City Balance Sheet Dilemma! Blake Proves Worse Than Richetelli

FACTS DO NOT LIE! Milford Republicans prove themselves as less irresponsible than Milford Democrats. The Graph below demonstrates that when it comes to eroding the city balance Sheet, Mayor Ben Blake has topped all previous records held by the previous kleptocrat Jim Richetelli. The city is not yet bankrupt because we still have more assets than liabilities, but we are well on our way with Blake "the snake." I predicted some years ago that under the present trends the city would be in big trouble around 2014 at the latest, because that is when (under the present trends) Milford would have depleted its entire asset base. Every good accountant will tell you that when you have more Liabilities than assets you have a negative net worth or in other words you are bankrupt. This makes borrowing more difficult and creditors grow concerned about a responsible plan whereby the city can balance not only its budget but its books. This often results in a massive spike in property taxes, credit downgrades and a decline in services. The future of Milford looks bleak with this administration we may want to think about a change come next election. 

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Picking Our Pockets One Business at a Time

Faux Pas Conservative Mayor Jim Richetelli announced with pride today that the city hired, private corporate tax collector strong armed Milford businesses out of triple the amount they hoped to collect a whopping $560 Grand.

While the Mayor called Milford business owners "scofflaws" and "tax cheats" he ignored the fact that Republicans are historically proponents of small business. The very engine that drives Milford's local economy. Today, despite the Richetelli propaganda Milford is indeed under severe duress, and the Tax attacks on small business are being exacerbated in aggregate. $560 Grand Collected, means the people of Milford have paid that money. This Money has been paid by the Milford Hospital Closing a unit and laying off people, money that our larger companies recoup by letting people go, cut their hours or just fire them.

In exchange the city raises our property taxes, cuts our services, grants themselves raises and closes our schools. How people are not outraged is beyond me, but as the dissatisfaction of our local Government continues and Milford's austerity goes by the wayside, the pandemonium of excessive spending at city hall continues.

The Milford leaders who bless this tax assault know nothing of the fact that Just under Obama tax levy's increased 10 Fold to 3.7 Million. To give the readers an inclination on how drastic of an increase this number is, the IRS statistics cited merely 200,000 levy's 10 years ago vs. 3.7M today confirming that there is no bailout for business owners. These levy's carry hefty penalties and interest that only go away after they are paid or the person who owes them dies trying to get out of debt.

We always hear about how Republicans are critical of Obama, the health care tax, the carbon tax the increase on capital gains tax etc. and yet we find that there are only differences in their logo's not their actions. Quite sadly and as a small business owner myself, I have seen and experienced first hand the tyranny of the IRS and the draconian measures of courts when times are tough. This year alone I had to say goodbye to many employees, and friends who lost their businesses and witnessed swarms of tax collectors shaking down businesses. If you want to see for yourself how bad things have gotten just ask you mail person how many IRS and Tax Collector letters they deliver daily and I promise you will be stunned.

But no matter how hard things get, I always find there is some clueless chap who is still willing to take a risk and rent a retail space in pursuit of the American dream. They do this with the same naivety and ignorance of their predecessors who, like them, were also unaware of how many tax predators will arrive at their doorstep demanding money.

Personally, I am a person that likes to rise to these kinds of challenges and find solutions. My friend Steve Pjuria who teaches a Milford Ed class on how to Start a Business brings his students to me for final training. I have been happy to give groups of aspiring business owners lessons in the pitfalls of opening a business. Sadly I must inform many of them that the city of Milford is hostile toward large businesses and today's headlines prove me right that government sanctioned corporations (on commission) will attack them and invade their books for a buck in this town.

This is not to say people should quit trying to make living, or pursue their dreams, but rather they need to consider a plan whereby success is profit based and often that includes taking your business mode to cyberspace, working out of your car or carving a space out in your home before becoming a Commercial tax target.

