By Elizabeth Benton, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Mayor John DeStefano Jr. will seek $1 million in labor concessions and $8 million in savings from what he has termed “innovation based budgeting,” including targeted privatization of city services, greater reliance on volunteers and outside institutions and moving paper-heavy work online.

DeStefano’s proposed budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year will seek to phase-in one year of revaluation, after the city secured state legislation last year to freeze the process.

The mayor’s proposal would drop the tax rate by one mill to 41.21. The proposal would increase spending by 2.64 percent, from $464 million to $476.3 million. Current tax revenue would be increased by $16.1 million.

DeStefano’s proposal calls for a wage freeze for non-union staff, but incorporates raises for fire, police and teachers. He is seeking $1 million in labor concessions through decreases in longevity pay, furloughs and changes in medical benefit plans.

He also calls for $1.6 million in cuts to Board of Education positions, which he estimated would be done mainly through attrition. DeStefano has proposed a $3 million increase for the schools, to pay for salary increases for teachers negotiated in the new contract.

The budget calls for seating of a new class of police recruits mid-fiscal year.

DeStefano’s proposal incorporates $10 million through “monetization” of parking meters, intended to stabilize taxes until the economy improves. The city has been exploring a long-term lease of its meters to an investment group that would provide an upfront payment.

The proposal also includes a $694,000 increase in voluntary contributions from Yale University.

“If you have a house your taxes will go up. If you have a car or any other vehicle like that, your taxes will go down,” said Finance Committee chairman Alderman Yusuf I. Shah, D-23.

Aldermanic president Carl Goldfield, D-29, said DeStefano’s proposal seeks to begin a process of “performance based” budgeting, which aims to measure the “bang for the buck” of city services. Continued...

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“The fact of the matter is if you want to live in a thriving city that provides services, then you’ve gotta pay for it. We as a country and as a state have wanted to avoid that simple truth,” Goldfield said. “Everybody is tight now because money is hard to come by and we have to make decisions as to one, can we do things more efficiently and save some money, and two, are we going to have to pay a little more,” he said.

Teachers union president David Cicarella said he was unaware of pending school layoffs.

“Attrition usually handles things for us,” he said. “That’s how it’s been handled in the past.”

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