Hosted by Yale lecturer Christian McNamara, concerned Hamden residents gathered at Books & Company late Tuesday evening to discuss the drastic financial debt Hamden has found itself in.
“A few fellow Hamden residents and I have put together a presentation on our town’s precarious financial condition,” Christian McNamara said in a mass email.
Other Hamden residents like McNamara that are taking action are Judy and Stockton ‘Stocky’ Clark. McNamara and the Clarks, along with others, started the months-long project of compiling data into a multi-sheet pamphlet to illustrate the scope of Hamden’s financial debt. It includes graphs and projection charts using older data received from Hamden’s audits and financial reports already available to the public.
“I spent hours and hours reading everything I could get my hands on about the town’s financial situation,” McNamara said. “It was an enormous amount of work, but work that we felt was very important.”
The group simplified pages of numbers and figures into a series of straight-forward graphs.
“The charts are meant to show people, graphically, what is going on,” Stocky Clark said.
The bulk of the presentation makes obvious the immense financial debt taken by Hamden. Despite being the sixth most taxed town in the state as of 2017, Hamden is having severe difficulty making ends meet.
“We owe $1.1 billion…that’s how much the town of Hamden owes right now,” Stocky said.
In 2019, Hamden’s Moody’s municipal credit score lowered down to Baa3 status, neighboring with Sprague and West Haven. This rating is just one notch above the worst municipal score, Ba1, referred to as ‘junk status.’ The term refers to junk bonds, a bond which borrowers take when they have no other option, and are taken when the borrower is subject to substantial credit risk.
“Under junk bond status, it is going to be extremely expensive to take out bonds,” Hamden Legislative Council Member Brad Macdowall said.
There is skepticism that with Baa3 status comes the possibility of the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) taking over financially. The board provides financial accountability for municipalities experiencing various levels of fiscal distress.
“If the MARB did come in, we would see slashed and gutted services, and no benefits to taxpayers for it,” Macdowall said.
The big picture, however, is lost to many Hamden residents.
“Often times when we point out these challenges, people say, ‘Well okay it’s one thing to point out that we have a problem but what’s your solution?’ To me it’s difficult to have a conversation about it until you’ve defined the scope of the problem,” McNamara said.
“That’s what we hoped to do tonight,” he continued. “[We are] getting the information out there, so that we can collectively define the full scale of the problem. And then use that as the basis for fostering a community-wide discussion about what to do.”
McNamara has reached out to legislative council members and the mayor’s office in hopes of his presentation creating a town-wide dialogue.
Of the Hamden Legislative council, three members were present at the meeting. Council members encouraged attendees to speak up about their concerns, sooner rather than later.
“In order to make the best decision, we need you all to make your opinion known to help us better serve you,” Hamden Legislative Council Member Justin Farmer said.
An average of 40 community members showed up to Books & Company for the presentation that evening.
“There were a good number of people there tonight,” Macdowall said. “It’s a low number, but it’s a bigger number than we’ve ever had before. I’m glad this conversation is beginning, and gaining traction.”
“Residents need to be aware, and they need to be involved in the conversation,” he continued. “Otherwise, it allows people to keep doing the same reckless things, just to kick the can down the road. I do not believe the average voter, or the average resident, is aware of how difficult a situation we are in. People are starting to wake up and see it, but it’s still early.”
To read Christian McNamara’s full financial presentation, click here.