Spring is here which means Bridgeport’s annual budget season has begun. During the heated 2022 budget season we summarized what happened between the Bridgeport city council and Mayor Joe Ganim like this: Ganim Desperate To Fund Patronage Jobs For His Political Allies.

In a nutshell, “Mayor Joe Ganim refused to call the – legally required – “special” city council meeting so they [the council] could vote on the final 2022-23 municipal budget. The Council had amended the Mayor’s proposed budget by investing an additional $500,000 in education funding, and cut the Mayor’s no-show jobs for political supporters by approximately $500,000.”

This year Mayor Ganim won’t get away with thwarting the council’s authority. The council made “moves to protect [its] budget authority” wrote Brian Lockhart for the CT Post. On Monday, April 3 they passed a Charter amendment and an ordinance. The charter amendment extends Bridgeport’s budget season by 2 weeks. The ordinance adds 2 extra meetings to the city council’s calendar in May, ensuring the Mayor cannot refuse to call a “special” meeting and the budget won’t default to the Mayor’s proposal without the council’s approval.

See the City Council agenda here. Read the full CT Post article, Bridgeport council moves to protect budget authority here.

“The [2024] spring budget season kicks off this week with the Ganim administration forwarding his draft document to the legislative body’s budget committee.” In it Mayor Ganim continues his eight year trend, systematically divesting from public education. We know from public polling that 57% of Bridgeport voters say improving public schools is extremely important to them. Despite that, Mayor Ganim is only allocating “$2 million extra for the public schools and creat[ing] a $500,000 higher education scholarship, dubbed Bridgeport Promise.” “The Bridgeport Board of Education, however, is seeking over six times that $2 million funding increase — $12.4 million.”

Additionally, according to reporting in the Ct Post, “Mayor Joe Ganim’s proposed $628 million municipal budget would keep the tax rate flat, but is balanced with around $17 million in temporary revenue streams from federal pandemic aid and potential real estate transactions.”

Read more from the Connecticut Post, Bridgeport Taxes Flat, School Spending Up here.