Politics & Government

Following Early Retirements, Danbury Looks at Itself

Danbury hired Blum Shapiro, a management consulting firm, for $400,000 in July to analyze the city's structure since 25 city workers took early retirement.

"It's good for an outside organization to look at how we operate," said City Council President Joe Cavo. Can the city do the same work with fewer workers? "We haven't done this in some time. We hired someone who can look at what we do and tell us how to do it better."

The city council agreed on July 2 to hire the consultants. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said some city departments may be too lean after the 25 early retirements, but rather than just start hiring people, he'd like to have an outside opinion about how city government can be more efficient.

"It's expensive, but given the benefit, it's an important investment we have to make in the future," Boughton said. In addition to looking at the city side of the budget, the consultants will also look at the Board of Education's operations.

"Do we need two finance departments? Do we need two IT departments? Maybe what we need is blended services," Boughton said. The review process is likely to take up to nine months to complete, and the finished product will then be reviewed by city employees and the City Council.


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