Healthy communities make state stronger

In the coming short legislative session, it is crucial that municipal leaders and state legislators continue to address the immediate 2020 concerns of Connecticut towns and cities. The state legislative program from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, or CCM, makes sure that towns and cities will continue to have a seat at the table, ensuring adequate levels of state aid for towns, fighting against unfunded state mandates and encouraging regional service sharing.

CCM’s member town and city leaders developed, vetted and approved the short-term state legislative program at the end of 2019. With the full support of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities, this program takes seriously the success of not only our towns and cities, but also our regions and the state as a whole. Our members know that healthy municipalities are the key to a thriving Connecticut, and they carry with them the knowledge of what their residents want and what works best for them.

As an example, towns and cities should be able to continue to enter into service sharing agreements and allocate resources in an efficient manner. While all types of regionalism might not be right for all cities and towns, there should not be any roadblocks for communities that want to pursue increased service sharing in their municipalities.

There is still room for revenue diversification in the face of inadequate funding. One source could be allowing municipalities the option to negotiate user fees, or establish additional voluntary PILOT programs for public services provided to properties qualifying for a tax exemption under CGS 12-81 and not reimbursed by existing state PILOT programs. Another would be to allow any town or city to establish a Stormwater Authority to offset the costs of implementing the current MS4 General Permit.

Right now we need to be looking at any and all options to end the opioid epidemic, and it’s an area where municipalities need to work more closely with the state in an effort to determine more precisely the help we need. One example to help enhance our efforts to combat this harmful epidemic would be to designate a state ombudsman for drug abuse and control policy tasked with coordinating efforts to enhance and examine sustainable funding streams to support substance abuse prevention, education and recovery efforts.

We are looking forward to working with the governor and General Assembly on the future of transportation and infrastructure in our state. It’s clear that the residents of Connecticut want a bipartisan plan to repair and enhance our current network. CCM members want to make sure that we maintain the funding for key municipal transportation and infrastructure grants, such as TAR, LoCIP and LOTSIP. Towns and cities must maintain their roads and bridges at the same time that the state does. This is not an either/or situation because delays as we have seen in the last two years have stalled many projects.

As the session and year unfolds, CCM will be working on more extensive policy development through a comprehensive, grass-roots based property tax relief initiative. Our commission on property tax reform is built with the fact that our per-capita property tax burden in Connecticut was almost twice the national average in 2016. It is income-blind and profit-blind, and is the single largest tax on residents and businesses in our state.

CCM created the 2020 legislative program with one specific goal in mind: to improve the everyday life for every resident of Connecticut. Our local leaders are invested in the health and growth of our great state and we are totally aligned with those members of the House and Senate in sharing this vision. We will continue to work closely with our state legislators working toward the same goals.

The road to a stronger, more viable Connecticut is through its towns and cities. Strong communities create places where want to live and where businesses want to grow.

Michael Freda is first selectman of North Haven and president of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.