THE BIG CHILL?

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities represents city and town interests and lobbies the legislature for state aid each year. The organization's acronym is CCM. Cynical lawmakers and reporters, accustomed to CCM's annual pleading for more state assistance, say that CCM should stand for "the conference of complaining mayors," or "the conference of crying mayors."

Be that as it may, CCM was doing its job again last week, urging lawmakers in the upcoming 2008 session to help cities and towns cope with fiscal stress. Otherwise, said CCM officials, residents face some unsavory results: potentially huge property tax hikes, large-scale reductions in services—or both.

Many lawmakers believe they helped pass "historic" increases in state aid to education in the two-year budget plan approved last spring. CCM says while the major education funding item, ECS (education cost sharing), is going up again for cities and towns along with certain special education funding, other school grants are "flat-lined" including student transportation, adult education, and school breakfast money.

Municipal officials also complain that general government grants are stagnant in such areas as town road aid, PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) money for government, college, and hospital facilities, and funding for local health districts. CCM claims that in real terms this aid is cut by 2.2%.

Making matters worse, municipal costs for health care and energy keep rising and that causes further erosion in municipal budgets.

Put all these fiscal woes together and you have "a perfect storm" according to municipal leaders. What is needed now, they say, is local property tax relief.

However, CCM remains opposed to Republican Gov. Jodi Rell's proposal for a 3% cap on annual property tax hikes, calling that plan "an artificial contrivance" that tramples on local input and could force devastating cutbacks in services. So is there a better idea? CCM offers a laundry list of options that mayors and selectmen think would help.

One possibility is shifting the funding burden of certain services from towns to the state—such as dramatically increasing the state's share of K through 12 public education funding.

Another option is revenue-sharing between large cities and their surrounding suburbs, also allowing regional government councils to levy sales and income taxes.

Yet another suggestion is enacting so-called "smart growth" initiatives that encourage development only in certain areas while preserving open space in other locations.

Each of these options is as controversial as the governor's 3% cap plan. You can see why everyone in Connecticut politics talks about property tax relief and nothing meaningful gets done.

So what will happen with CCM's annual plea? The most likely result is that Rell's property tax plan will be ignored again, and the Democrat-controlled legislature will make some budget adjustments to boost state aid to towns a bit. All involved will live to fight the fiscal wars anew next year.
 

Posted 1/21//07

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