This Weeks Property Transfers

64 Hillside Ave, Claudia Rutkowski to Benjamin Ross, $807,000. (Featured Photo)

5 Bridgewater Ave, Edvard Khond Karyan to National City Bank, $1.

28 Bristol Ter, Thomas N. Shea to Paule Joksovic, $340,000.

32 Chevelle Pl, Robert J. Esposito to Mawtthew E. and Michele Haramis, $390,000.

20 Clinton St, Jody Mead to Gina Magaudda, $307,200.

39 Coram Ct, Michael R. and Donnam Harrison to Edward G. and Karen M. Frawley, $369,000.

51 Elder St, Patricia A. Stockdale to Barbara W. Carroll, $237,500.

28 Fern St, Edward G. and Karen M. Frawley to Thank Y. Cao and Phyong T. Nguyen, $265,000.

312 Foxwood Ln Unit 312, Christian and Jennifer Gregory to Michael Aronoff, $180,000.

11 Knoll Ave, Amy Foote to Piane Liuzzo, $195,000.

21 Kohary Dr, Stanton Agnes M Est and Joseph E. Meuser to Christopher D. Sonsini, $115,000.

23 Lilac Ln, John and Hellen E. Stardellis to Mohini Ranganathan and Sudhir Perincheri, $330,000.

68 Live Oaks Rd, FNMA to Anthony Verderame, $300,000.

196 Lookout Hill Rd Unit, Christopherp Orlando to Andrew Robbins, $447,000.

36 Lyda Dr, Elizabeth L. Seno and Edward G. Gibson to Susan F. Mastrianni, $360,000.

48 Mcdermott St, Craig A. and Melanie Poppa to Ryan Swaller and Diandra Phontek, $244,000.

160 Meadow Park Dr, Jacobson Dagmar R Est and Linda Jacobson to Patrick J. Delillo, $265,000.

1070 New Haven Ave Unit 73, Deutsche Bk Natl T Co Tr to Ehab Abd Elsalam, $90,000.

44 Randolph Farm Rd, Mark T. and Banetta D. Johnson to Pankaj N. and Shilpa P. Patel, $619,000.

16 Rock Rd, Tyra Rabel to Howard Feldman, $620,000.

32 South St, Benjamin H M. Ross to Lara M. Arlideson and Anna Uirika Taube, $400,000.

10 Utica St, Antonio Alves Possantos and Wells Fargo Bank NA to Wells Fargo Bank NA, $1.

133 Welchs Point Rd, William V. and Cheryl C. Mingione to Julianna Greggos, $299,690.


For More information on any Property listed, including photos, previus purchase prices and sales figures ClICK HERE.

Milfords New Mill Rate Decreased To 28.23

Milford's Mil Rate was once 34.36 according to a 2005 George J. Smith assessment today that number has decreased to the above mentioned 28.23 Mill Rate. This figure is listed at the town website tax assessors link proving that conditions now exist that are pressuring the number downward.

Some have clamored that this is merely an election year ploy to make the incumbent leadership look good, while others believe that the 2005 assessments are not indicative of the true value of properties today. But to set the speculation and conjecture aside what is really going on is the Mill Rate is merely leveling out. While most experts could debate the actual growth of the grand list, one thing we all agree on is that mill rates decrease with increases in property values. This is why Connecticut's wealthiest towns like Greenwich, Darien, and Westport have recognizably low Mil Rates. (In most cases these are in the single digits.)

Milford's affluence appears to have grown, but not happily because with that image or "illusion" comes the unwelcome decrease in state funding to our schools creating the sore topic of an unfair cost sharing formula, but the good news is that average homeowners will be paying a little less taxes this coming year an average of 2.5% less.

Put down the champagne, because this is a Pyrrhic victory. The 2005 re-evaluation was done at the peak of the market only to be followed by a three year bust in real-estate that caused prices to stagnate and in some cases decline. Most residents on or near the water saw staggering 50%-100% property tax increases virtually overnight at the higher mil-rate, now perhaps the give back will render some desperately needed relief.

This decrease is very welcome but only because we have been taxed so excessively hard in the last couple of years due to the false reality of an inflated "bubble" real estate market. In my opinion this decrease falls short and is still slightly out of balance with true and accurate home values. By my personal calculations the mill rate should have been at 26.5. and not 28.23. (Estimate derived from chart above.)

