On Tuesday, May 12, 2026, Milford City Council held the first of three workshops designed to discuss the 2026-27 budget. The first night of hearings focused on budgets for Council, Community Support, the City Clerk, Planning & Zoning as well as Parks & Recreation.
“I realize that this is my first budget process in Milford, however with my 30 years of local government experience, this is not my first local government budget,” City Manager Chris Coleman said. “I understand the city has limited resources and raising taxes is often the last resort. Furthermore, I view the city’s budget process as a pie, with each department and expense being a slice of that pie. There are years when some slices increase, others stay the same and some are reduced. The department heads have done a great job spreading out their resources as the city continues to grow.”
The total budget was balanced, but according to Lou Vitola, Finance Director, this was a first draft that staff knew would change as council adjusted amounts.
“This is a conservative budget, but not super conservative, meaning we could find savings, but it is about as thin as we can get it,” Vitola said. “As for water and sewer, we are undergoing a rate study, but I think for now we can take a breather and see what our growth has done for us, so I don’t anticipate needing any rate changes in water and sewer.”
Vitola stated that electric rates were stable, so no increases were expected. As for property taxes, the city had done a good job over the past few years, only increasing property taxes at one percent per year over three years to reduce reliance on Realty Transfer Taxes. For FY27, Vitola pointed out that there were a few areas where the city would need to dip into reserves which is not sustainable.
“The current draft of the budget anticipates a two and a half cent tax increase,” Vitola said. “That’s not to say it has to be two and a half cents, but when I say the budget is balanced, the general fund before transfers and reserves is in the millions of dollars in deficit and that’s common for a city of our size.”
Councilman Jason James asked if the budget included reserves placed as investments in revenue projections. Vitola stated that investment revenue was included. James asked how that was projected and Vitola stated he estimates.
“For FY2026, I estimated the $1.4 million range, and we have already exceeded that,” Vitola said. “We should be closer to $1.6 or $1.7 million. For FY2027, I have estimated $1.5 million.”
James asked what was driving the deficit in the budget. Vitola explained that personnel makes up 72 percent of the operating budget. Some departments had lower personnel costs than others, but overall 72 percent of costs were related to personnel. This included salaries, medical insurance, retirement and other costs. James also asked about the many approved housing units that had not been constructed but were approved, wondering how those would impact the tax base. Vitola explained that he based it on information from Planning and Zoning and his conservative estimate for the budget was around three percent, but that was a conservative estimate. Councilman Danny Perez asked if Vitola was saying the town was growing and spending more than they were taking in.
“No, we’re always balancing the budget and the department and other directors charged with enforcing the budget always seem to come in under budget, even when there are emergencies,” Vitola said. “We always seem to find a way to stick within the budget citywide. But, if you exclude utility transfers and look at the general fund on a standalone basis, we would be $6 to $7 million in deficit. The police budget alone is more than $10 million and if all we had was general fund, just with the police budget alone, we would be insolvent day one.”
The first department discussed was Administration. According to Coleman, personnel costs were up six percent, but expenditures were down nine percent. Next was the City Clerk’s budget.
“There’s only one major change, I am asking for a full-time staff member,” City Clerk Katrina White said. “The growth in the city over the last five years and because of this growth, a lot of the administrative duties fall on the clerk’s office. Public notices, dispositions, resolutions and other duties fall to our office.”
White pointed out that FOIA requests had grown significantly, stating that in 2021 there were 98 requests and in 2025, there were 144. The number of requests were not the issue as much as the requests are more complex.
“If one comes in that say needs emails, I may have to go through 1,500 emails to see which ones are required to be included and that takes a good portion of time,” White said. “If I am the one going through those emails, that leaves one person to do all the other things we have to do. We also have a deadline to return FOIA requests, but there are just two of us.”
Councilwoman Madula Kalesis questioned the significant increase in the clerk’s budget, stating a 32 percent increase was a big jump. White pointed out that the clerk’s office had the smallest budget in the city. Vitola explained that with a budget as small as the clerk’s office, any increase would appear to be significant.
“I’m just thinking back, I know before Terri left, a couple years before, there had been money put in the budget to hire someone,” Councilwoman Katrina Wilson said. “I don’t know if you guys remember but it just kind of drug on and on.”
Vitola stated that there was a request, but since Terri Hudson, then city clerk, had announced she would be retiring, there was a thought process that whoever came in as the new city clerk would decide whether to bring someone else on. Later, the position was eliminated to cover additional costs for the police department. Councilman Jason James remembered that the position was approved but was never filled, so those dollars became dormant. In fact, a review of the 2023-24 budget hearings found that a position was approved for a third employee in the clerk’s office, but the funds were added as a “placeholder.” In January 2024, the funds were moved to the police department to hire two new dispatchers and a crime analyst.
“Councilman James, I will tell you that if council puts the money there, I will have somebody hired before you can blink an eye,” White said. “Technology cannot go through emails and with FOIA, there are certain things that need a physical person to do. One thing technology will be able to do is in tracking. It can flag something that says it is due in a day or so. But it cannot physically look through reports. Like, I had to look up the other day who was the first city clerk and I was looking at records from 1937.”
Other duties that fall to the city clerk include scanning old documents so they can be accessed electronically. If there was a third staff member, the hundreds of boxes of records stored at City Hall could be scanned in a timelier manner. Kalesis asked if there were part-time staff members who filled in for the clerk. White confirmed there were, but they were on an on-call basis. Kalesis questioned whether they could be brought in more often to assist. White stated that they were retired from the city and did not want to return to full-time work.
Councilwoman Nina Pletcher stated that it sounded like FOIA requests were part of the added burden on the clerk’s office, questioning if there was a way to reduce those requests.
“I just want to keep in mind that FOIA requests are an obligation and a legal one that has a time ticker on it,” Councilwoman Nadia Zychal said. “I wouldn’t want our clerk overwhelmed and put our city in any kind of legal jeopardy.”
Mayor Todd Culotta asked if there were other staff members who could step in to help when the clerk was overwhelmed. Coleman stated that the city worked as a team and they did do that, but because each staff member had their own duties, it was not always easy for them to offer assistance. Councilman Dan Marabello asked if once the office was caught up, they would still need a third person.
“Yes, because we’re going to maintain where we are,” White said. “When the duties are distributed three ways, we will be able to maintain and then we would also be able to do other things we need to do, make other improvements in our department.”
Once the City Clerk’s budget was discussed, the city moved on to the next department. The budget will be discussed and voted on at a future meeting. The entire budget can be found online.
