MIDDLETOWN – An increase in workers’ compensation insurance premiums and pension costs for city employees will make it tough for Middletown to develop a 2014 budget, Mayor Joseph DeStefano said. But, he is optimistic that he will be able to bring in a spending plan under the state’s 1.66 percent tax cap.
DeStefano put much of the blame on state officials.
“The governor and the state legislature have been promising mandate relief; they really haven’t delivered at this point,” he said. “The governor tried very hard to do it and I am hoping that he can break that juggernaut up there in Albany to start getting some mandate relief like in the area of workers’ compensation reform. We need it badly.”
DeStefano said he may have to dip into the city’s surplus to help fund the budget and keep it within the spending limit.