Auditing West Haven
The Ledger's review of West Haven's budgets, audits, debt and redevelopment money.
The full audit section: stories by subject, key figures and records →
Background
Auditing West Haven: what we're examining and why
The Ledger is reading West Haven's budgets, audits and council records. Here is what the city's fiscal 2025 audited financial statements and its fiscal 2027 final budget show.
Read the explainer →Latest update · October 16, 2026
West Haven's storm water budget leans on $766,238 in reserves as a fee increase is studied
The fiscal 2027 storm water budget expects $343,000 from the current $3 monthly fee and lists a $500,000 general fund transfer and $766,238 from reserves to balance it, though the listed sources add up to $289,000 more than the stated total. The city manager's summary says the fee must rise.
Timeline
- West Haven's storm water budget leans on $766,238 in reserves as a fee increase is studied
- West Haven awards about $2.2 million in park construction bids for Poulter Pond and Windsor Park
- West Haven budgets $112,500 to repay Hunter Drive road work in Walmart's first months
- West Haven's 6% energy tax took effect Oct. 1 after a 3-2 vote
Latest updates
- Politics
West Haven's storm water budget leans on $766,238 in reserves as a fee increase is studied
The fiscal 2027 storm water budget expects $343,000 from the current $3 monthly fee and lists a $500,000 general fund transfer and $766,238 from reserves to balance it, though the listed sources add up to $289,000 more than the stated total. The city manager's summary says the fee must rise.
- Politics
West Haven awards about $2.2 million in park construction bids for Poulter Pond and Windsor Park
The council awarded three Poulter Pond contracts totaling $775,109.04 in August and, according to draft minutes, a $1,446,896.44 Windsor Park contract in October, after an August budget amendment corrected how Windsor Park was to be funded.
- Politics
West Haven budgets $112,500 to repay Hunter Drive road work in Walmart's first months
The fiscal 2027 budget assumes a Walmart Supercenter opens in the last quarter of the fiscal year and splits its expected $225,000 in city sales tax between city operations and reimbursing developers for realigning Hunter Drive.
- Politics
West Haven's 6% energy tax took effect Oct. 1 after a 3-2 vote
The council voted in June to implement a 1998 ordinance taxing electricity and natural gas, which had never been applied. The state lists the 6% tax as effective Oct. 1, and the budget expects $905,250 from it this fiscal year.