesses and slap big assessments on them including artists and one-person operations. Thats what Mayor DeStefano does. That process will end. Under a Kerekes Administration, we will assess fairly and accurately. Challenges will be handled well and with dignity. Problems will be fixed and tax bills adjusted. The city needs to collect what it is owed and nothing more and certainly, nothing less. The following two initiatives alone, according to Management Partners, have the power to deal with the States Plan B reduction to New Haven: y Bill Medicare and Medicaid for health services we provide. Right now, we are not billing for reimbursable services. There are firms that will audit our services and bill Medicare/Medicaid for up to five prior years for a commission. This would cost us nothing since we failed to collect it so far. $200,000 to $5MM (Springfield, MA) Halt all school construction on currently unbroken ground - $3,500,000 in annual savings, based on a two percent reduction in overall spending.

Additional strategies include: y y y y Putting an end to patronage and cronyism Salary freeze on all top managerial positions until the budget crisis is over Hiring Freeze except critical positions Get givebacks from our contractors. People across the country are sharing the sacrifice with givebacks, and so should/will all city contractors.

When I see $67MM in Rentals and Services in the 2010-11 City Budget drop by about $25MM and the personnel line item in the 2011-12 BOE Budget go up for about $25MM the same year it makes me stop and wonder. We innocently asked a top BOE official to help us understand this change, and their response is that you cannot compare budgets since they are now apples to oranges without attempt to explain anything further. Their impenetrable response is about as helpful as the citys documentation. Its important to note that the reduction in rentals and services was matched by an increase in the personnel budgets for the same period. No explanation as to why this occurred or whether they really added any personnel, whether or not there are other changes in benefits for this increase in personnel costs, for example. However, in tough times, we ask people to give back. We got a lot from taxpayers, union employees are willing to give back, how about all those contractors we pay either $67MM or $40MM (whether your prefer apples or oranges)? Lets start by asking for a 20% concession from all our contractors or lets go elsewhere with our business. That would yield either $13MM or $8MM again, depending on whether you prefer red or orange fruit. We pay a lot of money for consultant reports. How many sit on the shelves and collect dust? I am on the Financial Review and Audit Commission and we hired and paid an expert firm and got great ideas. Heres a novel idea, lets implement some of them such as: y y y Consolidation of Fleet Services Police are now separately maintained - $150,000/year Information Technology Internal Service Fund - $150,000 per year Fire Department and Police Department Deployment Analyses

y y

Bill Medicare and Medicaid for health services we provide Halt all school construction on currently unbroken ground - $3,500,000 in annual savings, based on a two percent reduction in overall spending.

Further, these efforts will also reduce expenditures: y y y y y Transform Subsidy Entitlements into Subsidy Guarantees Sunk Cost Analysis on all Capital Projects if you wouldnt do it again, stop doing it now. Really eliminate longevity bonuses Consider furlough days or a short work week Cut a quarter of a million dollars in City Memberships

And as a last resort, as we proposed last year, a 10% across the board cut, if I were to pursue this approach, it would yield $47.5 MM. We need to stop DeStefano from forcing you from your home through annual tax hikes to pay for his unaccountable system of cronyism. I want you in your Home, not fleeing to the suburbs. Property taxes will be voted on by you, every two years. Together, we can put an end to My Way or the Highway dictatorship and Stop The Waste. We can keep taxes flat in New Haven. Where there is a will, there is a way. And I have will. Together we will find way. ### Previous Announcements Term Limits 8 yrs for the President, 8 yrs for the Mayor End to cronyism and special favors Simplify and Streamline City Government We need Transformation, not incremental changes Clean Elections Candidate Come Back Home Program DeStefano not ready for Plan B. Didn't balance 2011 Budget without rainy day fund. Take $100,000 cut in compensation to $75k

References: CERC: http://www.cerc.com/TownProfiles/Customer-Images/newhaven.pdf 2010-2011 City Budget, pp: 2-14, 2-15 2011-2012 City Budget, pp: 2-13 FRAC Report, Management Partners, 9/25/10: http://www.nhcan.org/docs/wp/FRAC-Final.pdf

http://www.ward49.com/participatory-budgeting/ https://www.uslandrecords.com/ctlr/controller