West Haven budgets $112,500 to repay Hunter Drive road work in Walmart's first months

West Haven's fiscal 2027 budget sets aside $112,500 to begin repaying developers for road work around a Walmart Supercenter still under construction, out of the sales tax the city expects the store to generate in its first months. ^[1]

The figures are forecasts. The budget memo says "the City estimates that Walmart will be open for 3 months in FY 2027." ^[1]

What the budget assumes

The final budget message says Walmart has begun construction and is expected to open in the last quarter of fiscal 2027, which ends June 30, 2027. It describes a 170,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter and Fuel Center and says Walmart estimates the exterior of the building will be finished by the end of calendar 2026. ^[1]

"All of this equates to $225,000 in additional sales tax attributed to Walmart in FY 2027," the memo says, "with the City retaining $112,500 and budgeting $112,500 in 10-6910 Reimbursement for Hunter Drive." ^[1]

The memo says sales tax is used in part "to reimburse the developers for the realign Hunter Drive (an existing public road) to accommodate a larger Walmart Store." ^[1]

Delays

During the June 17 hearing on the energy tax, Mayor Rob Vanderwood said Walmart had had a lot of delays in construction and that the city therefore does not receive sales tax funds from it, according to the minutes. ^[2]

A resident at the same hearing said the new Walmart would bring in sales tax revenue, the minutes say. ^[2]

What the proposed agreement says and what is still missing

The Ledger has not obtained a signed agreement. It has seen the form of the Public Infrastructure Participation Agreement in the city's Nov. 6, 2024 packet, among 4100 Investment LLC, Walmart Inc. and the city, whose date line reads "____ day of ________, 2024" and whose signature blocks, including the mayor's, are blank. The terms below are those of that form, not proof of what was signed. ^[3]

The form estimates the Hunter Drive reconstruction at $4 million and has Walmart and the company pay the costs, build the road in its new alignment and dedicate it as a public road unless it was already dedicated. The city would reimburse Walmart for those costs, up to $2 million, from 50% of the city's local option sales tax generated at the project site. Payment depends on Walmart receiving a certificate of occupancy for a Supercenter of at least 170,000 square feet by Dec. 31, 2027. ^[3]

Under the form, the first payment is due within 30 days after the city has received 12 consecutive months of local option sales tax receipts from the site, and later payments follow annually. Payments would continue until the earlier of eight years from the first payment or full repayment. The form says the total paid depends on the sales tax the city actually receives from the site, and that if Walmart and the company do not meet their commitments the city has no obligation to reimburse. ^[3]

Because the form's first payment would not come due until after 12 months of receipts, the $112,500 budget line is not evidence that a payment falls due in the store's first three months. The Ledger does not treat the budget figure as an error, since it may rest on a different executed agreement, and it has not seen actual receipts, payments or a current opening date. ^[3][1]