January 24, 2012 |
2012-R-0065 | |
LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION | ||
| ||
You asked for information on local governments in Bristol, Danbury, East Hartford, Enfield, Fairfield, Greenwich, Hamden, Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, Milford, New Britain, Norwalk, Shelton, Southington, Stratford, Trumbull, Waterbury, West Hartford and West Haven. Specifically, you requested the following for each municipality:
1. form of government;
2. the number of councilmen, aldermen, or directors;
3. legislative members' salaries and fringe benefits; and
4. population.
Connecticut's municipalities have varying forms of government. For the above towns, these include: mayor-council, mayor-aldermen, first selectman-council, selectman-representative town meeting and council-manager. The legislative members' salaries also vary, from no salary to upwards of $15,000. Hartford is the only municipality that provides fringe benefits for its council members.
Table 1 presents the information requested for each municipality.
TABLE 1: LOCAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT FOR SELECTED TOWNS AND THEIR GOVERNING BODIES' SALARIES AND FRINGE BENEFITS
Town |
Form of Government |
Legislative Members |
Annual Salaries |
Benefits |
Population (2010) |
Bristol |
Mayor-Council |
Six councilmen |
$9,829 |
None |
60,528 |
Danbury |
Mayor-Council |
21 councilmen |
None |
None |
77,748 |
East Hartford |
Mayor-Council |
Nine councilmen |
Approx. $4,400 |
None |
48,835 |
Enfield |
Council-Manager |
11 councilmen |
None |
None |
45,553 |
Fairfield |
Selectmen- Representative Town Meeting |
50 representatives |
None |
None |
56,557 |
Greenwich |
Selectmen- Representative Town Meeting |
230 representatives |
None |
None |
60,551 |
Hamden |
Mayor-Council |
15 councilmen |
$1,200 |
None |
58,312 |
Hartford |
Mayor-Council |
Nine councilmen |
$15,000 |
Health insurance |
121,599 |
Manchester |
Council-Manager |
Nine directors |
$2,000 |
None |
57,925 |
Meriden |
Mayor-Council |
12 councilmen |
$2,400 base, more for chairmen |
None |
58,801 |
Milford |
Mayor-Alderman |
15 alderman |
None |
None |
54,377 |
New Britain |
Mayor-Council |
15 councilmen |
$4500 Mayor pro-tempore $3500 other council members |
None |
70,185 |
Norwalk |
Mayor-Council |
15 councilmen |
$600 |
None |
83,247 |
Shelton |
Mayor-Aldermen |
8 aldermen |
None |
None |
39,261 |
Southington |
Council-Manager |
Nine councilmen |
None |
None |
42,185 |
Stratford |
Mayor-Council |
10 councilmen |
None |
None |
48,817 |
Trumbull |
Selectmen-Council |
21 councilmen |
None |
None |
35,676 |
Waterbury |
Mayor-Aldermen |
15 aldermen |
$4,000 |
None |
107,460 |
West Hartford |
Manager-Council |
Nine councilmen |
None |
None |
64,201 |
West Haven |
Mayor-Council |
13 councilmen |
$3,000 for chairmen, $2,400 other members |
None |
53,642 |
*Sources: various town websites, population data from Connecticut Economic Resource Center Inc., available at www.cerc.com.
MR:dy