East Haven Records "Record-Setting" $828k Operating Surplus for '15-'16 FY-----

Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. and East Haven Finance Director Paul Rizza announced today that the Town's final budget services figures indicate that East Haven ended the 2015-2016 fiscal year with an $828,947.00 operating surplus - the Town's fifth consecutive surplus since Maturo  returned to Town Hall in 2011 and a "record-setting" fifteenth balanced budget for Maturo since 1997.
 
Maturo explained, "Thanks to our sustained efforts to control spending, limit borrowing, and eliminate waste in government, the Town's final budget services figures project a surplus of $828,947.00 dollars for the fiscal year which closed on June 30, 2016.  This surplus marks the fifth since I returned to office in 2011 and a record-setting fifteenth balanced budget for my team since 1997."
 
Specifically, according to the Finance Department's latest budget services figures, revenue for the '15-'16 fiscal year totaled $87,812,062.00 million and total expenditures, including the Board of Education, totaled $86,983,115.00 million, resulting in an operating surplus of $828,947.00.
 
Maturo continued, "The projected $828,927.00 dollar surplus will be credited to the Town's rainy day fund, raising that fund from $3.85 million to $4.70 million dollars – its highest level since 2007.”
 
Finance Director Paul Rizza noted, "In 2011, the Town's fund balance, or rainy day fund, stood at just $200,800.00 dollars.  Based on the figures we're seeing today, the Town's fund balance has grown to a healthy $4,704,800 million dollars - an increase of over 2,300% in just five years."
 
Rizza explained, "Credit rating agencies generally recommend that municipalities maintain a minimum fund balance of no less than five percent (5%) of their operating budgets.  East Haven's $4.7 million dollar fund balance represents 5.21% of the Town's 2016-2017 operating budget, just above S&P's minimum recommendation."
 
In August of 2014, Standard and Poor's awarded East Haven an increase in its credit rating from "BBB+" to "A-" following the Town's demonstrated efforts to improve its finances.  Based on news of the Town's continued balanced operations and debt reduction initiatives, Standard and Poor's recently awarded the Town an historic two-tier bond rating increase from "A-" to "A+."
 
Maturo explained, "Under the prior administration between 2007 and 2011, the Town ran three deficits, suffered two credit rating reductions, and saw its fund balance spiral into a $5.19 million dollar deficit.  Since 2011, we've balanced five budgets, reduced our long term debt to historically low levels, and restored key internal service funds including the legal self insurance account.  We've met and exceeded each of the performance measures set by Standard and Poor's, which paved the way for the Town's recent historic bond rating upgrade."
 
By contrast, in January 2012, Moody's dropped the State of Connecticut's bond rating citing the State's high debt burden.  Earlier this year, Standard and Poor's and Fitch ratings each cut the State's bond rating in the same day - a move that media outlets reported as unprecedented in Connecticut's history. 
 
Maturo added, "While crippling debt has prompted many 22.6 million dollars since 2011 to an historic low.  In fact, our Finance Director projects that our efforts have us on track to pay off 90% of our outstanding long-term debt in the next eight to ten years."
 
Maturo noted, " Moving forward, we're going to use our improved debt and budget positions to begin reinvesting in our Town's infrastructure, including on the west end of Main Street, North High Street, and along Coe Avenue, in order to make real quality of life improvements that our residents will both enjoy and be proud of.
 
Maturo concluded, "Upon returning to office in 2011, our residents trusted my team and me to make some very difficult financial decisions.  I am thankful for their trust and delighted that we continue to be in a position to reward them for their patience.  In 2015, we enacted the largest tax decrease in a non-revaluation year since 1989 for our residents.  I am proud that in 2016, we preserved that historic tax reduction and that we have positioned ourselves to begin meaningful capital improvements that will improve residents' quality of life in Town for years to come."