It all began...

by Carol Christmas

It all began in the fall of 2005, with the arrival of the assessment letter. I thought, “there’s obviously been some mistake.” So, I joined the ranks of some 600 Hamden residents to dispute my home’s new appraised value. The meeting with Vision Appraisal was useless, and at the Board of Assessment Appeals hearing, I was shamed and insulted! With the value of my house doubled, and with the Mayor hinting at a 28.9 mill rate, the math pointed to at least a 25% property tax increase.

In April 2006, before the budget was voted on, Jan Barber, Sandra Friday and I developed some information sheets to hand to Hamden shoppers at the Skiff St. Stop & Shop. We urged people to call their District representatives and the Mayor to voice their concerns against higher taxes.

Then, the three of us met with Mayor Henrici. We brought ideas, hoping for some understanding and possibly some relief. Henrici can be charming, yet he is completely insensitive to the plight of the average Hamden homeowner.

In the meantime, folks did call their Legislative Council members. I was told that more calls than ever before were made over this 2006-2007 budget. In spite of this, the Council passed the budget, issuing in the highest property taxes in Hamden’s history! The vote was 12 for and 3 against. Betty Wetmore, Curt Leng (who crafted the budget) and John Flanagan voted against it. When I called John Flanagan and asked “why they didn’t pay any attention to us?” He bluntly responded, “you have no clout.” One apology came from Betty Wetmore, who said that she was sorry “that we (the Council) did not do a better job.”

Enter Mark Sanders, a young lawyer from Whitneyville, who came to be known as the ‘Champion of the Phase-In.’ Hopeful and tireless, Mark had been researching the issue for some time. And when he approached the Mayor and Council, he had already done most of the work for them. The Mayor and Council had the chance to win back our favor by supporting a phase-in (a method North Haven is using to ease the burden on the average residential taxpayer by spreading out the increase over a 3 year period).

Newspaper articles spread the hopeful news about the possibility of a phase-in, and more residents called to join the effort. By now, we had an established name: Hamden Homeowners for Tax Relief HHTR, a website, address, phone #’s, and enough frustrated people to write weekly letters. All of this formed our movement. We then began to host regular meetings.

The Mayor remained inflexible regarding the phase-in. His comment was simply, “bite the bullet.” The Council kept putting us off, hoping we would go away. The tax bills came out in July, and we responded by leafleting the polls at the Democratic primaries in August to draw attention to our cause, specifically, the phase-in proposal.

Finally, in early September, with help from Ron Gambradella and Curt Leng, the phase-in proposal was put on the Council’s agenda. We were given a special hearing. Some 70 supportive residents attended. Many spoke about financial hardships. The town offered excuses, “it’s too late” and “the computers are too old.” Then, Scott Jackson, the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer, got up and offered the “math” on a different state phase-in statute to completely baffle the generally uninformed Council. And it worked.

The Council members, as I’ve discovered, are just ordinary people with some political connection. Many are ill-equipped to deal with how our money is spent. They basically do what they are told, and so it was with the phase-in. After three hours, with some waffling on the part of a few council members. The Democrats were called into a quick caucus. Then, the vote was taken upon their return: 12 Democrats voted against a phase-in, one abstained, and the 2 Republicans voted in favor of the phase-in. Kathleen Schomaker (the abstention vote) clearly summed it up when she said, “we (the Council) have failed at compassion 101.”

In October and November 2006, we continued to hold general meetings to support our efforts to have a say in our own local government. We staged another action at the polls on election day, and more people joined the cause.

Joseph Cole, editor of The Chronicle, suggests that in this election year, the Mayor and his Council would be “wise to start working closely with (our) group.”

2007 is Hamden’s local election year. We’ve taken on a new name—H.A.R.T., the Hamden Alliance for Responsible Taxation—which reflects our broader view. Beyond relief, we want responsibility from our elected officials.

This year we aim to pay close attention to the budget process, and we intend to effect the election by finding candidates who will honor our views. We also have our new website, which will keep members informed about important information: dates, meetings, agendas, minutes, opinions, etc. This year we aim to make a difference.

Remember, we do have power. It’s up to us to use it.

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