Esposito underscores education as top topic among voters

By Scott Benjamin

DANBURY – Dean Esposito, the apparent Republican nominee for mayor, says voters tell him that the “biggest issue is education.”

However, he criticized City Council at-large member Roberto Alves, the favorite for the Democratic nomination, for complaining that the city ranks “dead last” among Connecticut’s 169 municipalities in school funding.

In April, Alves told Danbury Patch, "Our city budget needs a lot of work, and it's unfortunate that we've gotten to a place where our schools have gotten the bare minimum of funding for the better part of a decade to operate and educate our youth."

Esposito, who is currently the chief of staff to Republican Mayor Joe Cavo, said that Alves’s comments on Danbury’s ranking in state school spending portrays the city “almost in a bad light.”

He added, “I think we have always tried to provide the best possible education. These calculations [on school funding] are out of different recipes,” including funding from the state government.

Earlier this year, The News-Times of Danbury reported that Cavo's proposed budget provided "$137 million for the schools, about $12 million less than the education board had requested. But the school budget would total $145.5 million when other funding sources, including federal grants are included."

On the capital side, Esposito said Danbury has spent “$250 million over the last 10 years developing [school] locations,” including the construction of a freshmen academy at Danbury High School.

Former City Council President Chris Setaro, the 2019 Democratic candidate for mayor, told Danbury Patch two years ago that the city’s schools were overcrowded and their might be a need for another elementary school and a third middle school.

In an interview with Danbury Patch, Esposito said the Career Academy, slated to open in 2024, will largely address the surge in Danbury’s school enrollment. It will house 1,400 students from sixth through 12th grade at the Summit, the former site of Union Carbide’s headquarters. Esposito noted that 80 percent of the project is being funded by the state.

Esposito said that Nuvance Health – which includes Danbury Hospital, the city’s largest employer – will be moving a large number of its executive staff from Connecticut and New York state to the Summit, which will create a “hands-on working environment” for some of the students.

Former Republican Mayor Mark Boughton, a former Danbury High School teacher who stepped down last December after 19 years to become the state commissioner of Revenue Services, had long encouraged that the schools attempt to teach more practical work skills.

Alves told Danbury Patch in April that the Career Academy will become “a huge asset,” but added, “we can and should do more.”

Esposito indicated that there also is potential for charter schools in Danbury, noting that discussions continue about opening the Danbury Prospect Charter School, which has received $25 million from an unnamed philanthropist.

Since 1989 Esposito – the son a former Democratic state representative from the 110th District - has spent 10 years as a Democratic City Council member, served as the town clerk, ran in 2005 as the Democratic candidate for mayor, became a Republican and has worked in various positions in City Hall for about 15 years, spending the last five years as chief of staff to the mayor.

He says throughout his career the budget “negotiations” between the Board of Education and the City Council have always followed “the same scenario.”

“The wish list comes in at this amount and the Council comes in at a lower amount,” Esposito explained.

He added, “I hate to say it: It is a case that [the Board of Education will] ask for this, but [then later say] we really need that,” when a lower budget figure is presented.

Esposito said Danbury is “in a perfect position” to start having deliberations between the mayor’s office, the City Council and school officials well ahead of the budget season since the Board of Education will soon hire a new superintendent of schools to succeed Sal Pascarella, who recently retired.

State Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107), whose district includes a slice of northern Danbury, served from 2013 to 2017 on the Brookfield Board of Education. In a phone interview with Danbury Patch, he said, “When you start the negotiations earlier, there is more collaboration and better results.”

Alves told Danbury Patch in April that, "The effects of underfunding our schools reach beyond overcrowding and academic problems — it affects our property values, restricts our tax base, and it affects the type of businesses that come to Danbury."

However, Esposito related that before the pandemic, metro Danbury was the only one of the nine labor markets in Connecticut that recovered all of the jobs lost in the 2008 Great Recession.

He said the Summit “is a city within a city on the west side and it is bringing jobs to Danbury.”

“People are knocking down our door every day,” Esposito remarked. “We’re bringing in new businesses as we speak.” He said the city also is attracting people from New York City and Westchester County who have the capability to work from home.

What about the future of the Danbury Fair Mall with the growth in online retail?

Esposito said he was part of a pre-discussion meeting with potential investors on inserting housing in part of the mall, which has been operating since 1986.

“There is a section on the back side that is not as popular with renters,” he explained.

He said the potential investors have a plan that “allows the tenant to come downstairs and utilize the services there.”

“The pitch was pretty creative,” said Esposito.

On a related topic, Esposito said he believes that existing businesses, such as Fuel Cell Energy, could be a magnet to attract other firms as the country attempts to “go green.”

Danbury’s municipal budget has had a zero increase in the tax mill rate for three consecutive years. The $267 million package approved this spring came on an 11-10 party-line vote in the City Council.

Esposito said as mayor he would “try to keep the taxes as low as possible, especially during the recovery period” following the pandemic.

