Hamden Democratic Primary 2023: Garrett Seeks Mayoral Nomination

HAMDEN, CT — Incumbent Democratic Mayor Lauren Garrett is seeking a second term in office, and faces a primary challenge by Board of Education member Walter Morton IV.

Garrett defeated Republican Ron Gambardella and Independent write-in candidate Al Lotto in the 2021 election, after beating three-term incumbent Mayor Curt Balzano Leng in the 2021 Democratic primary election. She received the Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement in July.

Patch asked the candidates to answer questions about their campaigns ahead of the primary, which is slated for Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Mayor Lauren Garrett

Experience:

Prior to becoming Mayor, I was a small business owner and served on the Legislative Council as Chair of the Education Committee. I am a mom of 3 kids, 2 of which are in Hamden Public Schools and my oldest just graduated from Hamden High.

As Mayor, I serve in an active role on the South Central Regional Council of Governments as Treasurer and on the Transportation Committee. I serve on the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities where I was asked to be Vice Chair of the Public Safety, Public Health, and Human Services Committee. I serve on a working group with the State Comptroller to make improvements to our municipal, state run pension plan.

The single biggest issue in town is _____, and I plan to do this about it:

Taxes. I speak with Hamden residents everyday about taxes. I know they are high; too high. People who have lived in Hamden all their life are wondering if they can afford to stay. Families have difficulty paying increasing taxes along with increasing costs due to inflation. I work every day to make progress on this issue.

I have stabilized the mill rate and eventually the mill rate can come down. It is important to understand how we got here. Hamden’s financial challenges are over 20 years in the making due to previous administrations’ lack of leadership and fiscal mismanagement. I inherited over $1 billion in debt and liabilities. Hamden essentially lived off credit cards for years and only made the minimum payments. This resulted in declining bond ratings from three major credit rating agencies, a negative fund balance or rainy day fund in 2020, unbalanced budgets resulting in deficits, and an increase to the mill rate under the previous administration from 39 to almost 52.

In less than 2 years, I have changed the tide on our finances. Our bond ratings’ outlooks have gone from negative to positive. Our fund balance has reached the target outlined in our fiscal policy and procedures manual. Our budgets are honest and balanced. We have submitted a 5-year plan along with our budget. We are now at a point where taxes are stabilized. I have worked to reduce expenses and advocate for more funding from the State of Connecticut. We went out to bid on our medical broker to find the best price and a broker who would help us to find cost savings. We saved $5 million last year, and our medical costs remained relatively flat during a time when municipalities saw double digit increases. I was part of a working group with our State Comptroller to make changes to one of our pension plans resulting in savings of $1.4 million and $40 million over the next 30 years. I am doing the work to control costs and in very significant ways bring down expenses. In the last 2 years we have brought in a record amount of funding from the State. We have received $20 million for our operating budget. This is for reimbursement for car taxes after the state reduced the mill rate for motor vehicles. Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PiLOT), and funding for education. We have been awarded $30 million in grants. Our financial outlook has vastly improved.

We are diligently working to increase our grand list which is done in two ways. We are assessing properties to make sure they are accurately included on the grand list. We are working diligently on economic development to grow the grand list. We are fostering an environment that provides efficiencies for businesses to get started in Hamden and a helpful team to provide support and feedback. We are working to extend the sewer lines on Whitney Avenue north of Mount Carmel. We have affordable housing applications in the pipeline. We are working with Hamden Public Schools and trade unions on workforce development. I often hear from businesses that they want to see stabilized taxes, and this is precisely what we have done.

Critical differences between me and my opponent:

I have a record of leadership on financial, environmental, and infrastructure successes. My team has brought in over $30 million in grant funding for projects to improve our community, including $8.6 million for a fire house in southern Hamden, $5.4 million to demolish the old middle school, and $1.3 million for repairs to the Keefe Community Center. We have been awarded grants to address drainage problems in watersheds. We will soon receive a gift of $600,000 for tree plantings. We have accomplished this in less than 2 years. My opponent was a paid lobbyist for the Town for 4 years and brought in $4 million that went to an outside agency. He is now a paid lobbyist for an oil company. I will continue to address climate change at the local level and make Hamden a more sustainable community.

My opponent is proposing adding large programs to our town budget and several additional positions with no way to pay for them.

Accomplishments:

After decades of mismanagement, I have righted the financial ship in Hamden. I know we have more work to do, though we are on the path to recovery. We have met our target for our fund balance and our bond ratings are moving up as reported by independent financial agencies.

Many new businesses have come to Hamden. We have had roughly 30 ribbon cuttings for small businesses in Hamden. Fullstack Modular has moved their global headquarters to Hamden. Ashley’s Furniture is replacing the old Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Whitney Brewery is renovating the old Mickey’s and is targeting early 2024 for their opening. Even Bob’s Stores is back. The Residence Inn by Marriott has opened after years of delays. Hamden is open for business and the businesses are coming in.

We have been members of Sustainable CT since 2017. The goal is to track progress towards becoming a more sustainable and equitable community. Hamden has not met a benchmark for 4 years. My team submitted enough reports and data to not only apply for the bronze certification but go for the silver certification as well.

Hamden is a more inclusive community. We have celebrated at Pride events, Juneteenth events, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Silver Bells. We celebrate our diversity.

We have installed over 2.5 miles of sidewalks and when our current paving plan is complete, we will have paved 17 miles of roads. The Skiff St bridge project will be complete at the end of this month.

We have increased the amount of communication coming from the Town to inform residents of our events, resources, and opportunities. We have made great strides in improving access to services both in person and virtually by digitizing manual processes and providing more and more on-line forms for Town services. We are providing digital equity by improving reliability, security, and access to Town services, improving infrastructure that ensures access to broadband and large screen devices, and using Digital Navigators to assist members of the community with acclimating and flourishing to our evolving digital world through supportive side-by-side support. We are bringing services to people actively rather than waiting for them to discover and chase them down on their own.

Other issues:

It is important to me that everyone from every part of Town feels safe in our neighborhoods and shopping centers. I have worked with our plaza owners to make security improvements including: increased lighting, private security, police officers in parking lots or inside stores, and improved video surveillance. As a result of this collaboration, we have seen significant improvements in our shopping centers. The Hamden Police Department is taking steps to address the nationwide trend of stolen motor vehicles by applying for a grant to provide deterrent patrols. Although there will always be work to do to address crime, what I am seeing more and more when I am out and about in Hamden is a busy, thriving town where residents are working, shopping, eating, enjoying our parks, and taking advantage of all the many advantages of living in Hamden. I think we can talk about collaborative solutions to crime without resorting to hyperbole or scaring our own citizens.

What else would you like voters to know about you?

I like to walk on the Farmington Canal and hike Sleeping Giant and West Rock. I like to read and cook for my friends and family. I enjoy being Mayor and working every day to improve our Town. I know we have more work to do and I hope to earn your vote to continue this work.