Hamden Mayor Vetoes Budget Approved By Legislative Council

HAMDEN, CT — Mayor Lauren Garrett announced Friday that she is vetoing the 2025-26 budget recently approved by the Legislative Council.

The council’s approved budget cut nearly $9 million from Garrett’s original proposal, the New Haven Register reported.

Read Garrett’s full statement on her decision to veto the council’s approved budget.

To the Residents of Hamden,

I am speaking to you today not just as your Mayor, but as a fellow resident who understands how challenging it is to make ends meet right now. Like you, I am deeply concerned about any decision that could make life more difficult for our families and neighbors. That is why the decision I have reached is so difficult but absolutely essential for the long-term well-being of our town.

After a thorough review and extensive consultation with Hamden’s legal and financial experts, I determined that I must veto the budget passed by the Legislative Council.

This is not a step I take lightly, and I want to be clear about that. I hear daily about the financial pressure many of you are under. I know what even a small tax increase can mean for those of us with young families just getting by, on fixed incomes, and for our local businesses striving to stay afloat. My responsibility is to ensure that every decision made genuinely serves our best interests.

The budget transmitted to my office is deeply flawed, not only in its process but also in its substance. Approving it would cause lasting damage to our town and ultimately impose far greater burdens on us as residents for years to come.

I am grateful to the Legislative Council for their agreement to fully fund the Board of Education's request, demonstrating a shared commitment to prioritizing our students' future. I also appreciate the collaboration of Councilmembers with the Administration to identify responsible cuts during the budget process. However, the final budget passed by the Legislative Council contains critical errors that cannot be overlooked.

What Happened:

On March 17, I transmitted my proposed budget of $313,653,000.00 to the Legislative Council. This budget represented a 4.8% increase from the current year and was carefully balanced to maintain essential services and our fiscal progress.

On June 5, after months of deliberations, the Legislative Council approved a budget of $311,779,206.00. While this was a 0.6% reduction from my proposal, it included $16 million in revenue from our Fund Balance. This would plummet our reserves from $21 million to just $5 million, taking us well below our required 7% fund balance policy.

On June 9, the Legislative Council transmitted a very different budget of $304,790,424.29 that included $7 million in unspecified budget savings. This figure represents an unsustainable and dangerous financial gimmick.

Legislative Council leadership explained the difference between the budget they approved on June 5 and the budget that was transmitted on June 9 as a “scrivener's error”. A scrivener's error applies to minor typos, not major shifts in financial policy involving millions of dollars and a fundamental change in the Town's financial strategy.

Proposals by Legislative Council leadership to achieve the $7 million in budget savings would directly violate union contracts, legal obligations, and vendor agreements that the Legislative Council itself entered into. These are not legitimate cuts that can be made without exposing the Town to costly lawsuits and significant liabilities. In some cases, the reductions targeted legally protected funds such as pension obligations and debt service. These types of cuts are not permissible under state law.

Real Consequences for Hamden:

The Town of Hamden would not be able to use the fund balance or borrow to meet the needs of a crisis.

Our municipal financial advisor warns depleting our fund balance would likely result in immediate downgrades from rating agencies, only a year after our ratings were successfully increased to "A-" by S&P and Fitch, the highest rating for Hamden in over two decades. He further warns this would dramatically increase the Town’s borrowing costs on all new capital projects by hundreds of thousands of dollars and prohibit our ability to refinance existing debt, including pension obligation bonds. This would also directly contradict the Town’s recently adopted fund balance policy and leave no financial cushion for emergencies like tornadoes, severe rain, or snowstorms, and prohibit the Town from applying for crucial short-term bank financing during crises.

Our municipal financial advisor believes depleting our fund balance would only "kick the can down the road" to the next budget cycle, creating an unsustainable fiscal cliff and potentially requiring a double budget increase in future years, and waste all the financial and budgetary progress the Town has made in the past few years.

Advice from legal counsel confirms that attempting to reduce agreed-upon salaries and wage rates set forth in collective bargaining agreements, as implied by the Legislative Council's proposed budget savings, would violate the Connecticut Municipal Employee Relations Act (MERA). This would lead to the State Board of Labor Relations ordering the immediate implementation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement with interest; full back pay to any impacted employee; payment of interest on the money owed to employees; and potentially significant attorney's fees incurred by the unions.

The budget passed by the Legislative Council would also slash critical department funding, which would directly undermine our ability to deliver the core services we all count on every day.

The Fire Department, for example, saw its medical supply line reduced to a point where emergency responders would no longer have access to the lifesaving equipment they need. I would be devastated if our paramedics and EMTs did not have the proper tools to save a child having an allergic reaction, a loved one suffering a stroke, or a senior in distress during a heatwave.

Public Works and Parks would be forced to scale back storm response. In a town with steep hills, heavy tree cover, and aging infrastructure, this could delay snow and tree removal, possibly preventing emergency vehicles from reaching residents in time and causing us to miss work and school.

My Responsibility to You:

Under the previous administration, Hamden had gone negative in the Fund Balance. Over the last three years, we have worked responsibly to get our fiscal house in order. This dedication has resulted in numerous bond rating increases, reflecting significant progress towards genuine financial stability. This is not the time to gut the Fund Balance and reverse the prudent fiscal management we established.

The consequences of failing to fund basic services and jeopardizing our financial stability would be devastating and far-reaching for our entire community.

My ultimate responsibility is to Hamden's fiscal integrity and the long-term well-being of its residents. I am prepared to make difficult choices today to protect our residents from significant financial burdens in the years ahead.

Together, we can ensure Hamden remains on a path toward stability, reliable services, and respect for the people who call this town home.

In service and solidarity,

Lauren Garrett

Mayor, Town of Hamden