Municipal Officials Make Plea
by Christine Stuart | Mar 3, 2010 8:57am
(3) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: Local Politics, State Budget, State Capitol
Municipal leaders came to the state Capitol Tuesday to urge state lawmakers to maintain municipal aid.
After thanking them for rejecting a proposed $84 million cut in municipal aid this past December, Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold said municipalities understand the state will continue to struggle with historic deficits and the temptation to cut municipal aid will remain.
“Municipal aid is an enticing target whenever the state’s budget gets tight,” Griswold said.
Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposed $45 million in unspecified municipal cuts on Monday as part of her deficit mitigation plan. The $45 million cuts would come in the second year of the budget and would be in addition to the $12 million in cuts Rell proposed as part of her budget address in February.
“The state must understand, however, that towns and cities cannot sustain their service-delivery responsibilities when municipal aid is cut, mandate relief is denied, and non-property tax revenue options continue to be unavailable,” Griswold told the Appropriations Committee Tuesday.
New Haven Mayor John DeStefano said the state needs to start thinking about how it provides employee health care and pension costs.
“The current system is not sustainable,” DeStefano said.
Click the play arrow to watch DeStefano talk about what he thinks needs to change.
“I see very little getting done this year,” DeStefano said.
He said he sees lawmakers crossing their fingers hoping things get better this year until a new governor is elected.
(3) Comments
posted by: THREEFIFTHS | March 3, 2010 10:33am
The state needs a system like this.This is one of the best in the country.
posted by: City Hall Watch | March 3, 2010 11:36am
What will it take for cities and towns to understand the state, which is all of us, has no money? It all trickles down hill and yes, that means you too will have less from mother State. Leaders from the cities and towns sat on a panel with a goal of identifying mandates and other areas that could be cut and that would inflict the least amount of pain. They produced nothing but a request for more money and the ability to tax us more. The financial crisis we are in has been years in the making and every public official past and present are jointly and severally responsible for this mess. Now do what taxpayers are doing. Reduce debt, trim lifestyle and man up. This endless bellyaching is unseemly.
posted by: Brian from SundayMorningCoffee.webs.com | March 3, 2010 2:52pm
I’m all for state funds helping towns out - but not as a usual course of business.
Shouldn’t the endgame for town be that they are so economically stable that even in bad times they don’t need help? Wouldn’t that be a neat goal to shoot for.