Milford Prepares to Audit 700 Businesses

Most of these businesses being audited, are estimated to have $50,000.00 or more in taxable assets. These assets are usually the ones listed on their property report documents and are located at the Town Tax Assessors office. Many small businesses are already questioning the irrational logic behind paying tax to the city on company chairs, desks, computers, plants, and art however, some in city hall are crying foul that not enough is being reported.

Richetelli is expecting the sweeping "business tax" dragnet style audit to reap $200,000.00 in revenue to his budget. The Milford Mirror has also made a rather dismissive story out of this business hostile city policy. The Mirror cited that only big companies will be subject to the audit, when in reality the auditing company will get a one time 25% commission on all the cash it can legally extort from our local community.

This commission may certainly all but guarantee that the estimated 700 targeted businesses increase to a greater number. This figure may actually balloon further as the immutable laws of corporate greed give birth to the wanton avarice of most every common collection agency. But what concerns me is not so much the corruption of good men, the "carte blanche" given to Tax Management Associates, or the squabbling pirates who will be dividing the new found loot at city hall, it is, rather the aggregate encumbrance and interference of our local governments misguided policy in the business community.

The timing of this could not be more inappropriate. The state of Connecticut just reinvigorated its tax amnesty plan and is in the early phase of implementing tax enforcement against small businesses mis-reporting sales taxes. The Federal government is raising all kinds of taxes across the board, local commercial and residential property taxes have spiked and the minimum wage increase has been recently put into effect.

This has all happened in a period where the credit markets have been frozen, making it very difficult to obtain credit for business loans, unemployment rates have significantly increased, and electric rates doubled. Recently CT Representative Cafero (R) from Norwalk said that Connecticut was ranked dead last as being the worst state in America to operate a small business, and Milford may very well be on its way to being the worst town in CT with this unusual collection attempt.

This latest Richetelli policy, albeit legal and seemingly altruistic and honorable is, poorly timed, ill conceived and nothing more than a creative attempt to circumvent the reality that our city cannot continue to ignore the nationwide malaise of Carbon Taxes, Tax Hikes, Fee Hikes, Inflation, Foreclosures, and Increased Regulation imposed on everything.

The choices are not good for anyone involved, but for city officials to just "jump at easy money" under the guise of "tax collection enforcement policy" is neither an honest assessment of the cities "good intentions" or a direct attack limited to "big business" only. Large companies in our city like Schick have options, they can close down and move their manufacturing elsewhere, much in the same way Bic left town for Shelton costing the city jobs and taxable revenue.

This policy is a wrong headed policy that will add to the hostile business climate already underway. There is little doubt that business will adapt and cut back to balance their books at the expense of their employees who always end up paying the price through reduced medical benefits, pay limitations, and most tragically unemployment. The resulting business tax enforcement will certainly convince many small businesses on the verge to come to a faster and more decisive decision, that this new enforcement action may be the deciding factor to just Go out of business.... It does'nt take much in this hostile business climate.

Milford needs to be thinking in the "other way" or in other words do a "complete 180 degree turn" on this one if our local businesses are to thrive as this administrations claims in its public rhetoric.

Milford's Vanishing Elderly

The 2000 U.S Census showed Milford as having 7,796 persons 65 years and older living in Milford however that number has been in a bit of a decline. Recently I learned from the 2008 Connecticut Economic Resource Center Data sheet that the numbers reported for the 65 and older crowd were off. down to 7,622. On the surface this does not look like a dramatic difference, but when its put in a percentage to the rest of the population the number of "65 and overs" shrunk amid a steadily growing population.

Milford's population in 2000 was 52,305 with 7,796 people over age 65. In 2007 that number changed to 53,874 with 7,622 "65 and overs". While I recognize that these numbers do no show a concrete trend, I must point out that we appear to be developing inverse growth here in Milford. Most concerning is that this trend is occurring during a period that is supposed to show "Baby boomer" growth. Milford is not only unaffected by the "Baby Boomer" trend, but rather seems to be dodging it altogether. These numbers must be watched more carefully into 2008 and 2009, as Milford continues to raise its property taxes, energy costs continue to remain high and relief of any kind remains unavailable to Milford's poorest.

