Tweed Airport Land Deal Puts East Haven in the Black [Update]

By selling 12 acres of town-owned wetlands to Tweed New Haven Regional Airport, Mayor April Capone announced with check in hand that the $1.5 million payment closes the town’s budget gap.

“We are pleased to that with this $1.5 million along with what the town has budgeted we will be officially in the black,” Capone said at a Thursday press conference in Town Hall. “East Haven will have no deficit and we are very, very proud of that.“

Capone said that she already spoke with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s rating agencies, who were optimistic about East Haven’s financial future. The deal, she said, had been years in the making, as legislation was needed to put parameters about what the land can be used for.

However, John Finkle, a Republican running for mayor, disputed Capone's words.

"The Mayor's claim that we are in the black and out of our deficit is misleading," he said in a statement. "Our town still faces a deficit in our general fund and in several other town funds."

According to Finkle's calculations, the town is still faced with an $800,000 deficit from it's original $5.1 million hole.

"We are a full year away from being able to truly and honestly claim that we have climbed out of this deficit. Nevermind the fact that we are close to $17 million dollars short in our self-insurance fund."

According to Peter Leonardi, the East Haven representative on the Airport Authority Board, the two parcels of land will not be used for a new runway, but rather to add landing lights where an incomplete infrastructure once existed..

"All we're going to do with [the land] is put a couple of lights on it, but more importantly we’re going to fence it off because it’s being used presently as a dump,” Leonardi said. “The town of East Haven has attempted to stop it for safety reasons.”

A response from John Finkle was added to the original story.