Mayor Proposes 11% Tax Hike

March 2, 2018 - 

Mayor Toni Harp is calling for a 11 percent tax increase and a $1 million reduction in the rainy day fund in a proposed new city budget that she described as the most difficult one she has ever had to draft.

It includes 11 new positions and assumes the city will receive millions of dollars in new contributions from big not-for-profits like Yale and labor union concessions.

The mayor unveiled her proposed budget Friday. It would cover the fiscal year starting July 1.

Harp said she hopes to counterbalance an anticipated decrease in state aid and building permit fees next fiscal year with concessions from municipal employees, intradepartmental efficiencies, and hoped-for increases in voluntary contributions from partners like Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

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Harp, Sanctuary Policy Get Senator’s Endorsement

Harp introduces Blumenthal at endorsement.

Monday, August 28, 2017 - Two Connecticut politicians who have ardently defended New Haven’s status as a sanctuary city promised supporters that they would continue to protect local immigrants from what they see as unjust federal orders of deportation.

That promise came from Mayor Toni Harp and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal at a reelection campaign event Saturday.

Around 50 local politicians, labor organizers, and New Haveners gathered in a small classroom at the New Haven Federation of Teachers Union Hall at 267 Chapel St. to see Blumenthal as he formally endorsed Harp in her bid for a third two-year term as mayor of New Haven.

Harp faces challenger Marcus Paca in a Democratic Party primary on Sept. 12.

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Paca: I’m Like Yates; Harp’s Like Trump

Paca lambastes Harp administration at DTC candidate forum on Saturday.

Saturday, July 15, 2017 - 

Is New Haven a stable city that has become safer, more responsibly governed, and more attuned to the needs of its students and workers over the past four years? Or is it barely treading water, rife with violence and unemployment, led by a mayoral administration bent on political retaliation and deceit?

Mayor Toni Harp said the former, and her challenger for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Marcus Paca, offered the latter view as they pitched their candidacies Saturday morning to 60 party leaders during a forum held by Democratic Town Committee (DTC) on the steps outside the Betsy Ross Parish House on Kimberly Avenue.