West Haven’s city government now has control over its finances, ending years of state oversight which deepened after a high-profile corruption scandal in 2021.
Connecticut’s Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) voted unanimously Thursday to end its control of the city’s finances, to cheers from city employees at City Hall.
Mayor Dorinda Borer, said city residents can now feel confident their tax dollars are being managed with integrity.
“They can know that the people they elected are working for them,” Borer said.
The MARB decision takes effect immediately. Borer and other officials say the city’s financial independence means it can more easily negotiate contracts and attract development.
The decision comes a few years after a COVID-19 fund scandal, where former State Rep. Michael DiMassa, was convicted for stealing more than $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
The state had already scrutinized West Haven’s budget years prior, but MARB officials credited Borer for the change in the city’s work culture.
Borer said the city can now more easily attract outside investment.
“It's going to give me an opportunity; for investors and developers,” Borer said. “We've been doing a good job of courting them here to West Haven and showing what we're doing, but we always had that state oversight hanging over our head.”
According to the latest available independent audit letter available on the MARB site for fiscal year 2024, the city has made improvements during the previous year.
But it stated the city needed further improvement on several metrics, including bank reconciliations, which compare the financial records of an entity such as the city with bank statements to ensure accuracy.
The board was already scrutinizing the city’s finances over an $18 million deficit according to Borer, before DiMassa’s case. But the scandal led to the state gaining significant oversight over the city’s budget, contracts and debt. The MARB noted the city made good faith efforts at improving financial safeguards.
Other West Haven officials including Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana, and Finance Director Michael Gormany celebrated Borer’s announcement at City Hall. Gormany, who became the director a year ago, said much of the transformation took place recently.
“Over the last year, we've continued the work of just making sure that we have financial policies, procedures, audits, and different things in place to continue the great work for the City of West Haven,” Gormany said.
Fontana addressed the crowd shortly after the board made its announcement, praising Borer. The city’s financial independence also means the city no longer needs a middleman for routine financial operations, according to Fontana.
“It certainly puts us in a better position for negotiating contracts. We'll negotiate the contracts here with our union reps and the mayor, and not have it under a state oversight committee,” Fontana said.
