The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Officials grapple with state budget status
GOSHEN — Chief elected officials discussed and grappled with the lack of a state budget Thursday during the Northwest Hills Council of Governments’ monthly meeting.
Mayor Elinor Carbone told the assembled group that the city of Torrington is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the Connecticut Education Association Wednesday, contesting whether Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had the power to cut Education Cost Sharing funding under the executive order budget implemented in August.
“It isn't fun. I don't want to sue the state. We should be partners in education. We should not be having to do this, but I have an obligation to protect our taxpayers, protect our students, and protect the families,” said Carbone. “This whole Northwest Corner, we’re all struggling to get young people to stay here, to raise their families here, and what's happening in this corner is sheer devastation.”
Torrington could lose $20 million in ECS funding over last year under the executive order budget – a loss the community cannot handle, Carbone said.
The city would have been named an Alliance District if the budget was passed in typical fashion, allowing it access to further funding, but instead was faced with the loss — which would represent a 12 mill increase in the tax rate, all told.
Carbone said Realtors are reporting that people want to put their properties on the market as the impasse at the state level had continued.
“This is the gift that just keeps on giving, and I'm tired of it,” said Carbone.
Litchfield First Selectman Leo Paul said the town was considering slowing the pace of public works projects as the uncertainty continued, and noted that the Connecticut Council of Small Towns had vowed to pursue legal action if a requirement to fund teacher pension costs was included in the budget.
Barkhamsted First Selectman Don Stein said the town had diminished planned road work in reaction to the budget.
In Harwinton, First Selectman Michael Criss said layoffs were possible because an additional $500,000 would have to be eliminated from the town budget.
Winsted Town Manager Robert Geiger said his budget had been kept largely whole, but the town was reducing expenses, such as paving projects, in preparation for a potential loss.
Other officials said they had absorbed the loss of education funding in their budget. Some voiced support for the communities in the council as a whole.
“I have and will continue support my colleagues here around the table, because I think what the state is doing is wrong,” said Goshen First Selectman Bob Valentine. “What happens to Torrington, it directly affects Goshen and the whole region.”
Washington First Selectman Mark Lyon said the community had only counted $50,000 in ECS funding as it crafted a budget, and was likely to be able to deal with the loss.
“Worst case scenario, I think we're going to be able to manage that. But I sympathize and I feel the pain of those who you had big chunks of money hauled out of your income side,” said Lyon.
The possibility of being require to fund teacher pension costs prompted conversation Thursday as well. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has put forward the idea in the past.
The issue remains a point of contention and discussion in budget deliberations, Mike Muszynski of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities said.
The possibility represented a potential a transfer of expenses from the state to municipalities, Valentine said.
“Let's make no mistake about all of this and what they’re doing — what it is, very simply, is to take it from the state of Connecticut's balance sheet, and put it onto our balance sheet,” said Valentine. “It doesn't solve anything at all.”
“The governor and the legislature don't want to do the hard work that we do every single day in trying to balance a budget, and trying to figure out some programs that they might have to cut, unfortunately,” said Paul. “They don't want to do that hard work, so they're passing that on to us.”
State legislators continue to discuss the budget, and a vote could be made next week, Muszynski said.