Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo laughed when asked Friday morning by Tony Savino on WGCH 1490am if he knew President Trump had criticized Greenwich for wasteful spending.
President Trump has had the Community Development Block Grant program – a federal program administered by the US Dept of Housing and Urban Development – in his crosshairs for years, targeting it for steep cuts in all six of his budget proposals. The program allows towns to make grants to benefit mostly low and moderate income residents.
An April 9 article in CT Mirror, (As Trump proposes cuts, his budget singles out two CT towns) notes the Trump administration’s 92-page federal budget proposal singled out Greenwich and Waterford for “wasteful” uses of federal funding, though the funding allocations in Connecticut are not in danger since they have already been appropriated by Congress for the current fiscal year.
Camillo, who said he hadn’t read about the criticism, was quick to defend Greenwich.
“Greenwich is a AAA rated town and we have the lowest mill rate in the state of Connecticut and will continue to have it by far within two months,” he said. “He has enough problems right in front of him. The town is actually run really well.”
He said the CDBG program funding had tightened in recent years.
“The whole point of it is to help organizations that need help and do really well for the community and serve populations that are vulnerable,”Camillo said.
CDBG applications are reviewed for months by the Community Development Advisory Committee for annual allocations.
The town’s Community Development Office has administered the program since 1974.
Camillo told Savino that he had received emails and criticism few years ago after he redeployed block grant funding from one organization to another.
In May 2025 there was a controversy after Camillo overrode the CDBG grant committee recommendation and diverted funds they recommended for the YWCA Greenwich, YMCA and Inspirica, and redirected the funds to the Greenwich Communities (Greenwich’s housing authority) for walkway improvements including painting. The BET, controlled by Republicans at the time, sided with Camillo and rejected a request to revert to the Block Grant Committee recommendations. Ultimately, the decision was reversed by the Representative Town Meeting in June after a vote to claw back the funding.
As for criticism of Greenwich, Camillo told Savino on Friday, “If it did come out of his mouth, or his administration, I’ll compare the way our town is run with the way they run the administration any day of the week,” he added.
The New York Times journalist Dan Barry has described Greenwich as having a complicated relationship with Donald Trump. In 2022 he explored the political divide between establishment Republicans and pro-Trump supporters he called “Trumplicans.”
Prior to that, during the pandemic in 2020, an article by Greenwich native Evan Osnos in The New Yorker, titled, How Greenwich Republicans Learned to Love Trump created its own controversy in town.
As for President Trump’s connection to Greenwich, he once owned a waterfront property in gated Indian Harbor Association. He and his then wife Ivana shared the 11 bedroom home on Vista Drive from 1982 until 1991. Trump originally purchased the 5.8-acre estate for $4 million. Ivana received the home in her 1991 divorce settlement and during renovations added gold leaf decor that was removed after the house sold to new owners in 1998 for $15 million.
As for the annual block grants, competition is high among local non profits, with requests far exceeding available money.
The amount of federal funding for the program in Greenwich is less than $800,000 annually for local projects, down from higher levels in previous decades.
More information on the 2026 CDBG program in Greenwich is available on the town website including the citizen participation calendar.