DocketNumber: No. CV98062818
Citation Numbers: 2000 Conn. Super. Ct. 568
Judges: CURRAN, JUDGE.
Filed Date: 1/12/2000
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
"An action for declaratory judgment is a special proceeding."Wilson v. Kelley,
A declaratory judgment action is the proper vehicle for relief in matters concerning the operation of government. Doe v. Heintz,
The parties have agreed to a stipulation of facts (Exhibit 12) which are substantially as follows:
The Board of Aldermen is the legislative body for the City of Ansonia and the defendant Board of Apportionment and Taxation is the body responsible for establishing the annual municipal budget for the City. On February 17, 1998, in accordance with the budget CT Page 570 procedure set forth in the Ansonia Charter, the Aldermen submitted an estimated budget to the Board. This budget contained salaries for certain municipal employees.1 Subsequently, the Aldermen adopted resolutions setting salaries of these municipal officials in accordance with the salaries contained in the estimated budget.
On April 21, 1998, the Board directed a communication to the Aldermen requesting information concerning the data they utilized to determine salary increases for non-union personnel such as the employees for whom the Aldermen had previously set salaries. The Aldermen failed to respond to this request and provided no documentation or evidence to the Board to support the salaries set forth in the resolutions before the final budget was approved by the Board on May 18, 1998. The budget approved by the Board did not contain funding for the salaries set by the resolutions of the Aldermen.2
The Ansonia City Charter (Charter) enumerates certain powers and responsibilities given to both the Aldermen and the Board. As to the Aldermen, the Charter, § 93, provides that the Aldermen have the power to "prescribe the salaries and compensation of all officers and employees of said city not expressly designated by the provisions of this Act, which salaries, so fixed, shall be neither raised nor diminished to take effect during any official term; to provide for the appointment or election of such employees as are not otherwise provided for and as may be required for the proper transaction of the business of the city, and to prescribe their duties and compensation." Additionally, § 133 of the Charter states that "[a]ny provision of the city Charter or ordinances to the contrary notwithstanding and subject only to the provisions of the statutes or Constitution of the State of Connecticut, the salaries of all city officials and employees, may be established or altered at any time by resolution of the board of aldermen.
As to the Board, the Charter allows that body to levy taxes and set mill rates and "hear all parties who may desire to be heard relative to any alterations in said estimates, appropriations, and tax rates, and may make any alterations in said estimates, appropriations, and tax rates, and such additional appropriations as it shall deem proper." Charter, § 42. In furtherance of its duties imposed by the city charter, the Board has full power "to require the different city officers to furnish all the information which they may posses, and to exhibit to said board CT Page 571 all books, contracts, reports, and other papers and documents in their respective departments, or in their possession, requisite, in the opinion of said board, to enable said board to discharge the duties imposed upon it by this Act . . ." Charter, § 41.
Reading these provisions together, one might be of the opinion that there is a conflict as to the powers and respective roles of the Board and the Aldermen. While the Aldermen are given the exclusive power to establish the salaries of city officials, the Board, at least is given the power to make any alterations in the estimated budget containing the salaries submitted by the Aldermen.
The Supreme Court has held that bodies similar to the Board of Apportionment Taxation have a stated purpose of "eliminat[ing] wasteful or extravagant expenditures by considering the financial aspects of the municipal government as a whole rather than from the limited viewpoint of any particular department. . . . and, secondly, to insure, as far as possible, the payment of the municipality's current debts out of its current income." Risi v.Norwalk,
In the present case, it appears that the Aldermen failed to provide pertinent information to the Board after the Board CT Page 572 requested that the Aldermen do so. Since the Board did not have information which it may have considered relevant for the exercise of its duties, this court cannot say that the Board acted unreasonably in refusing to fund the budget as submitted by the Aldermen. Simply, the Board did not have the relevant information as to the figures used by the Aldermen in arriving at the estimated salaries. Since the Board is the budget authority for Ansonia and serves as a fiscal check on the expenditures off the city, such information would have been vital especially in the present case where it appears that the Aldermen voted to give one individual, holding three positions in the municipality, three separate raises. The court, therefore, must conclude that the Board did not act improperly and that it acted within its enumerated powers in reducing the estimate submitted by the Aldermen. Having so concluded, the court, however, feels that it is necessary to point out that reducing an estimate completely to zero is neither a reasonable nor appropriate exercise of the Board's duties. Given the fact that the Aldermen, pursuant to § 93 of the Charter, have the sole power of appointing or electing municipal officials, any action of the Board to the contrary would be usurping the power of the Aldermen. Any Board action that refuses to fund any salary set forth by the Aldermen is unreasonable to that extent. Simply, the Board "cannot legally refuse to provide any appropriation at all for" a proposed purpose or estimate. Risi v. Norwalk, supra,
The fact that a Board can reasonably reduce estimates provided by a municipality's legislative body is supported by the controlling presence of Conn. Gen. Stat. §
Section
The court, accordingly, finds that the Board does not automatically have to fund salaries contained in the estimated budget submitted by the Aldermen. Rather, as provided for in the Charter, the Board may reduce estimates therein. Thus, while the Aldermen exclusively set the salaries of municipal employees, this determination is subject to reasonable review by the Board. The Board, however, cannot simply refuse to fund any such estimated salary as the effect of such an action would negate the exclusive powers of the Aldermen.
Judgment may enter in accordance with the above.
THE COURT CURRAN, J.