Milford is now growing the town with new young blood and is trending toward phasing out the elderly. While I hope this pattern is nothing more than a false alarm I must admit that more needs to be done to ensure the domestic day to day affordability of Milford's finest the 65 and older crowd to remain here in town.

One idea I had to alleviate this problem is to freeze their property taxes until such time as their property is transferred or sold. I believe it is unconscionable to increase the property tax on a senior who is unable or not well enough to vacate their home. I believe the fair thing to do is to defer their property tax increases until such time they vacate or transfer their property.

Seniors are an important part of all communities, they contribute to our tax base and demand little in return from the city as they often have no children in schools. Our town needs to enact proper zoning and planning laws to include seniors as protected and vital to a harmonious tax system capable of sustaining a balanced tax base. No town can tax its way out of economic trouble, but it can foster and encourage zoning and planning laws that balance tax revenues as derived from young homeowners, business, and seniors. I believe that this is the key to taxes and our quality of life, having a harmonious tax base that affordibly, and collectively contributes to fund city services.

Our Kids' Test Scores, and Local Property Taxes

Not very often do we think about things like the Federal No Child Left Behind act, or our states share of the ED or the Federal Education Disbursement funding to local states and cities.

Some believe that NCLB was one of the crowning achievements of the Bush administration back in 2001, it passed with an impressive majority in both the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate and is viewed as a bi-partisan success. But shortly after it passed we had somewhat of a local and state revolt here in Connecticut.

The first to come out against it was Connecticut Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg, she began arguing that its testing requirements are too expensive and that taxpayers “won’t learn anything new about our schools by giving these extra tests.” Many parents seem to agree.

Attorney General Blumenthal was also given the blessing of the Connecticut state legislature to actually go and sue the Federal Government so as to bring relief to the demands of many schools in CT. Some cited that this model does not work because our state schools do not represent a common demographic image of what other states have in America.

It is common knowledge that our schools perform much more poorly in the big cities where poverty is common, and incredibly above average in the wealthy suburbs. Towns like Wilton, Greenwich and Westport are able to maintain lower property taxes, and also receive the all the benefits of the NCLB program as well.

Under the NCLB law, cities receive some early benefit in funding and then the big schools soon get penalized for failing to meet the expectations of the law. This impedes poor performing schools ability to recover the ED funding. The law also works in tandem with the big city problems of tax delinquencies, low real estate values and dwindling school revenues. Ultimately big cities end up having difficulty meeting even the most basic educational objectives while the wealthy suburbs enjoy a disproportionate share of the federal funding and higher valued real estate.

This issue was recently debated in Hartford, and many municipal mayors are directly attributing the decline in ED funding to an ever growing demand on property owners to fill those education budget shortfalls. These are resulting in taxpayer protests, high foreclosure rates, and statewide teacher layoffs. Layoffs that work to create even more of a downward spiral, because cities work hard to find those teachers that qualify under the NCLB law only to later put the ED funding and students in jeopardy by contributing to the very factors that cause students to fail; their good teachers to be layed off.

NCLB was revised in 2007 and those changes are still uncertain as to whether or not anything will improve. But in the meantime Connecticut is not alone in this issue because many other states are following CT in their pursuit of a fair law that balances the education budget with taxpayers ability to pay. Education in Connecticut has also been further complicated with more legal mandates from Sheff Vs. O'Neill, and all its associated expensive educational mandates.

Advocates of NCLB have pointed out that since the inception of NCLB many student scores have improved, and these are some of the results according to Wikipedia.

Improved test scores (NAEP)

The Department of Education points to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, released in July 2005, showing improved student achievement in reading and math:[12]

-More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined.

-America's nine-year-olds posted the best scores in reading (since 1971) and math (since 1973) in the history of the report.

-America's 13-year-olds earned the highest math scores the test ever recorded.

-Reading and math scores for African American and Hispanic nine-year-olds reached an all-time high.

-Achievement gaps in reading and math between white and African American nine-year-olds and between white and Hispanic nine-year-olds are at an all-time low.

-Forty-three states and the District of Columbia either improved academically or held steady in all categories (fourth- and eighth-grade reading and fourth- and eighth-grade math).

