Legislative Council Overrides Mayor’s Veto Of Hamden Budget

HAMDEN, CT — The Hamden Legislative Council unanimously voted to override Mayor Lauren Garrett’s veto of the council’s approved budget for 2026 at a special meeting on Monday night, according to WTNH News 8.

Garrett announced Friday that she was vetoing the council’s recently approved $304 million budget, which cut nearly $9 million from Garrett’s original proposal. Garrett called the council’s budget “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,” she said in a statement at the time.

Council members had said they achieved about $18 million in savings from Garrett’s budget, the nearly 9 million in cuts and an extra $9.11 million in unspent money from the current fiscal year, according to the New Haven Register.

Garrett said in a statement to WTNH News 8 after the council’s vote to override her veto, “Let me be clear. The legislative council’s budget did not cut $18 million in expenses. They relied on $9 million of fund balance and $7 million of undisclosed cuts.”

She previously called the $7 million in unspecified budget savings an “unsustainable and dangerous financial gimmick.”

Read more on Garrett’s original veto statement here.

The council needed a two-thirds majority vote to override the veto.

Leading up to Monday’s special meeting, Legislative Council President Dominique Baez released the following statement on Garrett’s veto:

Thursday evening, the Legislative Council received notice that Mayor Lauren Garrett has vetoed the adopted FY25-26 budget, a budget that delivers nearly $18 million in tax relief, provides full funding for the Board of Education, and establishes a path forward toward fiscal accountability. The Council intends to vote to on an override of the veto Monday night.

This veto is deeply disappointing. After weeks of public hearings, financial modeling, and deliberation, the Council passed a tightened budget that reflects the priorities and pain of our residents. The Mayor’s decision ignores the very real hardship this revaluation year has placed on homeowners and renters across Hamden.

Let’s be clear about what’s at stake:

• This budget includes a strengthened contingency line, giving the administration flexibility to manage funds while offering departments a shared safety net. It allows us to monitor spending with precision and respond to changing needs without sacrificing accountability.

• The Mayor’s proposed 4.8% increase in the operating budget may sound modest, until you realize it would have triggered average tax bill increases of more than 35% for homeowners. This administration’s refusal to acknowledge the crushing weight that places on families is out of step with the reality residents face.

• We know this administration has prided itself on tight fiscal control, but those are the residents’ purse strings, not just the town’s. If we're over-taxing residents to such a degree that our fund balance has grown “too fast,” in the Mayor’s own words, even third-party bond rating agencies are questioning it, that means we have room to provide relief without risking financial ruin. We do not believe in hoarding public dollars while residents face eviction, foreclosure, and impossible choices at the kitchen table.

• The administration has also been consistently evasive about providing a current and transparent status of the Fund Balance. The Council has requested timely updates throughout this budget season and received only vague or outdated numbers. It is difficult to have a serious conversation about fiscal policy when the full financial picture is withheld.

• The claim that our budget “violates contracts” or cuts “essential services” is misleading. No adopted cuts violate labor law, and no department was stripped of essential operations. The Fire Department and Public Works were funded at levels consistent with public safety, core service delivery, and recognized past year actuals. The administration’s alarmist language is not grounded in the adopted numbers.

• This Council made tough decisions. We trimmed where we could and we left room for the administration to manage and be a part of our solutions. Instead of joining us in this shared responsibility, the Mayor has chosen obstruction.

Councilmembers will stand by this budget because it reflects what residents asked for: meaningful relief, response to crisis and a better deal for working families.

The Council will meet Monday night to vote on an override of the Mayor’s veto. We call on our colleagues and community members to support this budget, not just for what it saves, but for who it protects.

Watch Monday night's council meeting below: