Mayor, legislator urge refund for city

Seek funding lost through car-tax gap

TORRINGTON — Mayor Elinor Carbone and State Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, gave testimony last week urging that Torrington be reimbursed for funding lost through a statutorily-enacted gap in the assessment of car-tax payments.

Three municipalities — Torrington, Hamden, and Bridgeport — undertook a property tax revaluation after 2015 and came out with tax rates of over 39 mills, according to a release from Cook’s office.

The state Legislature voted to cap the rate at which motor vehicle taxes can be assessed at 39 in last year’s budget, with the difference to be made up through reimbursement, according to the release.

But it did not include the revaluations from the three communities in the reimbursement formula, meaning they, unlike others, will not receive funding to make up the difference between the capped rate and their tax rates.

Carbone and Cook advocated that the Legislature include HB 5072, “An Act

Reimbursing Certain Municipalities for the loss of motor vehicle tax revenue,” in HB 5324, a municipal funding bill, to rectify the situation.

Torrington lost $1.2 million in revenue as a result, Carbone said in submitted testimony - “a loss that has resulted in decimation of our capital plan, a reduction of city staff and a loss of educational resources,” she said.

“As I continue to read of the state’s assistance to Hartford, it is mindboggling to me that a municipality like Torrington or Bridgeport or Hamden cannot be made whole for the damaging impact of the capping of the motor vehicle mill rate,” said Carbone in her testimony.

Cook calculated the loss at approximately $1.7 million for the 2018 fiscal year in her testimony.

“This is a significant amount of money for our community. Torrington doesn’t have the financial means to simply let this error slide. The

intent of the car tax cap legislation should be honored and the funding restored,” Cook said in a release. “I have asked the Appropriations Committee to include the language from my initial bill to restore funding within the larger municipal aid bill they will be considering. It’s an issue of fairness and of practicality — that $1.6 million represents teachers’ salaries, infrastructure repairs, and other services that residents will not see unless Torrington is made whole.”