Businesses, local officials have mixed views on $10K fines
“I can kinda understand the governor’s trying to enforce rules obviously because we’re in the middle of an increase in numbers, but in no way will we give someone a $10,000 fine.”
New Milford Mayor Pete Bass
With an executive order set to go into effect Thursday that bumps up the possible penalty to $10,000 for each breach of certain rules for businesses during the pandemic, local business and government leaders shared mixed views on the heightened measure.
“I can kinda understand the governor’s trying to enforce rules obviously because we’re in the middle of an increase in numbers,” New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said, “but in no way will we give someone a $10,000 fine.”
COVID-19 cases continue to be on the rise in Connecticut, with the number of infections overall during the pandemic breaking past the 100,000 mark last week. In New Milford specifically, there’s been 158 cases accounted for on the state’s COVID-19 data tracker between Nov. 8 and Nov. 21.
Bass said officials should keep educating people and “continue to beat the drum of” the need for proper precautions, such as mask wearing and social distancing.
“But looking at fines that high, that steep, would be detrimental to someone in our community here in New Milford,” he said. “We’re gonna continue to educate, continue to work as a community, and really look at that first and foremost before we think about fining someone.”
The higher penalty aims to keep businesses breaking sector rules and overcrowding their establishments in line. In a Wednesday news conference, Gov. Ned Lamont said it would likely be “very few” businesses that would actually incur a fine that substantial.
“We’re not sitting here penalizing people, we’re making people aware and alert and know there are consequences,” he said in the conference. “Thank God in Connecticut I’d say
99 percent of the people are self-regulating.”
Brookfield first selectman Steve Dunn noted an “increasing frustration on the part of both the state and local governments that some businesses are not taking the governor’s executive orders seriously.”
While he thought that frustration made sense, Dunn said “fining them
$10,000 seems a bit extreme to me.” He didn’t necessarily foresee a fine that large being earned in Brookfield.
“We’ve only had a couple cases in Brookfield where we’ve had to ask
people to follow the rules, you know, businesses to follow the rules, and they have, for the most part, been very very cooperative and worked with us to
both understand the rules and to implement them,” he said. “So, I don’t think you’ll see a case in Brookfield where we would consider asking that a fine be
placed for $10,000.”
Duane Ellingson, general manager for Mill Plain Diner in Danbury, said he didn’t take issue with the governor amping up mea
sures to ensure compliance.
“I don’t really have any problem with him enforcing the rules, I think part of the reason that we are where we are is because a lot of people didn’t follow the rules, so I don’t really have a problem with it,” he said. “I think if we had followed them from the beginning we’d probably be in better shape now than we are.”
While Ellingson wasn’t sure if $10,000 was the proper amount, he said Lamont had to “make it a little more extreme” if lower penalties weren’t doing the trick.
Francisco Rios, general manager of Terra Ristorante Italiano in Danbury, said he didn’t see the fines being a problem for their establishment. He shared concerns about how the fines could affect smaller businesses trying to stay afloat if a compliance issue cropped up, though, and emphasized the need to address what might’ve caused those issues in the first place instead of ramping up punitive measures.
“I don’t think the, you know, the increase in the fine, it’s gonna solve any problems,” he said. “I mean, are we adding to the problem here by fining people with more money, or are we adding to the solution? I think this adds to the issue, it doesn’t do anything to help people.”