MERIDEN — As a petition to reject the city's $233 million budget circulates throughout the city, officials say false information about what it contains continues to spread among the public and on social media.
On the list is the claim the budget includes funding for assistant director positions at Hunter's Golf Course and Meriden Markham Airport. It doesn't, the city says.
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"I don't know why people keep stating that these positions are included in the budget, but it is not accurate," City Manager Brian Daniels said in an email.
Other claims are that Daniels is getting a raise to $287,000 when the City Council has yet to review Daniels' salary. Daniels currently earns $180,000 and a request for $190,000 was not funded in the budget. The $287,000 figure is the total of multiple positions.
Democratic City Councilor Joe Scaramuzzo jumped into the social media fray to inform a poster he was basically reading the budget wrong.
There was also the charge that department head salaries are not broken out.
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"Department Head FY26 salaries are now stated as distinct line items for each department," Daniels said. "In previous years, the total of all such salary increases from the prior fiscal year were included in a single line item. The new FY26 budget book approach provides complete transparency to the average citizen."
Daniels has also defended the issue of giving raises within city departments...
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