Stamford Mayor David R. Martin was not shaking hands with visitors in his office. Instead he offered his elbow for a greeting bump. “I have a spring cold,” he confessed while sitting at his desk with a large bottle of hand sanitizer positioned before him.
In some ways, the mayor”™s effort to avoid spreading cold germs is typical of his approach to his fiscal work: a view of a bigger picture that does not involve creating or expanding a risk, in this case a seasonal cold. While other governments ”” operate within a red ink environment, Martin is aware of being responsible for a finite supply of taxpayer funds.
“I don”™t care what you are allowed to spend,” he said. “If you don”™t have the revenue, it doesn”™t matter.”
This approach to running the city has generated positive results. Since his election in 2013, Stamford has maintained an AAA bond rating and the fiscal year 2018 budget is projected to carry a $4.8 million surplus, with no planned cuts to the municipal workforce. Martin”™s budget, submitted in late March, had a gross capital budget request of $27.4 million.
Martin, a Democrat seeking re-election for a second term in November ”” the Republican Party has yet to name an opponent ”” said Stamford has operated at a surplus ever since he became mayor.
“We”™re working our ass off ”” and, yes, you can quote that,” he said with a laugh. “We”™re working our ass off to make our government more affordable, to deal with the unfunded liabilities of the past and still provide the services that people deserve.”
Beyond fiscal politics, Martin”™s view of Stamford”™s direction has been shaped by conversations with local CEOs, many of whom identified transportation and the workforce as their key concerns. On the transportation front, Martin admitted that while he had no ultimate control over the federal and state governments”™ input, he has made the city’s response a top priority.
“I am not in charge of Metro-North or I-95, but I completely reorganized the transportation function of the city and I am putting additional resources behind it,” he said. “We”™re doing a (traffic) light synchronization project. The ability of people to move in their vehicles is an issue from a safety standpoint and a flow standpoint and an economic development issue. I am doing what I can do to make transportation work.”
As for the workforce, Martin expressed an eagerness to expand the millennial population, particularly the younger professionals who are looking for work in the digital industry. He pointed to this summer”™s opening of the dormitory at UConn”™s Stamford campus as a means of attracting millennials to the city.
“We need to have schools turning out people who are qualified in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields,” he said. “Who”™s got those skills? They tend to be millennials. If we are able to attract millennials, these businesses are more likely to stay here.”
Martin also highlighted the importance of creating a welcoming and lively urban environment that will attract residents as well as businesses. He noted General Electric”™s departure from suburban Fairfield to Boston as evidence that major businesses ”” and by extension, their workforces ”” are looking away from suburban settings in favor of culturally and commercially diverse city settings.
“We are trying to make this a place where people want to live,” he said. “It”™s not about trying to grow the city”™s population. If you make it a place where people want to live, you”™ll grow the population. So, let”™s get the goals right.”
However, Martin admitted that Stamford is also in a pricey housing market, which could work against efforts to attract college graduates while maintaining its working-class population. He recalled a conversation with a multifamily housing developer over the possibility of lowering rents on one-bedroom units in a new complex from $1,900 to $1,200. The developer politely declined, noting that the complex was already fully rented while still under construction.
“I fully get that this is one of the most expensive areas in the country,” said Martin about his city. “I don”™t have the magic wand to change that. It”™s going to remain an expensive area to live in. But in terms of affordable housing, the city of Stamford provides more assisted and affordable units than Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, Wilton, Easton, Weston, Ridgefield and Bethel combined.”
Nonetheless, Martin said that Stamford is not an island unto itself. While the city would get anywhere from $6 million to $8 million from Hartford, depending on how the state budget battle shapes out, the state’s budget deficit has permeated Stamford”™s policy decisions.
“I am concerned where the state is going,” he said. “I think the state is underfunding the city of Stamford and has been for a long time. It has made it a challenge for us to educate the kids in the Stamford schools.”
Education is a subject close to Martin”™s heart, as his wife, Judith, was a reading teacher for 14 years at Northeast Elementary School in the city. She died in November after a long battle with cancer. The couple had founded Starfish Connection, a nonprofit that mentors students from low-income families.
Martin wondered aloud about jettisoning his approach to governing in order to bring in more state funds for the city school system.
“So, now, I”™m in a quandary,” he said. “Do I want to be deliberately irresponsible and go deeply into deficits so they can continue to send me money that I should have received in the first place? No, I am going to be responsible ”” and the responsibility was that when we started this year, we assumed that the state was not going to deliver all of the money to us. They”™ve already cut out a quarter-million dollars, and they”™re going to cut another quarter-million dollars. I know that they have tough times up there and we will absorb that. We”™re thinking to where the future is.”