Danbury apparently has a history of frugal spending. In the 1970s two grass roots groups – the Danbury Taxpayers Association and the Equitable Tax Association – sought to overturn spending increases. Democratic Mayor Gene Eriquez, who served from 1989 to 2001, was noted for small spending hikes.

Alves told Danbury Patch in April, “If we keep up our current funding practices, by 2026 we're going to have a $31M deficit. So when it comes to the way we budget, things are going to have to change."

Danbury ranks first in the state in sales tax revenue and first per capita in restaurants.

Yet, former Assistant Superintendent of Schools William Glass told The News Times in June 2018 as he was retiring that there was considerable increase in poverty during his 20 years in the city.

Boughton told Danbury Patch in October 2018 that about half of the students in the public schools are on reduced lunch. A United Way study that year indicated that 32,000 households, about half of those in Danbury, were slightly above the poverty line or at some point below that measure.

Why has poverty increased so much over the last generation?

“They are coming a lot from across the border,” Esposito explained. “They are working as hard as possible for their families. But unfortunately they are not flush with money when they get here. They are getting their opportunities here. They are raising their families here. Danbury is a working city.”

Danbury has an AAA bond rating from Fitch, the highest designation possible.

It has a fund balance of 23.1 million – equal to 8.7 percent of the municipal budget. Boughton told Danbury Patch in 2019 that the city only had $2.5 million in fund balance when he initially took office in 2001.

Esposito said he would seek to maintain or increase the current fund balance.

As of 2019, the pensions for the seven municipal employee bargaining units were funded at 76.7 percent. This compares favorably with other cities in the top 10 in population in Connecticut. According to a 2018 analysis by the Yankee Institute, Waterbury, the fifth most populated city, was at 32 percent; Hartford, ranked fourth in population, was at 44 percent; Bridgeport, first in population, came in at 46 percent; and New Haven, the state’s second most populous city, had funded 48 percent of its pension obligations.

The Yankee Institute analysis reported that usually the higher pension funding is in the suburban or rural towns. For example, Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn told Patch.com in June that his town’s pension obligations were 101 percent funded.

Boughton said at various points during his 19 years in office that even though the city’s population was increasing the municipal government had found efficiencies to operate with fewer municipal employees than when he was initially elected in 2001.

Esposito said technology could make it possible to further reduce the work force.

“However, we’re at a point now where we probably are not going to reduce the workers at City Hall,” he added. “We want to provide quality services to our constituents.”

Danbury Patch reported in April that Alves said the city needs to hire more police officers.

"We don't have enough officers to work the traffic," he said regarding concerns he had received from voters about speeding on Danbury's roads.

Esposito said in the meetings he has had with Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour, the chief is “comfortable on staffing levels.”

He added, “If I am mayor and he says, ‘Dean we need more police officers,’ then we’re hiring more police officers.”

Setaro made road maintenance a prime part of his 2019 campaign platform.

Esposito said about 15 miles of roads will be paved this summer.

He said, except for minor repairs and maintenance, the paving and drainage projects have “historically” been paid for in Danbury through bonding, which is usually been at about 75 percent of the costs with the other 25 percent coming from state grants. He indicated that “a large portion of the annual grant for municipal projects is committed to paving.”

On constituent service, Esposito remarked that if elected he would re-establish the Saturday office hours that Boughton held.

“I can’t tell you how much people appreciate coming into the building that they own,” he said. “They also were satisfied that they got their answers right from the mayor.”

As of June, Danbury had 14,456 registered Democrats, 8,673 Republicans, 19,591 unaffiliated and 756 voters registered with other parties

Even Godfrey has said that Boughton “was popular and everybody liked him. It is hard to change things in the Land of Steady Habits."

Harding said that Boughton “would think outside the box. He was apolitical and pragmatic. I have found that Dean is the same way.”

Boughton was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010 and in 2018 captured the GOP convention nomination for governor and placed a distant second in a five-way primary.

The Republicans held a 14-7 edge on the City Council entering the 2019 election. Now they have just an 11-10 advantage. The Democrats flipped three state legislative seats in Danbury in 2018 and held onto them in the 2020 election.

Alves has been actively meeting with voters since January. Godfrey said he is the most ambitious mayoral candidate that he has seen.

Esposito, the only candidate to announce for the GOP nomination, didn’t formally enter the campaign until May, but Harding said he hasn’t seen a non-incumbent run for mayor of the Hat City with such an impressive resume. Esposito also will have incumbent Republican City Treasurer Dan Jowdy and Town Clerk Jan Giegler, a former long-time state representative, on the ballot with him.

City Council member John Esposito III and businessman Sedeaka Lawrence are also in the Democratic race, and although the Democratic Town Committee endorsed Alves in April there is potential for a September 14 primary.

Harding said, “It is a race that is extremely difficult to predict, because there are so many unknowns. I think both parties have reasons for optimism and for reservation.”