Despite concerns over record unemployment and a national recession, following the government lockdown and resulting financial fall out from COVID-19, the Rilling Administration approved a record breaking FYE 2020-21 capital budget of $153,832,356.
While Norwalk anticipates receiving approximately $25M in offsetting revenue and/or reimbursements from intergovernmental agencies – it still leaves $129,000,000 Million financed through general obligation bonds and paid for by taxpayers in the operating budget’s debt service line of the general city fund. The second chart highlights the growing servicing of debt.
Where is the capital budget being spent?
FYE 2021 Approved Capital Budget
| Department | FYE 2020 | FYE 2021 (Net of Revenue) | FYE 2021 Expect. Revenue | FYE 2021 (Gross) |
| Police | 943,000 | 14,124,575 | 0 | 14,124,575 |
| Fire | 1,830,000 | 425,866 | 0 | 425,866 |
| Public Works | 13,084,000 | 20,895,000 | 5,358,400 | 26,253,400 |
| WPCA | 5,700,000 | 0 | 3,750,000 | 3,750,000 |
| Economic & Comm. Dev. | 5,596,000 | 4,249,000 | 1,162,000 | 5,411,000 |
| Community Services | 319,000 | 319,000 | 0 | 319,000 |
| BOE | 23,569,000 | 88,154,655 | 14,560,000 | 102,714,655 |
| RDA | 875,000 | 400,000 | 0 | 400,000 |
| IT | 592,000 | 433,860 | 0 | 433,860 |
| Grand Total | 52,508,000 | 129,001,956 | 24,830,400 | 153,832,356 |
A complete detailed breakdown shows the fine print of 2020-21 expenditure items.