Further reference from the American Conservative:


One last point to this article is that every parent can help our local school budget by getting involved with the school and learning how they can work with their children to improve our towns NAEP test scores. This is the best we can do since our law suit challenging NCLB has been dismissed.

Milfords New Mill Rate Takes Effect on Jan 1, 2008

Like most towns affected by the new property assessments, Milford got assessed at the peak of the Real Estate Boom. The assessments done in 2007 were completed as Connecticut law requires every town to do. Our taxes are then re-calculated based on a new mill rate of which is based on 70% of your homes "real value" as of its assessment date. To explain this further, a mill is equal to $1.00 of tax for each $1,000 of assessment. To calculate the property tax, multiply the assessment of the property by the mill rate and divide by 1,000. For example, a property with a assessed value of $50,000 located in town with a mill rate of 20 mills would have a property tax bill of $1,000 per year. (In Milford our mill rate as of today is 31.77.)

2008 could be the year that breaks the backs of Milford's residents. This is of great concern to me because most of the towns frustrations are being erratically played out in this years municipal election for Mayor. To begin we must look at the fundamentals in our town and the areas town residents will be affected the hardest.

Inflation is affecting everything, this is largely due to federal policy of spending more than the nation can afford to pay. When America continues to borrow, borrow, borrow and then print money to pay our bills, the whole country gets quietly taxed by way of inflation. Simply put that $20.00 in your pocket loses its value at the rate of about a 1.5 cents a week. This happens every time consumer prices go up, and the money supply (M3) is expanded.

Energy, is at the forefront of these cost of living increases in town. Electricity is up 90% over the last 7 years, and Connecticut has the highest gasoline prices in the Continental USA, second only to Hawaii. Oil is at $94.00 a barrel making the cost of staying warm this winter the most expensive in history. Poor people are also affected as Bush just cut funding to the energy assistance program.

Mortgages, being in the mess that they are in and set to re-adjust in 2008, is causing the New Haven Milford area to lead the charge in the State Foreclosure fiasco.

Homeowners Insurance, has increased this year making the required home owner escrow payments even higher than usual. This escrow is also inclusive of many double digit increases in property taxes.

All our foreign made goods are expected to rise in value as the U.S. dollar continues to purchase less and less. The dollar has already lost over 50% of its value when compared to other major currencies. This makes all those inexpensive foreign produced "Wall-Mart" items more expensive.

Food costs are also up dramatically over the last five years making the cost of feeding a family that much more expensive.

The city and its tax policy is just struggling to maintain the existing infrastructure it already has in place. To lower taxes in Milford one would have to reduce the city services and size of the government. This is a very unlikely and difficult task, given that the largest employer in Milford is the city itself. Would the town support a hiring freeze, or 10% expansion of the teacher student ratio? This could be debated at the local level, but it is usually very unpopular because it gives teachers more work for the same pay.

These ideas, however, may be largely irrelevant because it is entirely possible that the city of Milford may be headed for a large and unexpected involuntary adjustment due in large part to macro-economic monetary policy of which it has no control over. Foreclosures are just the first sign that the city demand is greater than the provisions of the city residents. This is expected to accelerate further, as baby boomers go bankrupt on health care costs and the lack of good paying jobs continue to leave our state.

Currently Milford is at risk of mass real estate depreciation, this will put the Mill Rate out of kilter with the true assessed home values. Should the dollar continue its decline, our middle class homes will be all but unaffordable to the next generation of home buyers. Foreigners, however, will find great bargains on America's properties as currencies like the Euro, and Canadian Dollar continue to appreciate.

Sadly, Milford's position on the shoreline may become a great opportunity for foreigners to purchase second vacation homes here in the U.S. This may be good for our town as these vacationers would probably not have children in our local schools and would likely only be here seasonally. This would help our struggling mill rate of which is based on out of kilter assessments. The news today is that home prices across America are the lowest in 16 years. If this is true of our town as well than that makes the current mill rate deceptively higher than what you might think. For now the best thing we can do is be vocal about future State and Federal tax increases, stay out of debt, and get a good deal on a cord of wood this winter.